I'm pretty sure the law says we can't drive with front and rear fogs lights on unless (duh) it's foggy. I can understand about the high-intensity rears because a car with them on can be a pain to follow (even though they're no brighter than stop lamps).

But front fogs? What's to stop us using them all the time at night? They illuminate the edges of the little lanes around here just beautifully, and the whole point about them is that they have a sharp cut-off so there's no way on earth they could blind oncoming drivers. If they're blinding drivers then they'll be useless in fog.

And to cap it all the IP warning light shows them beaming downwards, while the main beam warning light shows a straight ahead beam. So anyone know why they should be illegal unless it's foggy?

Rule 236 of Highway Code: You MUST NOT use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226) as they dazzle other road users and can obscure your brake lights. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves.

https://www.gov.uk/driving-adverse-weather-conditions-226-to-237/fog-234-to-236

The fact is they DO blind oncoming drivers, especially in the rain. Try it coming towards me and you get a nice blast of high beams :)

I think the IP logo pointing down is to aid telling the difference between front and rear

Rule 236 of Highway Code: You MUST NOT use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226) as they dazzle other road users and can obscure your brake lights. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves.

https://www.gov.uk/driving-adverse-weather-conditions-226-to-237/fog-234-to-236

The fact is they DO blind oncoming drivers, especially in the rain. Try it coming towards me and you get a nice blast of high beams :)

I couldn't have said it better.

Thanks for the legal clarification iNath. I've just been out and done a test. I switched on dipped beam, noticed where the cut-off was. Then I put on the front fogs and used cardboard to hide all of the dipped beams. The front fogs had a far more severe cut-off, and only a few metres of roadway in front of the car was illuminated.

I then did the same test again, looking at my car from about 25 metres away. The bog-standard dipped beams looked to have far more chance to dazzle me than the fogs.

Maybe when the laws were written front fogs splashed light about in an uncontrolled fashion?

I'm guessing you've never driven towards an approaching car with its fog lights on or driven in front of a vehicle with its fog lights on at night??

The rear view mirrors tend to pick up the reflected light and blind the heck outta me!!!

I find newer cars standard lights are twice as powerful as my halogen fogs.im sick of range rovers that sit up my gearbox down country lanes blinding the !Removed! outa me

Please don't take it personally but I find people that drive around with fog lights on when it's clearly not foggy to be absolute helmets. There is quite simply no need and no point.

I think the police should be far stronger in enforcing this rule.

A particular pet hate of mine, the amount of times I get told by drivers that they're DRL's :d.

My easy reply is 'why is your dash fog light indicator illuminated then?'.

Some of them must think my eyes are drawn on :p

Agree with you on that one mate.

Please don't take it personally but I find people that drive around with fog lights on when it's clearly not foggy to be absolute helmets. There is quite simply no need and no point.

I think the police should be far stronger in enforcing this rule.

Could not have put it better. I think 75% of drivers in Bournemouth drive with there fog lights on at night, split between teenagers who probably think there car looks cooler, muppets in BMW's and old people who probably need them to see.

I to think the police should enforce this better, if a few people started getting warnings or even points it would deter all the muppets.

there is another thing i dont understand, why do some drive with there side lights on and there front fogs? i mean dip beam gives a better view of the road than just side and fogs... and if you have a look as the light stalk on Honda's, Toyota's, Peugeot's for example there fog light switch is ON the stalk itself and not a separate button on the dash so when the driver switched there lights on, there fingers catch the fog light switch which results in the fogs being illuminated.... same when the fog lights are switched on genuinely the rear is switched off when the lights are switched off but the fronts stay on.

they are called FOG lights for a reason...

incorrect usage of lights in a PROPER pet hate of mine, right from no lights when its dark to only using side lights (even some cases of no lights) when its foggy.

I remember when I first started driving the police clamped down on it and were dishing out fines/points to offenders on a regular basis.

To say the Highway Code should be changed so people can drive round with fog lights on is just moronic.

If you can't see the road with your normal headlights I suggest you get yourself an eye test.

I've seen a few people using their fog lights when one of their headlights has blown, however more often than not one of their fog lights has blown too (generally the opposite one). If they had just replaced the bulb in the first place they wouldn't have worn their fog light out and thus needed to replace two bulbs!

I did for the first time ever though see a police motorbike actually stop a car trying to join a roundabout a couple of weeks ago for having a headlight out. They do occasionally care! (have I just upset you stoney? :P)

I did for the first time ever though see a police motorbike actually stop a car trying to join a roundabout a couple of weeks ago for having a headlight out. They do occasionally care! (have I just upset you stoney? :P)

Not at all.

Some Officers are more dilligent than others.

(By that I mean less lazy of course).

While we could let out our frustrations on why you shouldn't use fog lights in no fog. Let's take a moment to understand YES they look nice but when your trying to determine whether or not someone has dipped beam or high beam on, having the fogs on as well doesn't help especially when you're coming up a hill. Remember that your lights are pointing pretty much at the driver coming down hill or vise versa. The extra fogs on doesn't help. Sometimes i've seen dipped beam on cars so bright they are starting to become very close or border line to high beam.

-someone who travels down the A361 with no street lights at all and gets blinded alot.

You can adjust your dipped beam from 0-4 on the knob. (4) pointing more towards the ground which should give a good shine on the eye reflectors on the road.

You can't adjust the level of the headlights if you have xenons. They adjust automatically.

Fog lights don't look cool really now do they, what is cool about having a light on in the lower regions of your front bumper?

I use my fogs quite a bit; if the rain is atrocious or spray is terrible then on they pop, usually the front's but lately the backs have been used a bit. It's terrible by me the spray round here. Had a blizzard lately too that had them on :P

Aside from that - never use them. I very rarely get dazzled by fog light's though, it's crappy headlights usually that do it, but the law is the law.

I use fogs down country lanes where I am as the road surface is a joke,holes so deep you'll crack an alloy on them and on top of that bits of tree or rocks sticking out from the hedge/mud verges,just gives better vision on the edges. I'd rather have some1 driving at me with fogs on than those new lights cars use,I'm surprised they're allowed to be that powerful.

Modern lights are no more powerful than older ones, they simply use a different colour spectrum which gives a brighter appearance.

Either way they dazzle me.