to think ‘turn off your f’ing fog light!’.

[Catsize]

I am fed up with being dazzled by people who think that the slightest bit of fog means you should put your fog lights on, even if you can see the lights of a car 20 cars ahead.

And don’t get me started on people who sit on their brake at traffic lights...

And relax...

My car isn't automatic but I do have an automatic handbrake. I think for some bizarre reason it leaves the brake lights activated when stationary, and I don't think it's possible to keep that from happening. I do try to show courtesy in every other sense and always, always dip the high beam to oncoming traffic and turn it off when red lights are in any way visible in front - even some distance away. Surely everyone with any manners does this!

Unnecessary fog lights drive me demented, and are really dangerous.

FFS you’ve got me all paranoid now - I drive an automatic with no obvious hand brake (there’s no handle thing and it comes on and off automatically when I park / start the car) AND it’s got those front LED light thingies that people think are on full beam so flash me even when they’re not in the slightest bit being used, so what do I do... looking at you Mercedes....

I was driving this evening on a 60mph road (most people drive less as it's too dark) above the motorway. It's already quite an unpleasant part of the road because of the oncoming cars with their halogen lamps but also someone tried to overtake a cyclist with oncoming traffic being just too close. Some roads are just a nightmare to drive and those new white/cold lamps are horrible.

There are some cars that have their full beam on and you think 'that's VERY bright!' and then they dip them and it's not much different.

I don't find the fog light too bad, but then again I don't seem to find red lights dazzling. Bright white LEDs on the other hand...

Also high beams on country roads - if the uncoming car doesn't reciprocate me flicking mine off I fucking well put mine back on again.

Also! People that don't adjust their dipped headlights to the road, especially in 4x4s so I get lights directly in my eyeballs as I drive around town. This really fucks me off.

My car has independent front and rear fog lights. I'll sometimes stick the front ones on when driving home (along dark country lanes) because it gives more light without dazzling other drivers.

I'd rather people had lights on... So many people drive their dark grey cars in the gloom without a single light.

It’s a pet peeve of mine.

And any strobe type lights. Cyclists with strobe front or rear lights in the dark - very annoying. Worse are breakdown trucks. They don’t seem to realise having a car on the back of their truck whilst moving is NOT a reason to have their bright orange flashing lights on. They are only supposed to be for when they are a potential hazard or at risk from being hit.

Some idiot boy racers put their fog lights on because they think it makes their car look cool. It should be illegal to have them on in unsuitable weather conditions imo. Police should be able to issue spot fines like they do for mobile phones.

I also drive an automatic and keep my foot on break because that's how the stop/start engine works.... if i took my foot off the break and put it in park mode it would take too long to get you again.

The forg lights thing..I never see anyone with them on and that's in thick fog! In fact some people don't have any lights on..unreal!

Don't even get me started on those super bright headlights..

I drive a car with "stop start", when you keep your foot on the brake at traffic lights the engine cuts out until you take it off again, thus saving fuel. However, I'm an old school driver and nearly always use my handbrake when I stop at the lights.

My Dad and DB have one of those cars that cut the engine out when you stop, it took me a while to remember we hadn't broken down at first.

To those saying it gives extra light on dark country roads...
I'm pretty damn sure that car designers would ensure that headlights work perfectly well on dark country roads. Maybe its time to accept that you really need to wear glasses whilst driving...maybe.

Ah' the price of vanity...someone else's life!!

It is the people who keep their rear fog lights on when not even remotely foggy that give me the rage. At least when you are behind someone at lights with their brake lights on you are stationary and can look away but driving behind someone with them on when dark is very hard on the eyes

@mrcharlie

I'm typically driving between 12-5am... Not many other drivers on the road. I already wear glasses and have my eyes checked very regulart so it's not that. I have a big car and the headlights are high up. Using the front fogs puts more light directly on the road.

I was just thinking about this tonight! Tiny bit of fog and all the fog lights go on and I've noticed that some cars have a little extra light at the back which is quite annoying. I was driving down the M74 and the number of drivers with fog lights on was ridiculous. Visibility was fine!

I think sometimes it's because people are driving in and out of fog and just not turning the lights off inbetween, or forgetting to.

OTOH there's the people who put just their sidelights on in poor visibility- WTF?

I hate the new led street lights, it's much harder to see cars coming to go past you when you are looking to see if it's safe to open the door & get out than with the old orange street lights.

Justfivemoreminutesplease have you checked to see if you can angle your lights up and down? My last car had a switch that would change the angle of the headlights and if they were high up they looked pretty much like full beam. You may be able to dip them down to a better level, check your manual.

I get annoyed with automatic full beams.

Most of the time, they stya on too long dazzling the driver on coming yet the driver doesn't think to switch manually

How do you know when someone is on automatic? (Even if a particular car model has them, the driver may not be using that setting.)

I have this feature, which I try to use whenever I can. I've posted previously that in five years of car ownership I can count on my fingers the number of journeys that full beam has come on at all. I don't think I've ever seen an oncoming car turn their high-beam off before mine have turned off. So they're definitely not slower that most drivers, or any other automatic systems.

From my experience of country roads, I'd guess the longest any oncoming driver sees my high-beams is for one second after rounding a corner to face me. (Country roads at night are the only places that it's dark enough and traffic is low enough for automatic high-beams to ever come on. On motorways (near London) and in cities other traffic and lighting means they are off 100% of the time.)

I realise I'm sounding defensive, but if automatic high-beams like mine were on every car, and could not be turned off, you'd have few problems, not more. (It's a medium-spec Golf, nothing special.)

fewer problems

I find my automatic full beams turn off a little bit too late and often stay on when behind another car if I'm a long way back. I have glaring zenon headlights which do embarrass me. People are always flashing me as if to say 'turn your headlights off', I flash back to say 'you thought that was bad, check them out in their full glory'. I suffer more and more from night blindness so I am aware of how difficult it must be coming towards me on a small country road.

We have them adjusted to point more at the road, may need to recheck that.

Fog lights on permanently get right on my goat. The other evening I passed a car with 6 different lights on on the front of it. I'm wondering are these set to 'on' permanently by the manufacturer? What idiot gets into their car and as they are doing all their checks thinks, 'Right, every light on full, and I'm off'?

My car is automatic, I use the auto handbrake button. Its fab. Turns off the brake lights and also means I can have my foot on the accelerator for superspeedy take offs at the lights .

Just posting this, I promise it's fog light relevant!!