"Marland" wrote in message
...
Still doesn't stop plenty idiots leaving them on. ;-)


Getting a lot rarer than it used to be as most vehicles seem them to turn
them off to a greater or lesser extent, some by a mechanical action that
turning off the stalk headlight switch also turns off the the fog lamp
ring
switch others with a more sophisticated method within the vehicles
electronics
after headlights are turned off or the vehicle parked up.

Was that as a result of legislation or just good practice by
manufacturers?

It has certainly cut down on those who could justify their use in morning
November fog
but still displayed them on the way home in a dark drizzle annoying
those
behind .

I find that the greatest offenders are not those who accidentally leave
foglights on the morning after a foggy night before, but those who
consciously turn them on in inappropriate conditions such as rain (*) or
when there is no fog, just normal darkness.

I try to switch my foglights on/off as conditions vary, and to turn them off
once I can see the headlights of the car behind (if I can see him, he is
probably close enough to be dazzled by my fog lights). But a lot of people
just turn them on in the slightest mist and leave them on (or turn them one
whenever it's dark).


(*) Very heavy, cat-sand-dogs cloudburst rain may warrant fog lights, given
that the tail lights of a car may be difficult to see, but not normal rain
or drizzle, when the bigger hazard is smearing of the rain on the
windscreen, or because of the lens action of raindrops before the wiper
blade has cleared them. Or on a motorcyclists's helmet visor - which rarely
has a wiper! I presume the anti-wetting coating that you can get for
windscreens is very important on helmet visors so raindrops are blown off
quickly instead of leaving a film that can cause glare around lights.