running lights

How do you know you wouldn't have had more accidents without them?


I don't think they make a huge difference but the cost to have them is
minimal, and I can say for sure that they make oncoming cars more visible to
me. It may not be a drastic safety increase but every little bit counts.

 

I don't see it making much difference, heck if they get confused with brake
lights maybe the person behind you will slow down, if you really do hit the
brakes then it'll become obvious, either way I don't really see a danger.
IIRC both my Volvos have two rear fogs, I wouldn't really care if they only
had one, although it's nice to know that if one burns out there's still
another one there.

 

i just walked out to my 960. damned if it doesn't have just one operable
rear fog light. who'd have known?

 

Certainly I can't say that I wouldn't have been hit more or harder. But I
can say it didn't make shit for difference when the Buick hit me.

 

ha...

 

Just to be contentious, I find it difficult to distinguish between
twin foglamps and brake lights. Mind you, with the number of goons
who drive around with bulbs gone here in the UK, I guess I ought
to be just as concerned about single brakelamps. Ignore me...

Regards etc,
Richard Carter

========================
Richard Carter

 

Well, unless the driver in front is driving with his foot permanently on the
brake pedal, the brake lights will only come on intermittently, whilst the
fog lamps will be on all the time. It should therefore be reasonably
straightforward to distinguish between them.

At the end of the day, does it really matter whether you can distinguish or
not? The important thing is that you are aware of another vehicle in front
of you in fog at the earliest opportunity. If there are two fog lamps, it
makes it obvious that it's a car (or wider vehicle) rather than a motorbike.

Roger

 

The problem comes about if you are looking away from the cars tail
lights, like at your rear view mirror or traffic, and back at the car in
front of you, there is a big difference between tail lights and brake
lights, but the only difference between fog lights and fog lights plus
brake lights is the number of lights. The intensity is the same. It is
a much smaller difference.

 

I'm not sure why that is a problem!

Are you saying that you might not notice the brake lights coming on because
they may not show up over the fog lights compared with how they show up over
the tail lights?

If so, I can see *some* merit in this argument - but I still think it's
preferable to be made aware of the presence *and size* of any vehicle in
front at the earliest opportunity. Two fog lamps achieve this much better
than one.

It would be interesting to get hold of some statistics of accidents where
one vehicle crashes into the back of another in fog - and to try to deduce
whether having 2 fog lamps makes such accidents more or less likely.
Unfortunately, I doubt whether suitable data exists.

Roger

 

For bikers, no. But 4-wheel vehicles? Come across the pond and
witness all the horribly designed "fog" and "driving" lights foisted
on us as safety equipment. Has anyone ever inquired how many
accidents have been caused by the eyestrain and fatigue resulting from
facing four high-powered but poorly distributed lighting? GM, esp.
pontiac, are the worst offenders in this department. And it just gets
worse with SUVs and pick-ups, where everything is set much higher to
start with. OEM and aftermarket lights are marketed like toys,
leading to the spectacle of everyone flicking on their foglights at
night or at the first drop of rain. Where I live, you might actually
"need" fog lights less than 3 times in a year.
A second issue is that many people (including myself) are used to
having the headlights lights come on automatically, but don't realize
they have no rear lights on. Not a very safe situation IMHO.
N. America desperately needs updated lighting standards, followed by
enforcement; alas, the politicos have no inclination to address this
and the cops have too little education on the subject.
my 2c,
H2Only

 

You've just hit on my pet hate, foglights on during times when they are not
needed. Doesn't apply to bikes, when was the last time you saw foglights on
a motorcycle.??? they just don't have them, mebbe they do on modern ones but
I drive old ones. Still, never seen a foglight on a bike on my travels...
Now car drivers with foglights - that's another story. I hate those idiots
who flick on fore and aft foglights at the merest hint of rain, really does
wonders for my visibility when I approach them. My favourite response ( if
no other traffic is around) is to put my main beams on. Whether I'm coming
up behind them or they are coming towards me. Why should I suffer from bad
visibility off their glare, I might miss something in the red or white glare
in the rain. The Big Volvo lights manage to cut though their light pollution
to allow me safe passage, then I cut the light back to the normal 740
running lights when I'm past.

My two pennies worth.

Stuart,

 

My V40 has lights all round during the day - not just headlights. I seldom
drive out of town in the dark so hardly ever switch to night settings -
which give you full beam - impossible to use really.

 

"Stuart Gray" sprach:

Combine all that candlepower with pot-holed city streets and worn out
road paint, and visibility actually decreases drastically in the rain.
It's a state very much like that of mutually-assured destruction, or
more = less. I flick my high beams occasionally, but most of the
offenders just don't get it.

They had it right when they simply used the low beams (at reduced
power sometimes) for DRLs. In the city at night, the function of
lights is to be seen, not to see more (there's lots of light from many
sources). I understand that's what the Euro idea of city lights is
about. I just wish my new (used 93) 940 took the old rectangular
lights; I'd throw on a set of H4s and H1s ASAP.

Raise you 2 cents . . .
H2Only

 

: )

One of me mates worked for Hawker Siddley in the Electronics bit. He
acquired a landing light from I think, an Airbus and wired it up somehow to
his bike. He used to love flicking that thing on when some cage driver came
the other way with full beam, but refused to dip. HEHEHEH. Christ knows what
it did to his electrics, but he said it was so bright he could actually see
the driver of the car beyond their headlights. I can't remember the wattage,
this was a while back, but I think it was rated at 500watts.

Stuart.

 

A little over the top, if you ask me. What the world needs is a
universal signal for "dim your lights, a***ole", besides retaliation
with more wattage. But then you have to ask what effect it would have
on those who most need to be told; as a class they tend not to be
rocket scientists, to put it mildly.
Of course headlights on all the time has removed our best means of
communicaton; e.g., for warning others about a bear in the
neighbourhood.
H2Only