Fog Lights II: Blinded by the Lights?

A UK insurer is laying the blame for a number of accidents at improperly aimed fog lights.

while we all know how annoying they are... it sounds more like another scam to raise rates in the UK... and running a car in the UK..for a young person at least, the insurance for a car can cost more than the car itself

4cyl already took the win, but...

I am to blame:

In addition, I'll be fanning a light rack attaching to the front of the zx2 soon.

It's always raining there, so I don't see the issue.

I still fail to see how this is such a big deal. Do cars come with 100+ watt foglights over in europe or something?

"Oh, hai. Y U No like mai lightz?!"

I leave my fogs on, simply because the fact that I have 6000k HID's in my ms3 doesn't make it bright enough, and I almost get crammed all the time. I don't care if you're blind, Ima not get hit by some blue hair in a Panther car thankyouverymuch.

Way back in the way, when fog lights were very different than driving lights, I'd argue the point of how could maladjusted fog lights be any worse than a standard flashlight.

But now days, the same light is marketed as fog or driving, depending on which box it is in. Most are just a clear lens, many with the bulb uncovered. Same applies for oem fog/driving lights. And a heck of a lot of them burn your eyeballs when they are aimed at you. Almost as bad as those blasted HID headlights.

Wouldn't mind seeing cops actually enforce some aiming laws and manner laws with regards to headlights.

Course that's about as likely as them enforcing muffler laws on Harleys.

foxtrapper wrote: Way back in the way, when fog lights were very different than driving lights, I'd argue the point of how could maladjusted fog lights be any worse than a standard flashlight.

Other than lens/bulb color, what is the difference between true fog and driving lights?

Fog lights are WIDE beams that allow you to see the road and the ditches and the next county at almost a true 180 degree spread pattern.

Driving lights are about what is way ahead of you - not as extreme as a pencil beam. Beam width is like a much more narrow cone.

I think the terms have lost all meaning. A lot of fog or driving lights might as well be another set of headlights.

In reply to Otto Maddox:

In any case, turn the berkeleying things off unless you are the only one on the road.

get off my lawn

Otto Maddox wrote: In reply to Otto Maddox: In any case, turn the berkeleying things off unless you are the only one on the road.

Amen brother!

There is a big difference between fogs and driving lights. Fogs are not biased to reduce glare into oncoming traffic like regular low beams either.

I don't give a berkeley what lights you are using when you are out in rural areas and whether or not you care that you are reducing your distance vision, but once you are in a well lit city with a few hundred other cars on the road turn 'em off.

When I am not angered by them I tend to think either the driver has left them on in the same way an oldster in a camry leaves on their turn signals for miles after a turn or that the driver also had a thing for underbody lighting in the 90's

Just to make some of you irrational people more angry I am going to go install foglights and leave them on all the time, no matter what, day or night. HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!

Enjoy replacing them regularly

Some people think that headlights might make good fog lights.

After the first fog light thread, I decided to park my Astra in front of a couple taller vehicles to see how much light from fog lights would shine in the eyes of an oncoming driver. The vehicles I tried this with were my dad's Ridgeline and my mom's Oddy. In both cases at about 100 feet away, there was quite a bit more light in the cabin of the "test" cars with my fog lights on. For someone with sensitive eyes like mine, it makes a difference.

I don't have any issues with bright lights in front of me, because I look at the white line on my right if I am blinded by Per's Subaru (joking) in the middle of the night. It's simple, and it works. As long as I can see that line, I know where I am on the road.

In reply to failboat:

For what it's worth, the fog light bulbs for our car are 45 watt bulbs. The headlights themselves are only 65 watts.

I complain about fog lamps. If it's not foggy/rainy/snowy, turn them off please. And the d-bag with the always-on rear fog lamp in the Audi, I will punch you one day.

In reply to aussiesmg:

Damage to a vehicle in the U S of A is a felony. When I yell at you after catching you, you are likely to turn to me while holding a baseball bat aka a lethal weapon giving me the right to protect myself. I have a feeling this has been discussed before.

I stopped using the fogs on my Ti for two reasons.

1: They do not do much compared to the euro elipsoidals I have in the car. Those lights do a much better job of cutting through the muck than the fogs do

2: Like Derick mentioned, I discovered that they blinded people worse than the headlights.. even though they were aimed at the ground. On a rainy day, the light would BOUNCE off of the wet pavement into people's eyes. Surprisingly, only SUVs were annoyed (or bothered to flash me)

I've never had a problem with fog lights blinding me more than the low beams in most SUVs and trucks. Then again, I drive a proper sports car.

N Sperlo wrote: In reply to aussiesmg: Damage to a vehicle in the U S of A is a felony. When I yell at you after catching you, you are likely to turn to me while holding a baseball bat aka a lethal weapon giving me the right to protect myself. I have a feeling this has been discussed before.

It's OK.

He used to be a cop.