Safe Speed Forums

After taking the online theory test Ernest Marsh posted here, I got thinking. One of the questions I got was about vehicle lighting while driving on the motorway during the day in heavy rain and spray. The correct answer was to switch on your sidelights.

Now then, I don't actually remember being taught about correct use of sidelights whilst I was learning to drive, but since then I've formed my own conclusions - the only time I use my sidelights is when I'm parked/waiting in poor light. Whenever I'm on the move its always dipped main beam (or full beam where appropriate) or nothing. Therefore in the situation discribed in the question I would have my dipped main beems on. Some vehicles' side lights are so small/dim that they can't be seen and provide no useful forward visibility.

So, what does everyone else think?

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

Sidelights would be pretty useless on motorways in heavy rain/spray conditions. This answer is incorrect in practice and I would always use dipped headlights. Oh well, I've failed my test again.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Definitely should be dipped headlights, and in extreme conditions front-fogs may be appropriate. Sidelights are a complete waste of time as they are not visible in daylight. The test is wrong as it contradicts with the Highway Code which is very clear on this subject.

I thought the actual law on foglights was "fog or falling snow", so use of them during heavy rain would ALWAYS be illegal.

Which as an aside is something I would agree with. On the occasions when visibility is so reduced by spray that dipped lights aren't good enough people should be slowing down rather than flicking on another set of lights which do no more than dazzle.

I'd also like to see the construction and use regs changed so that both front and rear foglights automatically reset to "off" whenever the ignition is turned off, and even have a minimum brightness stipulated for the dashboard repeater bulbs!

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CSCP Latin for beginners...
Ticketo ergo sum : I scam therefore I am!

Having just driven to work in a rain storm so heavy, it was 40 or less most of the way, my immediate observation would be that the rain was creating it's own mist/fog above the road, and on the windscreen, so my FOG lights were ON for part of the way!

There were still one or two numpties (lunatics actually) with NO lights on at all! Of course the cameras at Ings will have spotted those and issued a driving without due care penalty... NOT!

I notice some oncoming vehicles with really effective side lights, while others are just pathetic, and of NO use whatsoever.
I used to have a Maestro which had side lights you could drive with at a reasonable speed. The Rover 216 I had after was nowhere near as good, so I guess it depends on the car, and the drivers common sense to judge which is effective.

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Absolute rubbish. Did anyone capture the question? The software shuffles them and I haven't been able to spot it.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Rear fog lights can be useful in very heavy spray conditions. That said, I can't ever remember making the descion to turn them on in spray and I can't really figure out why...

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

I didn't capture it and I've done the test again 2 times to no avail...

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

Around town and stuff there would be a while at dusk/dawn that I would run sides on my car, but they're quite bright for sides... On the motorway or any other road I would just run headlights. In poor visibility I always run headlights, don't have any front fogs so I don't have that choice...

Came across a taxi on Friday night, parked facing me on my side of the road, he had left his headlights on, of course, the 'dipped' part doesn't work when you're on the wrong side of the road, was quite hard to see around him.

I don't understand why people won't move their hand and flick the headlights on in heavy rain. There was one day a few weeks ago and I was on the motorway in pretty heavy rain and there was a car sitting behind me - was doing about 50, which IMO was probably the right speed to be at, but there was a lot of standing water, and he was leaving enough space for dry conditions, if I had braked he woulda probably gone into the back of me, but he had no lights on whatsoever, see trying to see him in the mirrors? No chance...

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Mike

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Q. Are you a stupid fascist with limited reading skills or are you just a retard?

I can think of the occasional situation when I have put the rear fogs on: on a fast road (Motorway, DC or fast NSL A) when a severe squall type rain storm hits, and the safe driving speed drops from the applicable NSL to 30mph or so in seconds. Typically the clue is when the fast wipe setting doesn't clear the windscreen. At that point I cannot see the vehicle in front clearly, and assume that the same will be true for any vehicle behind me, and given that I have slowed right down I want to give the drivers behind as much warning as possible. The fogs come off again as soon as the wipers can be slowed down again.

The rear fogs should come off if there's a vehicle behind you. The only one that needs rear fogs is rear-end Charlie!!!!!

I did say that I only put them on when fast wiper settings do not clear the windscreen - i.e. I cannot see the vehicle in front, and if I cannot see the one in front, then I can be reasonably certain that the one behind me cannot see me either; therefore it is valid to use high intensity rear lighting. The other requirement off course is it being daylight.

It doesn't happen very often, but as it last happened in on the norhbound M40 near Warwick in May I remember thinking that it was a good idea. 2 minutes later it was bright sunshine again, and the only problem was spray.

Can't say where i got the idea from, perhaps from mentors, but i always was led to believe that sidelights should be reffered to as parking lights and used for that sole purpose. Some vehicles with germanic links used to support this idea by turning on the appropriate side light when ignition off and indicator set to one side or other.Haven't seen this recently , possibly because i suspect law is that parking on wrong side of road is a nono - certainly from a safety point it is.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

I agree that's a daft answer they give. Whilst it's true that some sidelights are better than others, they're all pretty useless. Oncoming traffic isn't too hard to spot but if I look in the mirror, my eye always tends to notice the dipped headlights and when I see the odd car on sidelights, I can sometimes mistake it for a gap in the traffic. Naturally, this would be a bad thing to pull out into to overtake!

My current practice, is to use dipped headlights in visibility that is poor enough for me to want to be seen but not so bad that I need the lights to see where I'm going. In these situations, I adjust the level control to its lowest setting so that they point at the floor. This, I think, gives the advantage of 110 watts of "look I'm here" without so much of the dazzle factor.

But I wasn't waiting to come out of a side road, looking through an unswept side window.
It only takes one careless motorist to miss an oncoming vehicle in the gloom.... and wallop!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

On coming vehicles are seen much quicker when their lights are on in poor visibility.
More so if under trees, or if looking out the side window waiting to exit a junction!
The above view was the A591 at 9.05 am this morning! The rain hitting the windscreen made driving above 35 - 40 mph hazardous.
MOST vehicles, in keeping with the Highway Code had lights ON, but a few did not, and could only be seen close up, or silhouetted by the lights of vehicles behind them.

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

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Q. Are you a stupid fascist with limited reading skills or are you just a retard?

Let's get one thing straight - front fog lights only provide better vision in really thick fog (when you should be down to around 20-30 mph) and you can't see the road properly on dipped headlights. At the same time you need the rear fogs on for your protection unless you are being followed by another vehicle (as you will be dazzling the driver).

If you are having trouble picking out other vehicles in poor light conditions then you need lights as the other drivers will be having the same problems. Hence if you are having trouble picking out vehicles with sidelights on then you need dipped headlights. Better though if you do it first. On a wet road, particularly at night, rear fogs dazzle other drivers (therefore inconsiderate) and reduce the chance of them seeing your brake lights come on.

It's all about protecting yourself as much as possible without inconveniencing other drivers.

Even at (a sensibly selected) 20mph you're probably able to work more on dips. I reckon the normal operating speed range of front fogs is more like 5 to 15mph.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety