Headlights on full beam in fog?

[FJRider]

Hmmm, drinking, tokin', walking along an unlit winding open road at night, appraoching car would have been heard approaching...didn't hear TOO much criticism of the dead guys actions...

And I've seen plenty of ding-a-lings around here who walk home from the pub pissed - and walk right out on the road to thumb a lift.

Even if the car's going in the opposite direction.

He should've worn his high vis' hoodie ...

[Gremlin]

Agree with the rest of you... and I've ridden in fog so thick its been down to 10m odd... high beam only bounces right back at you.

Yellow fog lights along the road (ie, lower down) are your best bet for showing the road under the fog.

[Scuba_Steve]

To the other side why don't the news media question them???
I don't know, maybee these things are copy & pasted from a press release email? but if the reporter is there in person why aren't they questioning?, I know if I was a reporter I'd have my own "catch phrase" question for these sort of things every-time... "I'm sorry?, are you retarded???"

[wysper]

Being from Hamiltron, I am extremely experienced in driving in all sorts of fog. While the road code says you should always dip your lights in foggy conditions to prevent yourself from blinded, I always find that my high beam increases visibility.

Wow, being from Hamilton also, I have the complete opposite experience. High beam in fog = much harder to see. Low beam I can see further and more clearly.

[steve_t]

Wow, being from Hamilton also, I have the complete opposite experience. High beam in fog = much harder to see. Low beam I can see further and more clearly.

Yeah, I can't explain it. Maybe my eyes are screwy
I just know that I'll intermittent flick between high and low beams to see which gives me the better vision and it's consistently high beam. Fog lights seem to have minimal effect either way but may be helpful for being seen - even my old car's yellow fog lights didn't seem to do much and supposedly the yellow pierces through the fog better. Meh, again, just my experience

[spajohn]

I thought the exact same thing (then cursed stuff.co.nz for only allowing comments on trivial articles, and not ones like this!).

Just to confirm for my own sanity that they haven't changed the recommendation from when I learned to drive:
http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/ro...d-weather.html

"Dip your headlamps in fog

If you drive with your lamps on full beam in fog, the light will just reflect back on you. Dip your lights – it will be much easier to see."

So the "official" recommendation is to drive as the officer was, yet the review found he should drive differently?!

[Crasherfromwayback]

So the "official" recommendation is to drive as the officer was, yet the review found he should drive differently?!

As I said...coroners are often totally full of shit.

[CookMySock]

I've played with it extensively, and I suggest that your visibility forward is no better with lights on fullbeam, and arguably worse in some circumstances, BUT it is FAR easier to see a vehicle coming from the OTHER direction in fog when their lights are on fullbeam.

For the magistrate to have made such a substantial statement is enough for me to consider doing it, but it has to be said theres no way I'd be on the wrong side of the road in fog - thats just russian roulette.

[Banditbandit]

Hmmm, drinking, tokin', walking along an unlit winding open road at night, appraoching car would have been heard approaching...didn't hear TOO much criticism of the dead guys actions...


And I've seen plenty of ding-a-lings around here who walk home from the pub pissed - and walk right out on the road to thumb a lift.

Even if the car's going in the opposite direction.

Yes. If you read the whole report of the coroner's findings other drivers said the group of teen were acting erratically and the drivers had to take action to miss them. There's a suggestion that they were also walking on the centre line - in fog that's crazy shit ...

There's also a suggestion to cop MIGHT have been reading a text message at the time - but the coroner could find no evidence either yes or no ...

But yes - the teen's the one who caused his own death ..

[Crasherfromwayback]

I've played with it extensively,:

You're still doing it.

[007XX]

Could it possibly depend on the thickness of the fog at the time?

Because honestly, the last time I was caught in fog was on our way to the Cold Kiwi, on Desert Road at about 11pm, and I couldn't see any further than about a metre ahead of my front tyre!

No way was I going to put my lights on high beam Tried it and it made things way worse obviously.

[neels]

Get quite a bit of fog morning and evening where I live, and have definately found that low beam is the best option to see the road, hit high beam all you can see is the fog in front of you.

[gijoe1313]

From my experience, I often flick between low and full in the fog to ascertain whichever will work best for me. Easy enough to use the flicker switch to see what works best in the conditions.

Sometimes it's the low beam that works the best, sometimes it's the high!

[oneofsix]

Low beam. High beam points more straight ahead and therefore the little beads of moister reflect it straight back at your eyes. Sometimes highbeam appears better because there is more light but it is not yet blinding however you are seeing less.

[DEATH_INC.]

I have big assed spotties on the front of my 4WD, you know, the 100w blind all those wanker other road user/opossum/light up half the north island type, and it is def worse with them and the highs on, than just low beam if the fog is heavy. The best thing I've found is the spotties on the roof.....but only off road of course