Fog Lights Are for FOG!!! - By: Tauqeer Hassan

Car manufacturers started adding fog lights or driving lights in almost all new cars during the mid to late 90s. Fog lights are especially designed to cut through the fog to provide better visibility. They are also designed to complement the low beams of the headlights. They work together to maximize the vision on the road. The properly designed fog lights are very useful but if designed poorly, they can be very dangerous for others.

During my young times, it looked very cool to drive with all the lights turned on. All because of the passion of wanting everyone’s attention. A teenage wants to attract everyone towards that’s why teenagers have a craze of modifying their cars so that they will look cool just like car commercials make driving on wet surfaces look "cool". I had not realized that, at that time my fog lights did not have any needful effect. Mainly it use on a clear day could be blinding for oncoming traffic, as well as those driving in front of me. It had opposite effect and made harder for me to be seen. It could also cause other drivers to lower their mirrors to look away because of my fog lights.

During my time spent in Europe, I discovered that many driving laws took a very different approach for using fog lights. There lays were so much safe that one could never return to the old bad habits after understanding their motivation for their laws. Fog lights are basically for FOG and they should be only used in suitable conditions.

One may use front fog lights when the visibility is less than 100 yards. The rear fog light which is usually a single red light as bright as a brake light may only be used when the visibility of less than 50 yards. They are of course called fog lights because the driver’s visibility rarely drops to such a dangerous level in normal rain or snow like it can in foggy conditions.

Normal distances can’t be even seen when there is fog mainly on the highway which can be very disturbing. A driver’s better long distance eyesight will give more dramatic change than normal driving. Strong anxiety can be caused due to this. This is the reason for driving slow in fog. I used to drive the Autobahn a lot in thick fog while fearful about the stories of horrible fog accidents. It was also worrying to feel that I would be part of the next 100-car pileup. Fog lights can save one’s light during these kinds of conditions. Fog lights are not like high beams that simply light up the fog but they light up the road below the fog. The fog light reflectors are also designed to spread the beam in a wider angle for a shorter distance.

It is unfortunate that fog lights are designed particularly poor on American cars. It is sad that fog lights in many European and Asian cars are not well designed either. Minimal regulations are enforced by the US Department of Transportation these types of lamps. Although because of many complaints, they appear to be focused on this situation. Those fog lights which are not designed to be an essential part of the front grillwork require great accuracy for insuring proper positioning. When these lights lose their adjustment, they are cause of blinding oncoming traffic. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust them properly and fairly check them frequently.

However, the fog lights that are included in the body of the car must also be used carefully. They may also lose their adjustment because they are often not designed as carefully as low-beam head lamps. The fog lights that are added after manufacturing are mainly sensitive when related to adjustment unless proper attention is given to the design and construction of the mounting hardware.

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Also learn how to replace tail lights and if your car's fog lights are not working properly, you can learn how to change fog light.

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