Fog Lights

This may help you .Australian Design Rule 76/00

John G
The "so called fog lights aren't really fog lights, as shining white light into a fog is a useless thing to do. Just creates a big white wall in front.

The lights modern vehicles have fitted low down are called fog lights for some reason.
All I have seen do not have a cut off beam pattern to prevent glare as do low beam head lights and many use the glary ones.

Dunnydoor drivers never seem to have them switched off and blind oncoming drivers. They also have them on at night, so if they don't see something in the headlights then they definitely see what they are about to hit because the road immediately in front is well lit.
The driver may dip the headlights but the glare lights are still on.
Dunnydoor vehicles NEED these lights as one headlight is usually stuffed anyway same as the regulation one tail light faulty.

Unless the beam is below the fog and is a colour, usually yellow, or if white and has a cut beam they can't be classed as FOG lights. The Yellow taints the fog and to ssome degree clarifies objects hidden in the fog and also allows oncoming drivers to see colour and position rather than a wall of white.

Everyone seems to call them fog lights but they aren't fog lights at all, switch them off in fog and use low beam for better vision IF you don't have yellow projected forward.

John, you must have seen how the glare comes from other vehicle lights and you have been driving around with yours glaring too!

I think I understand John's post. He is not after the actual regulation or law. He and I would like to know the "why is it so" behind the law.

I also would like to know what is wrong with having my fog lights on in the daytime?

Phil

I could be quite wrong, but I've wondered whether this rule came in because of people leaving REAR fog lights on - which are often brighter than brake lights, and can be intensely annoying to drive behind, especially at night.

I believe in Europe where fog lights are really a necessity, they use the fog lights in lieu of headlights. The reason for the low mounting is that they penetrate under the fog layer & illuminate the immediate road ahead & out to sides.

Hi John ,

Hope this helps?? Tasmania changed law in 2009
Daytime Running Lights

these are optional forward-facing lights that are designed and fitted to make the motor vehicle more easily visible to other road users when driving during daytime .

They must be aligned to the front of the vehicle so as not to cause undue dazzle or discomfort to oncoming drivers and other road users.

They may only emit white light.
they must switch off automatically when headlights are switched on
If they go off when headlights are turned on they are daytime running lights.

Front fog lights

These are optional lights that are designed and fitted to inprove the lighting of the road ahead during times of reduced visibility. If fitted they must be aligned to the front of the vehicle so as not to cause undue dazzle or discomfort to oncoming drivers and other road users.

They may only emit white or yellow light.
They must be able to be switched on and off independent of the high and low beam headlamps.
There must be a non-flashing tell-tail light displayed on the dashboard and visible to the driver that illuminates when the front fog lights are on
If they stay on when headlights are on they are fog lights.

This info came out off the RACT Magazine june/july 2013

Cheers

Harvey (DBN05 )

My fog lights had piddly 55W halogen globes so I fitted a 55W HID kit. I haven't seen fog for years so I haven't tested them but I'm pretty sure that they would hinder rather than help. What they do very well is light the sides of the road so that I can see skippy as he approaches the bitumen and not just as he enters the impact zone.

Bob

Two things which ought to be 'policed' properly. 1- The blindingly bright rear red light mentioned by others above (Hyundais seem to be the main culprits in my experience), and 2- people driving with their fog and headlights on around town when there is no fog. Some of the latter are worse than others and I've hit a few 'transgressors' with high beam to register my displeasure at the wall of oncoming light which results, but I doubt they have a clue that it's not their headlights causing the problem.

I was flummoxed that so many could be so bl..dy inconsiderate until I read recently in a magazine an experienced test driver admit that he had himself been driving around unknowingly with the 'light wall' on because there was a little trick sequence to not having them come on automatically. Instructions were in the car handbook, but as he said, very few read handbooks. The car manufacturer should ensure that "off" is the default, not "on". Perhaps they do an it's just another case of IO error.

It should be obvious to anyone who has had the displeasure of someone on a clear night behind them, the additional glare requires a mirror adjustment so that the "knob" behind you can see.
And the same during rain (and not fog) that these lights help the driver and hinder all other traffic with respect to vision.
With a Hyundai the rear hi vis light comes on with the front fog lights and if it was used during fog only would be OK.

That is why the rules are written

Cheers,
Jim

John,
I am not having a go at you but fog means fog.

I don't know how many times I been vision impaired by drivers using fog lights at night.

Now you are going to say that you asked why in daylight. Simple Blanket rule as said before. Why question it when you can just turn on low beam. I believe you are trying to do the right thing and maybe it is just as easy to turn on your headlights on low beam.

I run with my headlights on, not because I can't see but because others might not see me, especially when they are looking into the sun or the vehicle blends into the local surrounds.

In SA if you use fog lights in anything else other than a fog expect to get booked. It is illegal.

Di

Hi John

To answer your question.
It is to do with the shape of the beam and the effects it has.
Fog lights shine with a wide but shallow intense beam meaning that when looking into the light it gives a very intense light when compared to a low beam light.

When used in fog this is not a problem because oncoming vehicles see your fog lights through a watery mist that scatters the light and diminishes the intensity and therefore the glare. The fog acts like a diffuser.

When you have fog lights on without fog the intensity is not diffused so other drivers see the equivalent of a driving light intensity. You don't have to have misaligned lights for this to be a problem as on anything but a dead flat road your vehicle will be pointing up at some stage.

(this is also very relevant to the rear red fog lights. They are a nightmare to follow in rain and are also easily mistaken for stop lights)

Fog light intensity is very obvious when some one follow you as the sharp cut off causes bright flashing in your mirrors as you go over bumps and come out of depressions in the road. Normal low beam headlamps are not as intense so are not as big a problem (unless someone has fitted after market HID's)

All this means of course that fog lights are designed to be used INSTEAD of headlights in fog at night.

If you can see better with your headlights on then you are not in the foggy conditions that fog lights are designed for.

So, fog lights are for heavy fog at night where the headlamps cause too much glare back and you can see better with a light that shines UNDER the mist.

If you are using fog lights to give more vision at highway speeds the you are looking at the wrong part of the road.

If you are using them for extra fill at low speed when off road then that is a realistic option.

The other thing is that if you fog lights help with high speed driving then you may have one of the many incorrectly fitted driving light lenses that have been supplied incorrectly as fog lights.

Hope this helps to understand some of the issues.

regards

A

Well I drive with mine on.

They are not the true fog light, meaning they are not a real yellow, instead they are a pale yellow and they are not bright enough to blind or annoy oncoming drivers.
For me it's all about being visible and being seen.

I don't agree with those single rear fog lights, I used to have a car with one and it was blinding looking at it from behind.

The thing that really annoys me is idiots that drive around in bad weather with no lights on and again the idiots that drive around at 5 in the morning with no lights on.

Interesting reading of why yellow is better for fog lights. I found it this morning.

Another point of view.

I am going to try painting a set of globes and see how they go. We came through about 60Km of very thick fog between Goulburn and Canberra last night around 1AM and the white fog lights on the Maxima were not much better than low beam. And yes! They were pointing "under the fog".

The paint was just $20 from shuperdeep so it's not a great loss. I am going to paint the actual globes though because I have a spare set in case it doesn't work.

But it wont be until a few weeks from now when we get a chance to test them out.

Phil

I found the same John. But when I hosed the driveway and made it wet the fog lights which were directed "down" certainly would have upset heaps.

We shall see about the lights. I just remember the ones Dad had on his Armstrong Sidley. They were yellow and di a ripper job. But that was old technology which isn't fashionable these days. They came on the car from England.

I think that its mainly the add-ons that are running 100 watt globes that are the hassle. It's a bit hard to attempt to stop one and ask. May get a knife in the back. So we shall see.

Catchya

Phil