Quote:
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Originally Posted by HumbleAg
Hey Mullet Head, is that you? If not, you are a great stand-in.
Fog lights are for use aiding the low beam headlights in fog, not to replace them. Read the owners manual in the Mulletmobile.
I'm somewhat bored with this discussion.
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This is from Daniel Stern, a lighting consultant:
"To answer the original question of whether fogs are meant to be used with
or without headlamps:
In general, it is not appropriate and not safe (and in many places, not
legal) to drive with only parking and fog lamps at any time. In fact, it's
a poor idea (and in many places, not legal) to drive with fog lamps (even
with headlamps on) unless weather conditions warrant their use. Some
jurisdictions explicitly permit fog lamps to be used "in lieu of" (rather
than "in supplement to") headlamps when weather conditions so warrant.
Current human-factors research (e.g. Sivak and Flannagan, 1997) shows that there are situations (extremely adverse weather conditions) in which running with properly-designed fogs and full position marking lamps (parking lamps, sidemarkers, taillamps) but no headlamps can be of great advantage. However, the local laws that prohibit the use of fogs without headlamps aren't likely to change until Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 (and Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108) are modified to contain a meaningful performance standard for fog lamps.
More detail:
Fog and driving lamp performance is not regulated under FMVSS 108 or any
other Federal standard. The only proviso is that items unregulated by
FMVSS may not be installed in a manner that would interfere with the
function of FMVSS-required equipment. For instance, fog lamps may not
obscure or glare-out the turn signals or cover-up the headlamps. The lack
of a precise performance specification for fog and drive lamps means that
a manufacturer can call just about anything a "fog" lamp (or a "driving")
lamp. Many of the factory fog lamps on US and Canadian roads do little,
if anything, to illuminate the road--though many of them do a fine job of
illuminating other drivers' retinas. In Europe, fog and drive beams are
required to conform to specific beam pattern criteria. The toy plastic
items we get here are not acceptable over there. Because "fog lamp" has a
meaningful definition in Europe and it is possible to count on such a lamp
producing at least a specific performance level, fog lamp usage laws allow
more flexibility to use the lamps in such a manner as to maximize their
benefit.
NHTSA is currently working with ECE (European) regulators to devise a fog
lamp beam standard that is said to be an improvement even on the
already-good European beam. It's a step in the right direction,
certainly, but I remain skeptical until I actually see such a lamp.
We've been stuck with too much really bad lighting from US regulators for
too long for me to trust what they say."
Michael