Please turn on your lights when there is fog.

Yesterday we had some very thick fog here. I was about 10AM so it was plenty bright out. No matter, I saw several cars without their lights on. You might be able to see fine, but your headlights make it easier for others to see you.

I was making this comment to my wife. "Just look over there," I said, "I can see those cars because their lights are on." Just at that moment two cars emerged out of the fog without their lights on. Had they been on our side of the road, for whatever reason, we wouldn't have seen them until too late.

Pleas turn your lights on in the fog.

Here's a perfect example of what I mean:


You would not be able to see this car if it didn't have its headlights on. At 55MPH you would be on each other before you noticed.

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Freedom isn't free.

Wacky people on the road that have little regard for other drivers. The driver of the car in the pic must have been on their phone......otherwise they would have their lights on.

Oh....maybe they didn't download the FOG app !

Running your headlights and using turn signals runs up the electric bill at home, didn't you know?

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Release the Kraken

A local auto parts dealer told me he has never seen a burned out turn signal bulb--because no one ever uses them!

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Possum—The other white meat!

Almost all newer cars have automatic headlamps. That is, they have a light sensor that turns the lights on automatically when it gets dark enough. People love this feature, because turning your lights on manually is so very difficult and time consuming. Unfortunately, these automatic headlamps DON'T come on in situations like rain or fog where it is bright enough not to trip the sensor, but the lights are nevertheless needed in order to make you visible to other drivers. I now live in the Pacific Northwest, and every time I drive in rain or fog (which are pretty much the default weather settings 8 months of the year) I inevitably encounter multiple drivers in nearly invisible silver cars without any lights. I assume these people are suicidal or at least hoping for an insurance payout.

My car also has automatic headlamps, but I keep them set to the manual setting just so I don't get complacent and forget.

I leave mine on all the time, they auto off when ignition off. The bulbs last about 3 years but are easy to replace.
Steve W

In the fog if a car was stalled in your lane no lights and you hit it would it be your fault .. driving to fast for conditions comes to mind ..

Whether another car has their lights on or not driving in fog at 55 miles an hours doesn't seem safe to me !!

Snow also ......

Don't out run your vision.

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Dum vivo cano

Only use your low beams and fog lights in rain, fog and snow. High beams will result in the inability to see due to the illumination of the snow and water particles.

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That's gonna leave a mark.

Good reminder. I've been driving Subaru's for four years now and once I get the car home and set the auto light function I never worry about the headlights again. Daytime running lights always and when the dusk arrives the headlights come on by magic. When I signal a 90 degree turn and start the turn that side headlight shines light where I am turning to. Next year the head light on the 2018 are supposed to turn with me.

Can't wait.

But in the meantime keep those headlights on when visibility is limited!

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

Make sure that your taillights are on as well, too easy to come up on someone's rear bumper.

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Front sight and squeeze

Have lived in both Florida where I was about 6 miles from the gulf and we frequently had fog late at night and early mornings along the water ways ..

and when I lived in NJ before deciding NJ laws were light years behind other states .. and left .. seemed like we had the thickest fog ever there literally couldn't see the length of 2 or 3 cars ..

You just had to drive at the speed you could see and no faster or you could easily hit something or even run off the road .. the girl I was dating was hit from behind by someone doing well over what was safe when she got off one night .. person didn't stop leaving her in a ditch .. she saw the lights coming in her mirror and braced herself and wasn't seriously hurt .. think goodness .. but her car was totaled .. never did find who it was .. but from the look of the rear end of her car the other car had to be badly damaged also ..

Worse then thick fog is what is called Diamond Dust by the people who live there .. talking about Kenia, Alaska where they will have a temperature inversion during the winter casing fog that freezes and hangs in the air looking for all the world like "Diamond Dust" Zillions of twinkling points of light when lights are shined on it .. your unable to even drive in it .. zero visibility .. Temperature was -35 below give or take 5 degrees .. saw it about a dozen times while I was there 18 months in the service !! was very beautiful if you shined color lights in it .. we took Christmas lights that flashed and set them up in the snow was a very pretty but eerie display that occurred when you stood several feet away and couldn't actually see the light bulbs but just the effects on the fog ice crystals ..

I just replaced two. But I'm old fashioned that way.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Not entirely true. It depends on how much light you have fitted to the front of your car. When I lived in Europe I had a LOT of Lumens on my car that I could arm and then turn on with the high beam switch. In the rain at night more light from your lights is scattered away from you than normal. The extra driving lights restored the balance for me.

In the fog, get enough light done the road and you eventually reach what I called a burn through point. You can only do this when nobody is coming the other way, of course.

Falling snow at night is another prospect altogether. The wind blown snow starts to play tricks with your eyes regardless of what lights you run, but the effect takes longer when you use just low beams. Things get weird when a lump of snow that collected at the bottom of the windshield suddenly slides up through your field of view. That can cause some pucker issues..

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Release the Kraken

Driving in the tule fog here can be a scarry experience. If the rain ever stops, we'll have plenty.

We all learn to run low beams and to not drive beyond your vision.

Remember as a Grammer school kid being taught these three words "stop, look, and listen" before crossing a road.

"Tule fog /ˈtuːliː/ is a thick ground fog that settles in the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento Valley areas of California's Great Central Valley. Tule fog forms from late fall through early spring (California's rainy season) after the first significant rainfall."

Attached Images

Tule_Fog_California_-_2005.jpg (106.5 KB, 31 views)

Drove my college girlfriend home from the airport in a blizzard once. No biggie, dropped her off and swung for home. Stupidly declined an offer (from her mother of all people) to just stay the night.

Blizzard roared awake again on the way home.

Taking CR-146 through some abandoned farm fields, visibility dropped to true zero. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it, and I hope I don't see it again. The snow was blowing and whipping so thick that I had to open the door and look down for the yellow line. I didn't dare stop for fear of being rear-ended.

One day several years ago, it was in the early 70's my BIL called me and said he wanted to go fishing, I said sure come on down, back then my BIL didn't do anything or go anywhere without a beer in his hand, I never drink when I go fishing, well anyway he brought a case with him and we both had one too many, all of a sudden the fog rolled in and you couldn't see your hand in front of you, we decided to head for home, you couldn't see the lines on the road, we saw a car pull out of a side street, I said good we will follow him, a little ways down he took a right and so did we and then he took another right and came to a stop, then all of a sudden we saw a light come on and a garage door open we followed him right into his driveway.

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Don

...thick fog in the Mojave Desert?...wow...

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A Country Boy Can Survive

The two barn doors that pop up to shine a light knock a mile per gallon off my milage. I still use them as needed.

People just don't get it. Not only fog, but also daylight or dusk. Dudes! Turn on your freaking lights! I suppose they think they are saving electricity. Or since they can see OK, there's no reason to use their lights.

Pretty sure local law here states with visibility under 1/4 mile lights will be lit.
Mine are on when I hit the highway or rural routes. Just like Dad did way back when.
I've gotten in the habit of driving around town with them on, I'll use any tool in the box esp. during tourist season.

Excellent point. Don't just rely on your daytime lights. Turn your lights on otherwise you won't have tail lights. That's how these 100 car pile ups happen on the freeways.

Well, in the mountains, but close enough.

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Freedom isn't free.

Sorry, but it's not that simple. If you're driving in fog, rain or snow with no lights, not only are you violating the law in most places, you are also inviting disaster. What about the semi that can't see you and changes lanes on top of you? Or the car that pulls out of the side street right into you because you weren't visible? Driving without both head and tail lights in conditions of poor visibility is foolish.

That reminds me of an excellent fog feature that was on cars in Europe. There was a toggle switch on the dashboard that would activate a brighter "fog mode" for the tail lights. Made a big difference in rearward visibility.

Here it is usually heavy rain or snow storms. Please turn on your lights!

Recent story. Scattered snow flurries, dark overcast day. I pulled out onto a 2 lane highway, with a heavy flurry to the west about 20 yds or so. I had my lights on! Suddenly there was flashing red lights on my bumper, so I pulled over. ISP trooper got out and came to my window. Said he nearly rear ended me! Wanted to know why I wasn't paying attention better before pulling out onto the highway. I responded that it was hard to see a greyish colored car with !NO lights ON!, coming out of a snow flurry on a dark day. He looked back and then went through the usual license, registration, and insurance. Gave me a written warning and I thanked him for being alert, and saving both of us from being embarrassed! No harm, no foul! He said to tear up the written warning, cause nothing would come of it, but I have it as a reminder, to double check when visibility is low.

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Wherever my mind isn't
Jim

Yes, but illegal in most US states.

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Freedom isn't free.

I seem to recall it was illegal there, if used in anything but obscured-visibility driving conditions.

There was another lighting mode for roadside parking, that would put the amber marker lights on steady but with low power, on one side of your car, by activation with the turn signal stalk. Typically used as a warning on narrow roads when parked temporarily with some portion of your car still in the roadway.

Yeah, most states and the USDoT wouldn't know sensible lighting if it fell on them.

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Release the Kraken

I have a Mini. The middle console has a position for a fog light switch, but no switch. The rear bumper has a position for the light, but no light. A dealer won't install either switch or light due to legalities.

When I lived in Holland I can remember at least two occasions where I didn't run into the back of someone because they had this single red fog light on their rear bumper.

Shame we can't have that here.

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Freedom isn't free.

Interesting. They seem to be fully functional on the last two Jags I've owned. They are alive and well on many a Mercedes and BMW in this city, too.

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Release the Kraken

When it's foggy at night I flip on the high beam, put on my sunglasses and hammer down.