Police Fog Light Warning

Hooray! About bloody time, I agree with the following "the tossers who leave them on all the time as well????" Regards Tony

Yeh Ditto
Anyone coming the other way to me with low mounted lights that are brighter than their dip lights get a light blast from me.
About bloody time they took a stand, and now all we have to do is get them to enforce it.
This i hope includes the police commodores that also have these lights on, and they too bet a blast if i cant see!!!
Anyway, i thought FOG lights were yellow?

Cheers Pesty

"Anyone coming the other way to me with low mounted lights that are brighter than their dip lights get a light blast from me"

what cars are these? unless the owner has modified them, the fog lights are a standard 55watts. the same as your low beam, as brighter is useless in fog, thats why they are low watt and low to the ground(to go under the fog) so they shouldn't dazzle anyone anyway because they are pointed straight ahead or slightly down.

if they want to pick, they should pick on HID's, these are more dazzling than fog lights. (even if they are only 35watts)

my wife has a GT forester, and if you turn on the fog lights it lights up the dead spot between your bumperbar and where your headlights hit the road, it also lights up the side of the road, all the way to the footpath, which is good if something runs out from the side of the road at night!

lastly.....what is "hazardous" if perfect conditions are, sunny, no rain, no cloud cover etc.... wouldnt that make night time hazardous? especially if there is cloud cover blocking the moon light, and its raining! that sounds the total opposite to perfect conditions to me! its just worse with fog!

Here's some information,

Every other state in Australia currently have this law. For once in their lives Victoria was behind everyone else........

Now, if we could only enforce this law in all states we might be able to stop whinging.

I wonder how many road toll lives we will save with this legislation??

The ONLY thing Victoria is ahead of the other states in is the MONEY GRAB for revenue. Appliocation of this Law os blatantly that also.

What a load of carp.

If it saves just one life, it's worth it.
How can their enforce it? They can't enforce the laws now.
I'm all for more Coppers on the roads in stead of revenue raising cameras.

If they are about saving lives then they should be patrolling for dangerous stuff not bleep around with light

By the way I am all for more Police on the rods too but concentrate on dangerous driving things not bleeping fog lights

I'd say that bright lights CAN be a real danger to oncoming drivers. Some people, like me for example, can be easily blinded by bright lights due to various sight conditions. Normal headlights are not a problem because light settings take oncoming driver positions into consideration (in the design rules). The correct way to use fog lights is to turn them on when it's foggy and turn your headlights back to park lights. I only use mine when its foggy - Subaru WRX drivers take note...

...'they should be patrolling for dangerous stuff ' Well I for one would have thought that any motorist driving around with both headlights and fog lights operating is very likely to contribute to or cause others to be involved in collisions.
The oncoming glare from such stupidity may cause a driver to suffer loss of night vision. The eye's pupil will dilate when subjected to bright light and for it to return to normal may take longer in some people than others. If (IF) such collision resulted in injury or worse still death then the current actions of Police are more than worth it - after all it is THEIR responsibility to enforce ALL road traffic rules and regulations. The statement that they should be patrolling for dangerous stuff comes from someone who has little or no knowledge or understanding of the need for uniformity and compliance on our roads by all drivers. Mature, sensible and considerate drivers should not require on-going Police attention and enforcement of laws.

DIO what a lot of complete faffle, even normal headlights out of alignment (and there are many like that) can cause what u are talking about. On the BALANCE of probablilty dangerous driving ir far more serious than someone who has their fog lights on.

blah blah blah about uniformity and compliance, thats faffle too and almost impossible to achieve, whatever makes your knowledge on my understanding of those complex issues astonishes me. Simply put, concentrate the scant police resources on what will have THE GREATEST EFFECT on saving lives not on some fog light crusade from someone on authority who also thinks that fog lights are wanker lights.

"Louie the fly posted:
I'd say that bright lights CAN be a real danger to oncoming drivers. Some people, like me for example, can be easily blinded by bright lights due to various sight conditions. Normal headlights are not a problem because light settings take oncoming driver positions into consideration (in the design rules). The correct way to use fog lights is to turn them on when it's foggy and turn your headlights back to park lights. I only use mine when its foggy - Subaru WRX drivers take note... "

as a former WRX driver, i will let you know that they are pointed slightly down, you cant adjust them like headlights and they are only 55 watts, THE SAME AS HEADLIGHTS, only LOWER TO THE GROUND! trust me, as a new wrx driver i checked how all of the gadgets on my car worked, and if you turn them on, it only lights up the road from your bumper to where your headlights hit the road, the "dead spot" it also lights up in a spread, and makes it all the way to the footpath.

ive driven the WRX "ricer" car, before that i had a 4x4, and we have another 4x4 now! if people want to complain, has EVERYONE re adjusted their lights after a lift was installed? i know that driving around in a normal car, you get blinded more by 4x4s than wrx's with foglights. i remember reading on a 4x4 forum about a guy in canberra that lifted his hilux, then had it checked by the road authority and had to lower his headlights,,,, not dip them, lower the whole light. there is a limit to how high it can be off the road.

so before we go bashing the ricers maybe we should bite our tongues, as we are probably all to blame for similar things.

dont even start me on over the weight limit 4x4s that are a danger to all on the road if you havent upsized your breaks!!!

my 2c worth

flame suit on!

There is a big difference between headlamps and fog lamps. All the wankers around our area drive day or night with there FOG lamps on so they will be seen. . .. . ..
and the focus of those lights is so broad that they glare into oncoming drivers eyes.

Ray, theres no law about driving during the day with your headlights on low beam.

All the wankers drive around with them on so they can be seen ???

So, provided they are proper fog lights and they are adjusted right, then maybe its not so bad then eh ?? If you can see the wankers, isn't that a good safety point ??

I can't remember being distracted by fog lights during the day !!

Even during the night, there are just as many poorly adjusted headlights as there are fog lights !!

Is this really a big issue or is it because you have nothing else worthwhile to whinge about ??

Have never heard of some one being killed by being distracted by fog lights ??

Why not complain about the 4x4's with 4" lifts that get unstable at speed and crash into the poor guy with 2 kids in the car ??
Now that would get them talking ,eh ?? Don't worry, I'm about to duck!!

"Even during the night, there are just as many poorly adjusted headlights as there are fog lights !!"

and they should be lined up against a wall and SHOT also!

Mark
this law has been in force in NSW for a couple of years now, fines included, I often see a local copper that does just this very thing himself in a police vehicle.

What good is a law that no one enforces, and the police themselves do not abide by????

This is similar to the law that, NO PART of your body, arms included, should protrude from the vehicle, who abides by that one, I see so many MEN drying their fingernail polish by hanging their arms out the window, authorities included.

Colin.

Was talking to a copper a couple of months ago and the fog light "law" is being ignored because of the assumption that any lights is better than none !!

He didn't know how far up the tree the directive had come from !

GRONK; when that copper told you " any lights are better than none" you should have asked him are driving lights ok, cause some fog lights are just as bright as driving lights. sounds like a bit of a plonker to me (copper that is).

On Patrol,
What about the passenger with the feet out the window?
Also dogs running back and forth across the back seat (usually Collies) from open window to open window barking at even guide posts as they go by.

I also mention in a thread early this year about at rego checks, that they don't check for the correct alignment of headlights these days. That's a thing of the past.

Mark G, the copper wasn't saying it was his idea, just that it was a directive from above to ignore the rule regarding fog lights..

And no use asking some one from the Police......you won't get them confirming that they are ignoring a rule !!

I always thought that the police were supposed to be there to police the laws not decide for themselves which laws they were able to ignore and which laws they were to enforce.
I must be wrong.

"What good is a law that no one enforces, and the police themselves do not abide by????"......

Colin that is the most valid comment i have read in this thread.
The laws are about as useful as the force that polices them.

Add to the list of useless laws, the banning the use of mobile phones while driving.
No-one i know has been fined for this and everyday I see plenty of "important" people talking away, seemingly immune from the law. I call them important people because apparently their conversation is more important than my safety as they hurtle through school zones with a car full of kids chatting to their hairdresser or whatever other pressing business concerns them.

The law and the police are a joke in this country, and a bad one at that.

Why didnt you just use your headlights on dip and save the money and stay legal

Or better still, a smarter thing to do is buy a vehicle that is of a lighter colour.
Some cars are just dangerous being a dark or similar colour to the road and back ground.
And before someone suggests we all drive bright fluro coloured cars, just don't go there, well that would be just wrong :-0

just out of curiousity what happens when

"Numerous times I have had the misfortune of oncoming vehicles not seeing me in the shadow of trees or the sun behind me."?

Do they drive on the wrong side and collide head on? Do they look suprised as you fly past on your side of the road? How do you know they havent seen you?

Usually fog lights have a shield over the front of the globe to direct the light back toward the reflector ( so in theory you don't get glare directly off the globe )

Unless you have driven in fog, you can't understand how good they can be.. ordinary headlights are useless in heavy fog ..

Thanks Gronk,

So these lights are better at penetrating heavy fog.

Are they more effective at night or day ?

Cheers......Lionel.

Sorry Gronk, thought about it a bit more.

Seems to me that they would be more effective to the driver at night and more effective to on coming traffic during the day.

Cheers.....Lionel.

Along with the special globe they have a lense that focus's the light flat so that it penetrates under the fog. They also often have a yellow tint, the color being easier to see in the fog.
I doubt the vast majority of auxillary lights that are the focus of this new law are actually true fog lights as they often have a spread beam similar to ordinary driving lights.
Cheers Craig...........

Ah, you see, fog lights are designed to aid YOUR vision. If used correctly they are invaluable. We live in the Adelaide Hills and get extremely heavy fogs that can sometimes hang around till midday and beyond. Parkers on, fog lights on, way you go. Aftermarket lights, in most cases, are probably not adjusted properly. And there, I suspect, is the cause of the problemo.

Oh well...I'm happy with my lights. So maybe I'm one of the said "Wankers" out there, But my family is safe...your family is safe..my lights are adjusted correctly...probably angled lower than most, and I will continue to use them as the need arises.
Sorry if it offends.

Well I guess you are and while your family are 'safe" you are blinding every other family and putting them in danger - a bit selfish there.

OLD GRIZZLY; i have them on my 4by,but i dont drive with them on all the time.i've used them twice in the last year,and only at night in the fog.if used correctly they worry anyone ie; when there is no fog or heavy rain turn them off.its just the ones that must have them on in the broad daylight and clear conditions that peeve people off.

mine are adjusted to hit the ground about 1 to 1/1.5 car lengths in front of me and LHS to the fog line and RHS to the centre line. if yours are adjusted correctly like you say they are no one will have a problem with them,cheers.

Garry...read my full statement please before sprouting..thank you.

Its not hard is it???

Foglights are good....IN FOG!!!


In good conditions they are blinding to on-coming drivers?

Its not rocket science is it?

Use them in fog and turn them off in daylight or clear night conditions.

You would call me a wanker if I used my spotlights in urban traffic...so why not the same consideration?

I would assume this comes from statistics.
I'm a big believer in the fact statistics only prove one thing. That is you make what you want out of statistics to prove a point.

How do you ask somebody that is dead that glare from oncoming fog lights cause your accident. Really.
Are there statistics to show that 100% of people have been able to advert an accident from fogs because they where alert and took the necessary action.

Here is a thought, In the advent of a head on, do investigators check to see if the drivers fog lights were correctly aligned. How many times do your hear this "the driver crossed to the wrong side of the road for no apparent reason"? I would to see the statistic on this.

I hate the things if used incorrectly.

Tha'ts my two cents worth.

i appoligise to every body for HAIRS, he on the drink again :-)))

Not yet anyway Mark.
I'll have a couple with you tonight.
There'll be no stopping me.
Then you'll see me on my soap box LOL

i'll b sure to bring my earplugs

Just don't forget your wallet.
;-)

I find the ones on the VX commodores the wosrt at night time. During the day I dont give a rats wether they have them on or not on any car. I had them added on our vx s pack when we bought new. I use to use them all the time (on open road not city) BUT would turn them off straight away if some one was coming towards me (except in fog, which we dont get much of). Even though the commodore had great high beam the bottom light (fog,driving) what ever you want to call them I found these lights to light up the sides of the roads fantastic, but they are extremely bright when you are approaching them from opposite direction hence why I considered on coming drivers and turned them off. So whats the go with s peed camera going off in the night, if the camera is getting the rear of the car coming towards you but with you coming the other way you cop the flash in your face. Lady on current affairs week before last had a smash due to been blinded by the flash and ran off the road MMMM who's resposible there ?? Regards Steve Miller

good luck finding any one to take responsibility for that.like all government agencies you'll never find out.BUT if you or i was to flash an oncoming car causing them to run off the road you'de go to jail.

Agreed, and the ones who drive with their rear fogs on are as bad.
You come up behind them and think they have their brakes on.

One model of Mitsubishi has them right above the tail lights and are so bright that you cannot tell when the driver actually does brake.
There is a thread about "fog" lights on the 4x4 action forum and one idiot wanted to put them in as an infill between his headlights and the car as he said there was a dark patch there. What the F would u want to do that for if your headlights dont pick something up you are in big trouble already and you cetainly wont be able to stop in time if you are using close in wanker lights.

My understanding of Fog lights is that they used to be yellow as the colour was supposed to cut thru the fog and not reflect back so much. Times must have changed and not for the better I'm afraid.
In NZ it is an offence to drive with more than two headlights on in an area lit by street lights and no more than 4 in an open area.

That means headlights must be on dip in town and no spots or wanker lights at all.
Spots and dip on the highway are acceptable.
Side lights as are built into the car are Ok.
In Canada all cars have their side lights on all the time. They are wired like that Turn the ignition on the lights go on. Simple and effective.
The other thing that annoys me is the idiots who drive around in poor light anfd frequently in the dark with NO lights on at all.
Usually it is people with dark coloured cars funnily enough.
See and be seen is a good idea. If you cant read your instruments you should have your lights on. Simple as that.

Saw one idiiot a 8 15pm last night, pitch black, exceeding the speed limit where he was, about 5 feet behind the car he was following NO lights on at all in a black car. I wonder why there is accidents. Dooohhhhh.

You are the only one so far to have any idea of the way to use fog lights, they should be used with the headlights OFF!

Spot on shaker...
Fog Lamps used to be very yellow for fog penetration not the bright pseudo spotlights they call fog lamps these days.

And we used to run them with headlights off because the white light would blind the driver as it bounced off the the fog.

I have never used the new style lights so i can't really say if they are effective but i can't see those bright lights being any help in a fog.

They are just there for show and shine value for the posers. I guess they don't know that the rest of us call them wanker lights.

On you Nev, reckon you hit it on the head. Misaligned lights is probably the crux of the matter (cool saying that). So, with all us 4WD owners on here, probably 50% have had a suspension lift or body lift, or both. How many of us have actually had our lights adjusted after we did the lift kit thing? Own up - truthfully. I know I haven't checked mine from when I bought it.

Are WE the wankers we are talking about? (insert Twilight Zone music here)

Yes Big Dog,
I agree there are some of the newer lights that hurt my eyes. The ones with the blueish tinge on newer vehicles throw a daylight glow which must be fantastic for the driver of the car. His vision must be great, but they really glare on the oncoming driver's eyes.