Spot lamps or driving lamps ?

[HERBIEMERCMAN]

hi everyone, i have twice been stopped by the police and asked to turn off my spot lamps as it is against the law to drive with them switched on unless it is foggy or very misty. fair enough, but i always thought the rectangular shaped lamps low down on the front fender where driving lamps, not spot or fog lamps. the driving lamps give a wide beam at low level unlike the spot lamps which concentrate their beam and can dazzle oncomming motorists. when i pointed this out to the police they just said ,all laps are the same as far as we are concerned. i have never been dazzled with on comming cars with their driving lamps on, many have their headlights on as well, on dipped setting. does anyone know what the police are so keen on with this, i just cannot understand it, do they just outlaw any lamps other than dipped headlights ? if i was a police traffic officer i would be more concerned about the number of cars you see in appauling weather conditions that have no lights on or just side lights. herbiemercman.

 

[simon_wall69]

I find fog lamps dazzling, especially on a wet road and I'm glad that there are police on the streets enforcing the law.

There was a thread on this about a year ago that I started after a friend of mine was fined over it.

 

[television]

As Simon said we did a long post on this, but the law remains that it is illegal to use spots in good weather, many other countries have the same ruling

 

[HERBIEMERCMAN]

i agree but is there a difference between fog/spot lamps and flat beam driving lamps ? herbiemercman.

 

[television]

I think it is classed as unnecessary dazzle

 

[st4]

. i have never been dazzled with on comming cars with their driving lamps on,herbiemercman.

How do you know?

Fog lights only usually dazzel when the road is wet as the angle of the light beam means it reflects back up dazzeling oncomers.

Have you noticed that when they are on they give FA extra visible light over a dipped head light. Its only at really short range visability will a front fog be of benefit.

If you think you're car isn't visible try driving with your side lights on (its better to think of these as driving lights) or even dipped beam headlights when its night time or fairly dark.

 

[busby20]

I find fog lamps dazzling, especially on a wet road and I'm glad that there are police on the streets enforcing the law.

There was a thread on this about a year ago that I started after a friend of mine was fined over it.

Recently as I was driving (at some speed) into a right hand bend (with a dip on the other side,) I was "blinded" by an idiot coming from the other direction with said driving / fog lamps and dipped headlights.

As he was approching the corner in an upwards direction his lights were angled upwards which caught me squarely in the eyes. This was an extremely scary moment as I was just coming into the bend at this point, and momentarily lost my vision and my perspective of where exactly I was at that point in the road.

The annoying thing about this is that it was 3.30 in the afternoon, and although not a bright day, was clear and normal daylight? so why all the lights?

This is not an isolated incident as I see the same plethora of lights on cars every day and in "normal" light - why? I can understand that if the weather conditions were previously "dodgy" and they forgot to turn off lights etc. (even though there are warning indicators on the dashboard telling you that lights are on??)

The police are correct in carrying out this duty,

 

[PanzerMcGrory]

I tend to think of them as "Make it go faster lights" as it is generally the kind of f#ckwit who also has "A make it go faster exhaust" and "Make it go faster large alloys" who has them turned on contantly.
Ive said before they are just another piece of kit on cars i could do without and have never used in 20 years during the couple of foggy days a year we get, indeed i think the bright reflection back of the fog makes your visibility worse.

 

[JEZ.S320L]

Recently as I was driving (at some speed) into a right hand bend (with a dip on the other side,) I was "blinded" by an idiot coming from the other direction with said driving / fog lamps and dipped headlights.

As he was approching the corner in an upwards direction his lights were angled upwards which caught me squarely in the eyes. This was an extremely scary moment as I was just coming into the bend at this point, and momentarily lost my vision and my perspective of where exactly I was at that point in the road.

The annoying thing about this is that it was 3.30 in the afternoon, and although not a bright day, was clear and normal daylight? so why all the lights?

This is not an isolated incident as I see the same plethora of lights on cars every day and in "normal" light - why? I can understand that if the weather conditions were previously "dodgy" and they forgot to turn off lights etc. (even though there are warning indicators on the dashboard telling you that lights are on??)

The police are correct in carrying out this duty,

100% in agreement. Its usually the 'look at me, aren't I cool' school of drivers, who are the culprits. Pratts, each and every one of them.!!

 

[busby20]

I tend to think of them as "Make it go faster lights" as it is generally the kind of f#ckwit who also has "A make it go faster exhaust" and "Make it go faster large alloys" who has them turned on contantly.
Ive said before they are just another piece of kit on cars i could do without and have never used in 20 years during the couple of foggy days a year we get, indeed i think the bright reflection back of the fog makes your visibility worse.

Your'e probably right as I was thinking back to when I was 18/19 and I had a little "souped up" Austin A40 farina, with obligatory dig bore silencer:Oops:

I also had 4 Rally spot lamps (which really were driving lights) and when I was rattling down country roads I had these things blaring:razz: but they did assist in helping me see for a distance, which is important when your'e moving at speed but , in fairness, I did switch them off when traffic was approaching from the other direction.......unless they annoyed me:evil:

 

[HERBIEMERCMAN]

i only use my driving lamps when visibility is impaired by mist or fog, wet day on a m/way etc. i used to ride all my motorcycles with headlights on dipped, even in summer. i am not trying to make the car look sportier,and i have yet to see a big merc. with the drain pipe boy racer exhaust, i think that is stupid. i am trying to find out if flat beam lamps as distinct from spot dazzle lamps are legal? the people with badly adjusted headlights and the people who do not switch on their lights in bad vis are the bogie men.herbiemercman.

 

[JEZ.S320L]

Not forgetting .......... the f**kwits who leave their REAR foglights on when not necessary

 

[HERBIEMERCMAN]

fully agree jez, i have had some hairy moments when i have had to let them know by doing the same to the ofender, it's amazing how long it takes for the message to get through. herbiemercman.

 

[st4]

Not forgetting .......... the f**kwits who leave their REAR foglights on when not necessary

They are the worst.

I have to say on the 211 the fog lights are tricky to activate and hard to see whether you left them on. There are two LEDS (one for front one for rear) under the headlight switch that tell you which ones are on, you pull this out once for front and twice for rears. Alas you can't tell if you left them on as this is handily obscured by the steering wheel.

On BMWs (Msports seem to run fog lights) there is a button for fronts, button for rears, and the fogs that are on are displayed nicely in the instruments. So BMW drivers know what they are upto yet drive with them on anyway.

 

[television]

They are the worst.

I have to say on the 211 the fog lights are tricky to activate and hard to see whether you left them on. There are two LEDS (one for front one for rear) under the headlight switch that tell you which ones are on, you pull this out once for front and twice for rears. Alas you can't tell if you left them on as this is handily obscured by the steering wheel.

On BMWs (Msports seem to run fog lights) there is a button for fronts, button for rears, and the fogs that are on are displayed nicely in the instruments. So BMW drivers know what they are upto yet drive with them on anyway.

But BMW drives do not understand meaning or lamps

 

[st4]

But BMW drives do not understand meaning or lamps

Guess the easy of turning off the fog lamp and ease of telling whether its on is wasted on them

You know the saying, "you can take a horse to water but you cannot make it drink"...

 

[television]

Guess the easy of turning off the fog lamp and ease of telling whether its on is wasted on them

You know the saying, "you can take a horse to water but you cannot make it drink"...

Yes a BMW driver would drown before they learnt how to drink

 

[carabind]

going back to orginal question, I think plod's not fussed abot whether they're fog or spots? If they're less that 2 ft off the ground, then they're classed as fogs? Has anyone ever seen plod meaure a light to see if it is a spot or flat(fog) beam?

 

[HERBIEMERCMAN]

good discussion, but does anyone know the legal difference between spot dazzle lamps and the flat beem non dazzle driving lamps? to me they are an alternative to dipped headlights. side lights in poor visability are useless. as i have said i only use my lamps in poor visability far less glare than the headlights. i think like a lot of things today the minority ( f-----wits) have put a usefull piece of equipment into disrepute, just like they have done with mobile phones and car sound systems. herbiemercman.

 

[popuptoaster]

Im pretty sure the law see's any light under a certain height as a fog light whatever the manufacturer calls them, especially as legally headlights have a minimum height as well as a maximum height.