New Fog Light laws in Victoria.

Fog lights are those things that should have coloured lenses and be mounted as low as possible on the front of the vehicle.

Anything else is a driving light - unless it has a handle on it and then it is a spotlight.

Thats my definition any way.

They come standard on every doof doof car

Wish the local police here in Townsville would also start booking these dills with wanker lights. I rarely see any that are correctly adjusted and all seem to be normal spot lights and certainly not orange lights in any way.

Angler

Angler, I know what you mean, I drive Townsville to Mackay at night and close to every third car seems to have them on and as you say they point everywhere. Especially in my eyes.

Fog lights are the lights fitted to a vehicle low down to use when there is fog.

Wanker lights are fog lights used when there is no fog. They are appropriately named after the users.

I hope all other states follow. It is unfortunate that wankers cannot think to be considerate to others and it is necessary to pass legislation.



Tjilpi

Have a look at the following for a definition of Fog Light and Driving Light. I reckon it pretty well sums up what most (sensible) people would agree on Link

Murray,

I'm not sure on Huggetts - it is open but I've heard the track over the crossing is closed but I can't confirm this.

We camped on the Avon river along the Avon track last weekend. The track has chopped up a bit but nothing too drastic.

As you travel into Huggetts take the last (I think) track to the left - follow this for 30-40 minutes and you'll end up at a T intersection with the Avon Track. Just over the other side of the river is a good spot we used.

Only big enough for a few swags and a tent - but better than over crowding at a two wheel drive camp :-)


Tim

Gday Tim
Thanks for the reply.
Wes and I came out on that road last time. We came to the T intersection from the back of the road closed sign. Rather tricky road as the only maintenance that was done , is the trees have been cut from across the road.It was like driving down a dry river bed for about two hrs.
I'll see how wes is about the trip, not sure if he will want to come as he was hit by a car a couple of weeks back and has a sore back.He was sitting on his bike at a corner to turn right and a car hit him in the back wheel.
Murray

As an interstater you will probably agree when I suggest a $1000 fine and make it federal not just state.

I had a mercedes limo owner calmly explain to me, at lunchtime in brisvegas one day, that he did not have a faulty brake light causing me irritation in bumper to bumper traffic - it was just the rear foglight.

I " very calmly " responded about the nescessity of foglights in the middle of qld summers at lunchtime...............the world is full of em, fair dinkum.

Mark, it drives me crazy also. the lighs have no set height or focus and are left on for the pose i guess. NSW fine is $70 but is not enforced.. NSW is broke so is an oportunity missed with every third car having them on unnecessarily!! Michael

thanks guys for the support. all us interstaters and the rest of us can do is to flash these dills with our high beam and hope they get the message.and arent new cars coming out as standard with these lights hard wired to come on when you turn the haed lights on or is that just a myth

So we can all just drop the level of the 200mm driving lights and run them now , can we?? Michael

Its funny how fog lights can turn into driving lights ???

FOG lights..........NOT driving lights..

Funding, Thats what the Highway Patrol is for.... Highways!!

maybe the police are reluctant to enforce it cause there isnt enough REVENUE in it to worry about

couldnt have said it better myself mikee5

Cause you use fog lights you speed? Damn 80% of ppl in QLD are speeding!

turn on your uhf at night and listen to all the cursing going on not only from heavy vehicle drivers but other drivers with radios about these lights.you would have to be blind if you cant see without them on.what is wrong with your low beam.i drive a b-double from brisbane to sydney twice a week with no need for them.if you cant see in the fog drive to the conditions and slow down

regards
safe driving

A wanker - or maybe just someone who doesnt know the difference between a fog light, a driving light, and a headlight and what they are designed to do.

Hey Bigfella, I'm with you ,wanker or not. Both my Peugeots have
these so called foglights, mounted low to the ground under the bumper. White lights. They provide extra vision to the side of the road. I have never been flashed by another vehicle for having them on, nor have I ever been dazzled by similar lights on approaching vehicles ,& there are plenty of them. Driving lights
or spotties are a different matter, & usually with high beam headlights as well. I think there may be some confusion between
the two. I have been told to turn them off by a policeman doing
breathtesting as it is against the law (NSW) to have them on
unless in fog/dust/poor light. I told the copper I use them to
make my grey car more easily seen in conditions of poor light, that
existed at the time. He agreed, & I use them constantly...oldbaz.

Sorry, but fog lights are designed to keep the light as low to the ground as possible to stay under the fog and if they are installed properly, they shouldn't distract oncoming cars..

I think people are confusing fog lights with aftermarket doof doof light things ..

Nothing to be sorry about - Its all part of the confusion.

Factory fitted rear fog lights are as bright as brake lights and are easily confused as such - at night or in busy traffic conditions.

Factory fitted front fog lights in most cases have a unnescessarily large wattage bulb for general use. In non fog conditions, they are as bright and as annoying as driving lights, to oncoming traffic.

good work zebra400 its good to see there is still people out there with common sense.you actually took the time to rectify your problem without an inconvienience to other drivers.keep up the good work

Nice to see thinking happening. Good on ya.

Another idea that might be of interest:

On most of my " travel " vehicles I have arranged the switches and wiring so that the following occurs.

Low Beam
High Beam - Headlights - no driving lights
High Beam - Driving lights - no headlights

This allows stepping down of the lighting as approaching vehicles get closer, allows the eyes to adjust in three stages instead of " bright to dark " and also a gives the alternator a rest from running the headlights which are outperformed by quality driving lights.

Of course, this might not be as nescessary in more recent vehicles with blingy headlights or for those people who do little night driving.

Zebra400
95w low beam is the same as driving with high beam on all the time and as bad as having fog lights on.

Dave,

I think you will find that with most lights the difference between high and low is not in the wattage of the bulb.

R.

OzTroopy.....what you have done sounds good but I think it may be illegal..

95w is the same as having fog lights? That's an interesting comment. Dave, I think you need to go and do some more research. By using a stronger low beam, the light is directed away from oncoming drivers. We have tested them with other 4WDers (when coming towards us) and they have found the increased wattage did not add any extra glare over 55w. The issue with fog lights is that they don't automatically direct the light away from oncoming vehicles.

Robak, standard wattage for an 80 series is 55w for low beam and 95 for high beam. With upgraded light enclosures and a heavy duty wiring lume, we are now using 95w low beam & 110w high beam. I spoke to Alan Johnson at Piranha in Melbourne and this set up was his recommendation. Having used them for quite some time now, I agree that we dont need any stronger than 110w high beam. We did use 135w/145w and kept blowing them. When we installed the 95/110w, we didnt notice any deterioration in the output on full beam. Plus was that we didnt continue blowing stronger light bulbs. In addition, we still have driving lights fitted. When we turn them on (135w) as well as full beam, we dont get a lot more light, so we use the driving lights sparingly.

So your saying that your 95w low beam isn't as bright as 95w high beam ?

Dave,

It's about direction of the light. Not its brightness. But if you're a car coming in the opposite direction the "yes" a 95watt high beam will be "brighter" then a 95 watt low beam.

In fact a 55 watt high beam will appear brighter to an oncoming car then a 95 watt low beam. Hence the issue with "fog lights" which are mostly 55 watt but are directed straight ahead and into the eyes of oncoming drivers.

R.

Gronk,

You're probably right but as far as I am concerned it falls into the larger tyre / suspension lift etc etc category.

It is failsafe - When highbeam is selected either the std headlights OR the driving lights come on. Just depends on whats selected.

Havent found any rules about it, so as long as driving lights are legal distances apart and the park / running lights are on - what the heck.

bit of a worry this HAIRS fella being on the road with us all hey guys?

Hey Goldie,
You know you shouldn't be worried about being on the road with me. ;-). You know I'm one eyed and blind in the other.
It's all good.
When are we having a drink again?

tell me its your shout and its on

MIKE DID very good reply but wouldnt you class any thing other than low beam as auxiliary lighting?

Hey Hughd,
They use to check your head lights. Can't remember the last time I saw a mechanic checked the head light alignment, must 17 or more years ago. How things have changed.