I was struck today driving to work:-

1) There would be loads of cars showing 1.5 billion candle power red dwarf suns to the rear of their cars and the the fronts( seem to be the must have accessory on all new cars)
2) I was correct they all got to play with their little buttons and switched the lot on
3) I looked out and on average i would think the visible distance on the M11 was around 150 metres without any form of artificial lighting , not good but not horrendous
4) So wandered along at 65 ish
5) But of course with your 1.5 billion candle power red dwarf suns on you can now drive at 80 regardless or 40 with impunity
6) I have looked but am sad to report my car does not have the invincibility cloak as part of the fog light system , never saw it on the option list , dam
7) System it seems allow you drive 10ft whoops 3 meters from the car in front with complete safety irrespective of the level of visibility


Now it seems to me there is a popular misconception that fog lights some how improve visibility , but the trouble is they make the rear of car slightly more visible at the expense of brake light visibility, and strangely in-animate objects such as trees , lamp posts , bridges , pillar boxes , paper boys and girls , pedestrians etc don' t have them but these are the things we need to see and avoid , so having 1.5billion candle power suns makes no difference to the speed at which one can travel it is still distance you can safely see that is the limiting factor. And this morning looking at those very solid objects it was about 150 meters on average the suns you could see from 500 meters!

What am i saying here , not sure really apart form some education is required , not least with my spelling and typing !

I await a reply

 

This is something that really gets on my nerves! I could go off on a rant of incomprehensible magnitude!

So many people seem to be incapable of, or unaware that they're driving far beyond the safe limits of the prevailing conditions. We had similar mist/fog and murk in Norfolk this morning. It wasn't murky enough that I felt the need to use my fog lights as i could quite comfortably see the lights of cars in front as we convoyed along the main road at a perfectly reasonable 50 ish. Yet there are those who insist on lighting up the fog with their high intensity, front and rear "visibility impairment systems"

Yes, put your fog on if you're at the back of a line of traffic, but when you can see lights in your mirror, you can usually assume that you've been spotted. This, ladies and gents is the time to click that switch off and save the retina's of fellow motorists.

Rant over!

 

Rant on Rob I totally agree.

I never turned mine on today, not needed if driving at the correct speed at the correct distance

I don't think I have used mine more than half a dozen times in the last 10 years,

God another thought , we will have all the ones that are not automatically disengaged when the lights are turned off , on for the next 10 weeks or until some one smashes the dam things !

 

I agree, totally inappropriate use of fog lights.....and if you try and tell someone in the q next to you that they have "left their fog lights on" all you get is abuse and to mind your own...
Well excuse me, I am minding my own...eye sight !

Worse is the dorks that not only have the fogs on but leave the effin foot on the brake pedal as well,have you not got a handbrake? ... the red dwarfs are suddenly supernovae !

hmm perhaps this should be on the other little annoyances thread!!

 

I can't recall the last time I used the front fogs but I do use the rear fog light(s) whenever the visibility is impaired with mist or fog, but often in heavy rain too. Why? Because it keeps the tail-gaters off my rear bumper.

I have occasionally used the rear fog lights to good effect when being tail-gated in excellent weather.

IIRC my Legacy's LED rear fog was about the best 'deterrent' rear fog light; it had considerable intensity and its location was just below the eye-line of following drivers.

 

Polemicist , dam your eyes man you scoundrel , a bounder and a cad , how dare you use inappropriate lights up your rear .

In the rain for gods sake , Christ the glare is so annoying , where do you live so i can keep well clear of you , unless of course i drive close enough the glare passes either side , over the top and bottom of me ! now there's an idea

Ah ah i see your a dam Audi driver !!!!

 

According to a recent visit to a BMW show room and test drive it seems that handbrakes are no longer used , well according to the salesman when i complained about the position of the thing on a 320.

But then i bought an A4 and the dam electronic thing is driving me mad , why oh why do they use the stupid things ?


I always see it as a time to relax in traffic , stop , put the hand brake on , relax the legs , have a look around

But its the norm now with most cars being Auto boxes to just sit there brakes on , or with a manual, brakes on and riding the clutch. No wonder people find it tiresome in traffic !

 

arrrrgg fog lights in the rain..... ......that's a MAJOR OFFENCE to the eyes let alone "the Law" (Judge Dredd anyone?)swift retribution called for

on all that dare to put them on in rain...even from a safe distance back from the car, with them on, they GLARE wickedly in rain..........

 

The salesman had obviously never taken a test then....examiner comment "oh, you don't need to use the handbrake if you YOU don't see fit too"
I think NOT

Mind you I feel like that about a lot of the morons that supposedly "drive" on the roads today, half of them can't see as shown by inappropriate use of fog lights, not many feel the need to signal their intentions and F ffin loads of them take no notice of their suroundings or situation and react accordingly.

They need to spend a couple of years on a motorcycle, learning about other users, to appreciate how stupid they are being

 

My next vehicle light will be an anti-collision beacon.

The premier-league Shitbins are those trucks and Land Rovers/4x4s with row-upon-row of roof mounted spotlights; the glare from these is almost physically painful if one approaches at night and the after-image is quite dangerous. Alas no one appears to give a toss about correct lighting usage anymore.