Driving in fog - is it really that difficult?

Pisto_Grih

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BBC News - Two hundred hurt as 100 cars crash on A249 Sheppey crossing

There was a bit of fog on my drive to work this morning, but I was astounded to see the amount of drivers without any lights on.

What makes it worse is that they were all creeping along because they couldn't see where they were going - surely this is just inviting a rear-ending as other drivers wouldn't expect them to be going that slow?

Now my wife often has a go at me for putting on my rear fog light in what I think is heavy rain, so I tend to save it for special occasions, but this morning I came up behind several vehicles doing 20 in a 40 without any lights.
 
The downside of DRLs and auto headlights? People assume the lights will do what they're supposed to do in modern cars with automatic everything. Problem with DRLs is that they show no rear lights.

That and the fact people drive way too close to each other on the motorway. I notice this more now I drive a TVR which has very little crash protection! People driving too close to me make me very nervous!
 
You seem to get 2 extremes.

Those who put their fog lamps on when it isn't foggy (i.e. it's raining)

Those who don't put any lights on when it is foggy

The former are annoying the latter just dangerous.

But a few months ago I was following a a brand new BMW X5 in dense fog and yes it had no lights on. When we had to stop for a level crossing I got out to ask the driver to put some lights on.

She said that the car had automatic lights so she just assumed they would come on. Of course most automatic lights only come on when it's dark and not when it's foggy (or raining). When you look around, you soon notice that a lot of the cars with no lights on in fog are all quite new

I suspect there is an education piece needed here as I suspect a lot of these drivers really have no idea
 
Its not the drivers with no lights limping along who cause these accidents. Its the ******** behind who got out of bed 20mins late who is trying to do mach 4 while balancing a bowl of cereal in their lap, reading the paper and using the force to navigate.
 
People are forgetting a thing called the idiot factor.

Conditions like fog just show how many people haven't taken time to understand how their car works or have no idea how to drive in certain conditions.

I know the scene of the accident today and it's not the greatest road at the best of times, but the blame doesn't lie with the weather it's down to bad driving.
 
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If anybody's looking for a bright side to this story, I've got one.
100 cars involved, 200 people. So the people of Kent are doing their bit for the environment and car-sharing. Good for them.


Yes I see that the '200 people' figure has been reduced now, but I'd hope that the police were capable of counting correctly first time around, it was just assessment of how many of them were actually injured that they got wrong.
 
Too many people going too fast for the conditions, and not keeping correct distance between themselves and the car in front.
 
Everybody involved in that accident should be forced to take a retest and be re-educated on driving safely..
 
yup. foggy as hell in my village this morning - maybe 30m visibility. half the cars i saw had no lights on. silver cars seem to be the worst and they are the ones that are most hidden by fog.

the wife saw someone last year with no lights on in heavy fog (lady beetle driver with those silly eyelashes on) so she did that hand flash gesture at them. the car broke heavily and the woman ran out looking at the eyelashes. apparently she thought one might have fallen off! so my wife said to her she needed lights on and the woman replied 'but its not night time' :facepalm:
 
I drove home from nightshift at 6am today, the fog was very patchy. From moderate visibility around built-up areas, down to end-of-bonnet between the open fields.
No obvious issue with poor driving or lights use though.
 
the wife saw someone last year with no lights on in heavy fog (lady beetle driver with those silly eyelashes on) so she did that hand flash gesture at them. the car broke heavily and the woman ran out looking at the eyelashes. apparently she thought one might have fallen off! so my wife said to her she needed lights on and the woman replied 'but its not night time' :facepalm:

Drove off the EuroTunnel on Saturday night at 9.30pm, it was dark, but this one woman didn't grasp she needed headlights. People behind her would flash her, she'd change lanes, then somebody else would flash her, she'd change lanes again, then somebody would flash her. This went on for ages, and she kept going slower and slower. No idea if she turned on her lights before the motorway.
 
Of course most automatic lights only come on when it's dark and not when it's foggy (or raining).

But even so you should get the indication that the fog lights are on on the dash? No excuse whatsoever.

Mine fog lights are manual but both have dash indication when I switch them on.
 
But even so you should get the indication that the fog lights are on on the dash? No excuse whatsoever.

Mine fog lights are manual but both have dash indication when I switch them on.

Exactly. Both our cars have a huge red symbol on the dash that lights up when fogs are on.
 
But you don't get a huge warning light when they are not on and looking at the stupidity of some of these drivers with no lights on, that's what they need
 
Everybody involved in that accident should be forced to take a retest and be re-educated on driving safely..

why? it wont be close to being everyone being at joint blame. from the pics it seems one car just stopped and everyone ploughed into that.

breaking distances are fine in theory but when you suddenly notice the car in front stop dead as it hits someone you dont have as much distance as you think (normally relies on the car in front breaking too, not suddenly stopping dead)
 
But you don't get a huge warning light when they are not on and looking at the stupidity of some of these drivers with no lights on, that's what they need

i would imagine the crashes took out a lot of the lights or they were turned off. you dont know how many didnt have them on initially. but from my own evidence i would suggest 20% might not have had lights on. stupid people. was there and video evidence? if its caused by people with no lights they should be charged.

IMO this is more important than people doing 80mph on a motorway in good conditions that the average speed cameras are set up to sting. those cameras should look for people without lights in bad conditions
 
But you don't get a huge warning light when they are not on and looking at the stupidity of some of these drivers with no lights on, that's what they need
What we need is a change of role for the people who man those bloody 'safety cameras'. Make them do something which improves safety a bit more. Pull over all the people who don't have fog lights on in the fog, and give them a slap. Then give them 5 seconds to put them on, and if they don't even know how to switch them on, they get another slap.
 
Went to pick my dad up once, fog was soooooo thick on the motorway up there you couldnt see any lights til you were practically right on top of them. Wasn't so difficult for me and I had not long past my test, if these people cant use common sense they need to have their licenses taken away or at least made to retake their driving test / theory again.
 
What we need is a change of role for the people who man those bloody 'safety cameras'. Make them do something which improves safety a bit more. Pull over all the people who don't have fog lights on in the fog, and give them a slap. Then give them 5 seconds to put them on, and if they don't even know how to switch them on, they get another slap.

With a bat ? :D
 
why? it wont be close to being everyone being at joint blame. from the pics it seems one car just stopped and everyone ploughed into that.

breaking distances are fine in theory but when you suddenly notice the car in front stop dead as it hits someone you dont have as much distance as you think (normally relies on the car in front breaking too, not suddenly stopping dead)

I drive over the Sheppey Crossing every morning, thankfully not at 7 am. I am amazed this is the first major pile up on that bridge. What you might not appreciate from the news pictures is the incline to get up to the top and the slope down the other side, coupled with the curve of the bridge itself. Taking fog out of the equation, if there is serious incident just over the top it is bound to cause more problems for the traffic coming up behind.

It was foggy on the bridge yesterday and yes there were people without any lights on at all :eek:
 
What makes it worse is that they were all creeping along because they couldn't see where they were going - surely this is just inviting a rear-ending as other drivers wouldn't expect them to be going that slow?

Quite the opposite, most sensible drivers would slow down in foggy conditions and expect others to be doing the same.............................that said I think a lot of drivers aren't that sensible.
 
Doesn't need fog any more. Virtually every time you use a motorway, there is an 'accident'. Pretty much inevitable with the general driving.
 
You can make cars safer, but you cannot make people more..........

I'm glad I now walk to work and don't have to watch moron after moron hurtling along at 80mph in a silver car with no lights on in the fog.
 
You can make cars safer, but you cannot make people more..........

I'm glad I now walk to work and don't have to watch moron after moron hurtling along at 80mph in a silver car with no lights on in the fog.

Well worth the 40 mile walk is it :rotfl:
 

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