Give Fog Lights The Flick In Broad Daylight

[aniken]

Give Fog Lights The Flick In Broad Daylight

11, November 2003

Motorists in the state’s west are becoming too fond of using their fog lights, particularly during the day or at night when there is no fog or mist and leave themselves open to being fined.

Western Region Traffic Co-ordinator Senior Sergeant Greg Reichart said a lot of people were under the impression the lights can be used at any time during the day when there no fog or mist.

“We have received several complaints from motorists asking us to do something about it,” Senior Sergeant Reichart said.

“People are being stopped and reported for this offence and a lot of them are saying they just didn’t realise. Using the fog lights at the wrong time can cause unnecessary glare or dazzle an oncoming motorists.”

Dareton Highway Patrol Supervisor, Senior Constable Jeff Burgess said motorists needed to be aware front and rear fog lights are only to be used in fog, mist, or other hazardous conditions that restrict visibility and must not be operated at any other time.

Driving with your fog lights on in any other situation is an offence under the Australian Road Rules with a penalty of $76. Devices capable of projecting light must not be fitted to a vehicle unless permitted by law. Devices such as under body glow kits, illuminated number plate surrounds, body moulds and washer jets are not permitted. The colour of lights and reflectors must not be altered from standard. The addition of different coloured globes or lenses is not permitted.

Senior Constable Burgess said police still encouraged motorists to turn their headlights on during the day as research showed they increased the visibility of their vehicle.

“This is especially the case when there is low light, glare from the sun or for dull coloured cars. Better visibility means improved judgements of other vehicles position and speed for drivers, riders and pedestrians,” he said.

[Trumpy]

I think its about time that they started to advertise the fact that fog lights are illegal to use unless it is foggy.

Too many people think they are normal headlights to be used all the time, simply because everyone else has them on.

Every second car on the road has them fitted these days, and the public needs to be made aware that they are not normal headlights.

Ok, I'm climbing down from the soapbox now...

[plonky]

Jeff Burgess has made a classic mistake of condemning one thing and encouraging another.

On the one hand he point out that fog lights shouldn't be used unless the weather is inclement and on the other hand he encourages people to drive with their low beam on in low light conditions.

No wonder the average idiot driver becomes confused!!

[ducatijb]

Well directed Foglights can only make your car easy to see the same as low-beam.

One of the Geelong XR members was booked at Cowra going to Bathurst this year and was confused because in Victoria you are allowed to use them

On the other hand if the foggies are ultra bright and ill directed I agree they are a pain

[Macktheknife]

IMHO, this subject is just not black and white.

A true FRONT fog lamp should have less glare to oncomimg traffic than normal low beam. Why? because a true fog lamp is DESIGNED to have a low and diffussed beam to reduce reflected glare from the drivers position, in foggy conditions. It follows that such a lamp will have a low glare factor.

Whereas, the current proliferation of imported vehicles (Too many to name) with high intensity REAR foglamps are more likely to cause frustration and stress when driving behind them.

I generally do not believe that the MAJORITY of modern vehicles with front, factory standard foglamps cause any more glare to oncoming traffic than low beam. In particular, I believe that the XR foglights are very low in the glare factor.

However, I have on many occasions in normal conditions, travelled behind vehicles with a REAR foglamp (High intensity red) that caused me a good deal of distress. Why, because they are DESIGNED to be bright and intense to prevent somone driving up your behind in heavy fog.

Therefore, are the police, as directed by a mostly uninformed and ignorant political entity, being forced into a missdirected and false campaign to appease the ignorant and hysterical minority?

Methinks yes.

I for one, will now probably drive in broad daylight, with my LOW INTENSITY but HIGHLY VISIBLE front fog lamps on as a show of my safety consience. Should I be booked for the offence, I will be happy to spend the money and fight the matter in court. I can't kow tow to stupidity and unfortunatly, this would probably mean I would fail the attitude test to our good friends VG and Plonky on such an occaison.

Damn the hysterical tunnell visioned bloody hypocritical loudmouths and more power to those of us with a bit of vision and latitude.

Oh, must be time for a bex and a lie down.

[plonky]

A couple of interesting points have been raised but regardless of the rights and wrongs, foglamps cannot be used UNLESS the atmospheric conditions are such that they are required (inclement weather only) and they are not to be used in a built up area (50kmh area) even if the weather is inclement.

This is how the legislation reads. It also applies to rear foglamps as well.

The foglight is a light which is positioned under the centre of the low beam. If it is at the same level as the headlight or above the headlight it is an additional light (more than the ADR permits) and thus cannot be used.

Regardless of whether they cause glare or not it is illegal to use the foglight unless the weather and road conditions satisfies the criteria.

They are, in effect, an absolute waste of time and I don;t know why manufacturers bother with them. I would suggest that the only reason they don;t have a driving light fitted (like on the old GT's etc) is that the aerodynamic shape of the front end would not allow for it.

It may be a dumb law (foglights etc) but it is the law. 50kmh speed limit is also dumb but that's what it is. If you want to pay a fine and take it to Court that's great, but you would still lose because it is still strict liability: you either had the foglights on or you didn't - the qualifying factor is the weather conditions. If the weather conditions were as such that the foglights coiuld be used lawfully then you wouldn't be booked in the first place.

The law is (some)times an ass!

[Macktheknife]

Plonky,

I know you're absolutley correct.

I also know I would most probably lose in court.

I would however be satisfied that I had the courage of my convictions.

Sometimes that's the price an individual must pay.

I would however proffer a think. I would wonder at the number of infringements in total, issued due to the infringer being initially stopped due to rear foglamp activation. I would offer that there is the hysterical (Not necessarily you blokes) hoon factor associated with the whole political legislative deal.

[Trumpy]

I totally agree that if they are going to hand out fines for front foglight use, then the same focus should be placed on the rear high-intensity fog light, which seems to be a permanently enabled feature of half the Excels/Accents in the country. There is nothing worse than being stuck behind one of these in traffic.

I too find the foglights to be helpful in certain conditions. For example, twisty mountain roads at night, as they light up the edges of the road.And of course foggy conditions.

I dont use them in the city, or when other cars are around.

The problem is that half the cars sold today have fog lights, and while some are well designed and dont dazzle oncoming traffic, others do. Late model camira and Toyota Prado are 2 that I can think of that are particularly bad.

Once everyone thinks its OK to use foglights all the time, you get a problem.

Perhaps some thought needs to go in to the regulations behind the design of the switch for the foglights.

The Expensive Daewoo Astra/Vectra has a switch that resets every time the ignition is started (similar to our TC switch), so you cant leave the foglights permanently on like you can with XRs/Commodores/Subarus etc.

This means you have to actively turn on your headlights, then enable the foglights if you want them. They cant be left on all the time.

[curious]

The day these matters become uniform the easer to manage they will be. queensland is about to introduce something along these lines shortly. The unfortunate thing that someone mentioned is that some of these lights are not true fog lights and the only reason they are there is for cosmetic value. They do look good on the car even when there off. The reflectorised characteristics on some models and wattage is where the problem starts. I admit they annoy me in a "built up area" but on the highway they are my best friend. It comes down to common courtesy on the road I suppose. Rather than writing this one we just tell them to turn em off. :

[Falchoon]

A couple of interesting points have been raised but regardless of the rights and wrongs, foglamps cannot be used UNLESS the atmospheric conditions are such that they are required (inclement weather only) and they are not to be used in a built up area (50kmh area) even if the weather is inclement.

The law is (some)times an ass!

Trumpy for PM!

If I was a cop for a day I would book so many people for having their foggies on that even Steve Bracks would say he could now afford to throw away speed cameras. iwonder if you got pinged by a speed camera and you had your foggies on would you receive an extra fine? Damn well should IMO.

In a built up area is where you need to use foggies in inclement weather to help light up the road so you don't run over pedestrians, dogs, cats, cyclists or other road hazard. The law is an