Petty police

That is correct - If your car is fitted with fog lights it has to be fitted with a warning light and it must be operative.

How much dazzle they can cause varies with the vehicle they are fitted too. Some cause some quite serious dazzle to oncoming drivers and even if they don't they still add to the general glare when used by the nupties in a lit built up area - they are unnecessary and can reduce the forward vision of other drivers such that a pedestrian in the road might not be seen through the general oncoming glare.

For the above reasons it is illegal to turn them on except in conditions of seriously reduced visibility - as in exceptionally foggy conditions or heavy falling snow, when they actually serve a useful purpose. They are there to enable you to see, not to enable others to see you, nor for posing value - where they simply serve as a warning that the driver is a pillock.

Well done the police for every one they stop and fine!

Driving lights, what driving lights?

Driving lights are a supplement to main beam and should never be used when there are vehicles ahead or oncoming. If properly installed there use is inhibited by the dip switch - dip and they go out.

Gradually ?

I drive with my front fogs on every day (in the winter) on my commute home. There's about half a mile of twisty, hilly road with no lights, no road markings, and no verge or kerb other than a gradual tapering off into mud. Normally I cycle to work, but this road is simply so fecking dangerous that I won't do it if it's going to be dark on the way home.

So I also use my front fogs (2-way switch, so not the rear) on this stretch. It's the only way (wider beam) to see anything resembling the nearside kerb. Particularly so when dazzled by oncoming traffic over the bumps.

So, does forcing me to _not_ use my lights make the world a better place?

It's also damn near impossible to see my tiny warning light (in the switch, on the fascia), unless you either move your head or the steering wheel.

Yes, and GATSOs are there to keep us all safe.

Suggest you get your headlights adjusted.

...and your eyes tested.

Chris

Andy Cap presented the following explanation :

So, should they up hold the law or not? How often do the millions of drivers on the road get pulled for any offence these days?

Just how much care and effort does it take to avoid getting pulled for the things you mention?

Hmmm....

Probably 1 in every 10 drivers on the road at night in a lit built up area will be driving with fog lights turned on. Everyone of them could be pulled - shooting rats in a barrel. How often do you hear of anyone actually being pulled for that offence, or any of the other commonly committed driving offences?

Andy Cap wrote on 20/11/2007 :

Well no not quite....

In the 1960's I would doubt you would have got very far with a tail/brake/headlight out at night, without it being noticed and you being pulled for it. You would likely get pulled quite often and your vehicle checked at the road side for defects. A single light out was always a good enough reason to get pulled and the rest of your vehicle to be given a good going over for defects.

Then you didn't see nearly so many vehicles driven about for months with obvious and easily fixed defects.

I once accidently left my rear fog lights on as I pulled away in a city centre and was pulled before I had done 100yds.

Now you see the same vehicles driven with the same defects from one MOT to the next, when they finally have to be repaired.

Now what were you saying about effective policing?

Conor pretended :

Perhaps the sink managed to hook the switch to pull it out 8-o

Andy Cap was thinking very hard :

Your chances of getting pulled at all for ANY offence is extremely slim, so why complain if you are committing an offence and happen to be one of the rare unlucky ones who gets caught. All are easily avoided, just understand and obey the law or learn to be clever enough to know what you can get away with. Clue... Driving around with unecessary fog lights on, is not one of the clever ones.

Cicero expressed precisely :

So should the entire UK police force sit at the side of the road pulling everyone with front fogs on, to achieve the consistency?

Pulling the odd one or two and letting them rant in the newsgroups, local rags and in the TV news is probably just as effective.

Seconded.

-----------------------------------

================================== A little exaggeration, I think. Just a little more attention to what they see. If we as ordinary motorists see foglights and 'phone users then it's reasonably certain that the police see them too. Perhaps a few more unmarked police cars would help.

I don't see much evidence that occasional 'rants' in NGs and other media have any effect on these problems. I doubt if I ever drive without noticing people using mobiles, and foglights - mostly at night but often in good daylight- are a perennial problem.

Cic.

The OP was stopped for using *front* fog lights. Try as I might, I'm unable to find a reference to a warning light being a legal requirement. Do you have a quotable source?

Chris

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 23:13:09 -0000, I waved a wand and this message magically appears in front of Andy:

The horrors have been doing that for many, many years. Even with the roundabouts put in place, they still do it!

I remember the old days when there were no cameras in use... those were the days!

I once drove a Sierra back from an MOT and didn't notice that the tester had left the rear fog lights on. The not very bright light was in the switch, out of my eyeline and from my seat position was hidden by my right arm most of the time. I only noticed as it got darker and the light reflected off my offside window.

SteveW

So the big orange light on the dash (not to mention the 'extra' light from the front of your car) didn't give you a hint that something was awry?

You can actually proceed to a safe place to stop. People seem to think they should pull over as soon as the blue flashy lights come on.

IME slowing down a bit and an acknowledgement to the copper behind that you're going to pull over, then stopping somewhere safe isn't a problem. And in fact, it might actually help you 'get off with a warning', the fact you've shown some competence. Unless you get some ignorant bellend whom you have to explain why you didn't stop straight away.

It's been a while since I've been stopped though, maybe the 'rules' have changed? Just don't look as if you're evading them lol

So the fact that about fifteen other people have already said the same thing didn't give you a hint that there wasn't a hell of a lot of point reposting the whole thing just to say so again?

30 pounds fine for breaking the Road Vehicles (Lighting) Regulations and the Road Traffic Act seems fair enough to me. Regards Mike.