Driving standards

[laurenceb]

A high percentage of those running with no lights were silver or white making them blend in with the background rather well

[Dunsignalling]

3 hours ago, craneman said:

Not illegal, and on the rare occasions when it is foggy enough to justify front fogs the last thing you want is to have headlights on. The purpose of a front fog light is to provide a light source which avoids the back-glare of a dipped headlight. 

On my most recent cars (2010 Peugeot and 2013 Skoda) the fog-lights didn't work without the dip beams being on. I presumed it was a statutory requirement from a certain date.

 

Dip beams these days have such well-defined cut-off that it's seldom a nuisance.

 

Just Googled it, and using fog-lights alone is legal provided they are inset by no more than 400mm from the outside extremity of the vehicle. That said, where they are original equipment, it appears that most (if not all) cars are nowadays set up so they only work in conjunction with the headlights.

 

Given that it's only legal to use fog lights at all (front or rear) when visibility falls below 100m, it might be a good idea for them to extinguish automatically as soon as the vehicle speed exceeds 40mph!  

 

John

Edited January 15, 2022 by Dunsignalling

[kevinlms]

2 hours ago, laurenceb said:

A high percentage of those running with no lights were silver or white making them blend in with the background rather well

It's to match the number of black or dark grey ones running around at dusk with no lights on at all!

[Dunsignalling]

I see dozens of newish cars every day that are undoubtedly equipped with daylight running lights, but they are not lit. One has to take some trouble to programme them "off", How come that's permitted?

 

Going into a "green tunnel" on a bright day, ones eyes adjust quickly, but not instantly, and an unlit dark-coloured car can be all-but invisible for a few seconds.  

 

John

[rockershovel]

Not really a "driving standards" issue, but spending a few nights driving round the Norwich area has been thoroughly unpleasant. 

 

Complex  junctions involving multiple roundabouts, a random scatter of road closures  and thoroughly filthy weather - cold, wet  and foggy. Roads very dirty so markings are illegible and a proliferation of variegated road lamps casting a baleful glare through the murk. 

 

Nasty. 

[Enterprisingwestern]

5 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

I see dozens of newish cars every day that are undoubtedly equipped with daylight running lights, but they are not lit. One has to take some trouble to programme them "off", How come that's permitted?

 

AFAIA, unless the law has changed recently, DRL's aren't mandatory in the UK, we got an exemption to the EU regulations when these were passed into law, therefore it is not illegal to switch them off.

 

Mike.

[peanuts]

2 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

AFAIA, unless the law has changed recently, DRL's aren't mandatory in the UK, we got an exemption to the EU regulations when these were passed into law, therefore it is not illegal to switch them off.

 

Mike.

this none of our small vans (renault kangoos) have drl oldest at least a 19 late 

[peanuts]

this was one of a number of spoof adverts on an old rover forum thought it rather hit the nail on the head 

[johnlambert]

The gym I use has a good view of the adjacent road and the junction where it ends at a give way junction.  This week the main road was closed for major works.  There are a lot of signs warning of the closure, there's a diversion in place and the bus route has been altered.  But one bus driver clearly forgot, drove past all the warning signs and drove right up to the junction only to find that they could go no further.  I'm not sure how they eventually got the bus out, but it was there for at least 10 minutes.

 

I'm not saying it was bad driving, but it certainly wasn't ideal.

[peanuts]

37 minutes ago, johnlambert said:

The gym I use has a good view of the adjacent road and the junction where it ends at a give way junction.  This week the main road was closed for major works.  There are a lot of signs warning of the closure, there's a diversion in place and the bus route has been altered.  But one bus driver clearly forgot, drove past all the warning signs and drove right up to the junction only to find that they could go no further.  I'm not sure how they eventually got the bus out, but it was there for at least 10 minutes.

 

I'm not saying it was bad driving, but it certainly wasn't ideal.

technical spad ?

 

[PhilJ W]

38 minutes ago, peanuts said:

technical spad ?

 

Brain fart more like.

[boxbrownie]

16 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

 

You can't actually have the back one on without the fronts if both are factory fitted....

I thought it was the other way around.

[boxbrownie]

13 hours ago, leopardml2341 said:

My new EV doesn't have front fog lights 

Not many modern cars do have front fog lights any more as the modern multi pattern headlamps don’t produce the beam scatter in fog like the old headlamps used to.

[boxbrownie]

4 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

AFAIA, unless the law has changed recently, DRL's aren't mandatory in the UK, we got an exemption to the EU regulations when these were passed into law, therefore it is not illegal to switch them off.

 

Mike.

No we didn’t……but

 

”Vehicle manufacturers must fit DRL to new types of passenger car and light goods vehicle (car derived vans) type approved to European vehicle requirements from February 2011[footnote 1] . In practice this means that any new model launched after this date, and many launched before, will be fitted with DRL. However, existing models on sale before this date without DRL fitted can continue to be sold and used indefinitely.”

 

which is why you see lots of recent reg’d cars/vans without DRLs they have been in production long enough not to require them.

[boxbrownie]

They are from 2018 an MoT fail if fitted DRLs are disabled or faulty.

[peanuts]

13 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

They are from 2018 an MoT fail if fitted DRLs are disabled or faulty.

if it is fitted it must work correctly iirc 

 

[Guest]

53 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

I thought it was the other way around.

 

Front first. Certainly on the Leaf where your turned the stalk one click for the fronts and then gave it another turn against a spring stop to make the rear come on. If you weren't careful you could fail to turn the rear on... 

[Reorte]

15 hours ago, Mark Saunders said:

Modern lights on the front of cars that are permanently on are really dangerous as when it gets dark they are on and nothing on the rear and you can’t see them in the darkness!

 

Autosettings are worse in fog as they don’t put any lights on!

I'm really not a fan at all of DRLs; they're (slightly) distracting and personally I find it better to see a car rather than just lights, easier to judge what it's up to. Might mean a few people have some light on in conditions where they wouldn't have bothered and should've had their lights on but overall I'd prefer it if the roads weren't a collection of lights when visibility means they don't need to be.

[Reorte]

12 minutes ago, 30801 said:

 

Front first. Certainly on the Leaf where your turned the stalk one click for the fronts and then gave it another turn against a spring stop to make the rear come on. If you weren't careful you could fail to turn the rear on... 

Pretty sure I can turn them on independently on my Astra. IIRC my previous car, you could only turn the rears on if the fronts were on, something I always found pointless because I never found the fronts much use and the legal requirement is only for a rear one.

[Dunsignalling]

Sequence on my Yeti is: Turn rotary switch from Auto to Head position, then pull to first click brings the front fogs into operation, second click, the rear one.

 

The fog lights can't be activated with the main switch in Off, Auto or Side positions.

 

John 

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, peanuts said:

if it is fitted it must work correctly iirc 

 

Isn’t that the same as?

 

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

They are from 2018 an MoT fail if fitted DRLs are disabled or faulty.

[boxbrownie]

27 minutes ago, Reorte said:

I'm really not a fan at all of DRLs; they're (slightly) distracting and personally I find it better to see a car rather than just lights, easier to judge what it's up to. Might mean a few people have some light on in conditions where they wouldn't have bothered and should've had their lights on but overall I'd prefer it if the roads weren't a collection of lights when visibility means they don't need to be.

Unfortunately all the research finds otherwise, which is why they are mandated.

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Sequence on my Yeti is: Turn rotary switch from Auto to Head position, then pull to first click brings the front fogs into operation, second click, the rear one.

 

The fog lights can't be activated with the main switch in Off, Auto or Side positions.

 

Same as my Mii (except it doesn't have fronts) I assume it's the same on all VAG cars. Do you have an indication when the lights are set to auto and are lit? Annoys the hell out of me. The switch lights up a bit but it's hard to see.

[Dunsignalling]

4 minutes ago, 30801 said:

 

Same as my Mii (except it doesn't have fronts) I assume it's the same on all VAG cars. Do you have an indication when the lights are set to auto and are lit? Annoys the hell out of me. The switch lights up a bit but it's hard to see.

Not like the fog light indicator in the dial. My workaround is to flip the dipswitch when there's nothing coming the other way and see if the main beam light comes on! 

 

I've never noticed if the switch lights up, I'll have to investigate.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Dunsignalling

[boxbrownie]

10 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Not like the fog light indicator in the dial. My workaround is to flip the dipswitch when there's nothing coming the other way and see if the main beam light comes on! 

 

I've never noticed if the switch lights up, I'll have to investigate.

But the dipswitch (headlamp flash) works when light switch is off…….it does on every vehicle I know of.