i have been guilty of using them before until my officemate made me realized that i am endagering other motorists... plus parang napaka inconsiderate ko pa daw. i guess he's right.
tama, i think the issue is more of out-of-focus yung headlight rather than the intensity. kasi kahit stock bulbs yan kung talagang nakataas yung left mo, nakakasilaw
November 17, 2003 -- It can't be just me -- I've read complaints about them in letters, columns, and the occasional editorial -- but does it bother you, too, that every other airhead on the road seems to have his/her fog lamps on? All the time! Like they were some kind of fashion accessory.
Why is it that so many morons whose cars increasingly feature fog lamps don't understand or care when they should be on and when (almost always) they should not?
To those with this highly annoying and eye-straining habit, I offer three questions:
Do you think you look cool cruising around with your fogs on? Maybe to fellow boneheads you might, but not to anyone who actually knows what fog lamps are for. Leaving them on for no reason is simply stupid. Besides annoying other drivers, it wastes energy (fuel) and eventually burns out the bulbs so they're not available when you need them. Dumb!
Do you think you're easier to see, and therefore safer, with fog lights on? If that's your motive, Einstein, why not run your high beams 24/7, too? Someone must have taught you that brights are bad for oncoming drivers, and you may have noticed that yourself. Guess you haven't noticed that most fogs are also bright and/or mis-aimed enough to be nearly as bad.
3. Do you even realize they're on? Amazingly, a lot of drivers don't. Someone flicked the fog lamp switch one day, then forgot where it was. Do us all a favor: open your glovebox, unwrap your owner's manual, look up "Lights, fog," find the switch, and flick it off. Thank you!
What are they for?
Fog lamps are tremendously useful when used as intended, to "see under" thick fog, driving rain or blowing snow that reflects even low-beam headlamps back into your eyes at night. In such conditions, which most of us encounter maybe twice a year, they can see further ahead and illuminate the road's edges to keep us safely between them at reasonable speeds.
Coworkers joshed a few years back when increasing numbers of always-on fog lamps began driving me crazy. It was no laughing matter, I explained. They hurt my eyes, causing strain and, over time, adding to potentially deadly drowsiness. Lord knows, our eyes take enough abuse all day and night without needlessly adding to it. Lawmakers in New Jersey have even made "driving while drowsy" illegal.
No use asking
Occasionally, I have tried asking people nicely if they know their fogs are on, and to please turn them off. A few -- very few -- apologized and did. Most looked at me like I was wearing a monkey suit. Some got downright hostile. How dare I invade their space?
Apparently, their right to hurt peoples' eyes outweighs my right not to be eye-strained. Apparently, their lit fog lamps represent an important component of their self-esteem.
Occasionally, I tried communicating car-to-car with a sign: "Please turn off fog lamps." Most offenders ignored me. Some responded with shrugged shoulders and blank looks. "Why?" they asked. So I flipped the sign over: "Too bright, hurt eyes, annoying, uncool." No use, so I gave up on that.
Granted, fog lamps can be fine-looking jewelry on the faces of sporty and luxury cars and trucks. But they look better unlit -- except in car ads, where advertisers set a bad example by picturing them on. This encourages ignorant motorists to believe they belong that way.
Some worse than others
Some are worse offenders than others. Most BMWs have fogs, and their drivers (for the same reason they bought their Bimmers) nearly always leave them on. "Look at me!" they're trumpeting. "I have a BMW! Look, it has fog lamps! Ain't I cool?" Drivers of trucks and SUVs are making macho statements with their fogs. Pilots of sporty Pontiacs and tiny supercharged Subarus with fog lamps big as saucers are mostly BMW wannabes behaving accordingly.
The more expensive the car, the more likely it is to be equipped with fogs, the more likely its driver will be showing them off. This makes major roads in affluent suburbs serious eyestrain alleys.
I'm resigned now to flashing my brights at offenders as if their high-beams are on…but they rarely get it. They either don't respond or flash their high-beams back. I've thought (not seriously) of getting a gun and shooting some fog lamps out -- beginning with BMWs -- just for sport. But that could bring some serious jail time.
Blue Lights
Speaking of eyestrain, how about those blue-tinted HID (high intensity discharge) Xenon headlamps, which have become required equipment on those same expensive cars whose drivers think lit fog lamps are way cool for cruisin'? Brighter and broader of beam than conventional lamps, they're great from behind the wheel of those cars but can be brutal coming at you, especially if aimed too high, on taller vehicles, or (worst case) cresting a hill.
DRLs
Then come DRLs (Daytime Running Lights), lower-power lamps that burn whenever the engine is running. Required for years in Canada and Sweden -- because they've been proven to reduce accidents by making vehicles easier to see in shadows and low-light conditions -- DRLs have become increasingly common here.
Swedish Saabs, Volvos, and German VWs have long sported them, and GM made a big deal about equipping all of its vehicles with them beginning in the mid-1990s. Since then, they have spread to other brands as well. Why? Simple. Whenever a carmaker can reduce accidents involving its products, it's a win-win situation: less risk for you and me, fewer lawsuits for them.
Some malcontents are unhappy with DRLs, however. Although most are dimmer than low-beam headlamps, equally dim dissenters claim -- among other things -- that their added "light pollution" from DRLs makes motorcycles, which are wired to burn headlamps at all times, to increase their visibility, harder to see in traffic. (Huh?) These chronic complainers boycott Saturns, for example, because Saturn DRLs were far too bright for their first couple of years. (I wonder which brilliant decision-maker signed off on those?)
Yes, those early Saturns were bad, nearly as bad as full-time brights, but that doesn't make DRLs a bad idea. Most are not bright enough to bother anyone, and they make my vehicle more visible to you, and yours more visible to me. But they should illuminate only when the car is in gear, not in park. The best ones (eg. Corvettes) use amber park lamps for DRLs.
Come to think of it, I'll bet those DRL dissenters and boycotters are some of the same airheads who think it's cool to cruise around with their fog lamps on all day and night.
Maybe if we all flash our brights at these inconsiderates, they'll eventually get the hint.
yeah its pretty inconsiderate to use high beams or foglights during oncoming traffic. however, i don't see anything wrong with people who turn on their low beams at daytime, it makes the car more visible to other cars and pedestrians to avoid accidents, at least not excessively visible
Foglights offer improved peripheral lighting and it improves frontal light propagation. Yun lang. hehe. Kung nakakasilaw naga foglamps, mas lalo naman naka HID.
'yong mga jeep sa Cavite, kahit 'yong left side lang nila ang may headlight at stock pa, pero sabi ko, ba't pag nakakasalubong ko sila e nasisilaw pa rina ko? 'Yon pala nakasadya ng nakatutok sa mga kasalubong nila. 60% ng mga jeep sa Cavite ganun, nakatutok ang left side nila sa kasalubong, remaining percentage of jeep naka-high beam na ang mga headlights. Swerte na nga pag may nakasalubong ka na naka-low beam.
Turning on headlights in daytime is not customary in our roads. Yes, you may increase your visibility, but pity the guy in front of you. Your'e giving him unneccessary mental stress by implying that you have an emergency. (Yes, Bright Headlamps imply this, deny it or not)
Long driving ako sa gabi, and rarely ko lang gamit aux light. Pagdating kasi sa mga curves at naka ON ang aux light, di ko napapansin ang faint light ng oncoming traffic.
Plus it take seconds bago mag-adjust ang mata ko, going back to stock headlights.
Originally posted by ssaloon ako on lagi ang fog lamps pero mababa naman ang tutok kaya walang silaw.
sigurado ka pre? try mo muna mag-drive ng ibang kotse at kasalubong yang auto mo habang naka-on ang fogs nya. not unless by mababa you mean na sa baba talaga nakatutok ala neon style sa ilalim ng kotse.