[Car Owner's Home Car Knowledge] A few days ago, when the editor was browsing Weibo, I was almost blinded by a piece of content posted by the official Weibo of a certain local traffic police: "The visibility of XX Expressway is currently low, motorists please slow down. Keep a safe distance between cars and turn on the high beam when necessary." When visibility is low, you actually let someone turn on the high beam? When visibility is low, the correct approach should be to turn on the vehicle's front and rear fog lights.
However, at night when visibility is good, we still find that many vehicles on the road are accustomed to turning on the front and rear fog lights and using the fog lights as daily lighting. This kind of misuse of fog lights will actually cause serious interference to other drivers, and its impact is no less severe than the misuse of high beam lights. Can fog lights also become an "eye-destroying weapon"? I'm not being alarmist, you will know as you continue reading.
● What is the difference between fog lights and low beam lights?
Why can’t we use fog lights as daily lighting? Let’s first take a look at the comparison chart below. These two pictures were taken by me on a densely foggy night. We can intuitively see the difference between the illumination effects of fog lights and low beam lights.
The difference between fog lamps and dipped beams lies in the illumination angle, brightness, light source penetration, etc. In these aspects, fog lamps are stronger than dipped beams.
The function of the low beam is to illuminate a certain distance in front of the car. Its illumination angle is lower than the horizontal line, and the power of the bulb is not large, so it will not cause interference to the drivers of other vehicles.
However, in foggy days, the low-beam headlights with very weak penetrating power are very difficult. At this time, fog lights must be relied on to make up for the shortcomings of low-beam headlights that cannot penetrate heavy rain and dense fog. Therefore, fog lights can only be used as emergency lighting tools in severe weather conditions and cannot be used as daily lighting.
In order to make everyone's experience more intuitive, I found a night with good weather and used the driving recorder on my car to take pictures of some vehicles turning on their fog lights randomly. Let’s take a look at how dazzling the front and rear fog lights are in an environment with high visibility:
Judging from the footage captured by the driving recorder, the brightness of the fog lights is much higher than that of ordinary car lights, and when viewed with the naked eye, the glare is more severe than the footage captured in the video. If the driver's eyes are exposed to the light of fog lights for a long time, it is easy to feel dizzy. This is how the title of "eye-destroying killer" comes...
● Under what circumstances do fog lights need to be used?
Since this thing is called a "fog light", it must be useful in rainy and foggy days. Article 81 of the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Road Traffic Safety Law of the People's Republic of China" clearly stipulates: When visibility is less than 200 meters in rainy and foggy days, motor vehicles should turn on their fog lights.
Vehicles with fog lights turned on are indeed a great disturbance to the vision of other drivers, especially vehicles with rear fog lights turned on. Fog lights can become very glaring in an environment with good visibility. The glare of fog lights can cause interference or even damage to the eyes of other drivers, which can lead to car accidents. Therefore, traffic regulations in many countries clearly stipulate that vehicles are prohibited from turning on fog lights when visibility is good.
● How to check whether the fog lights are on in the car?
Of course, not all misuse of fog lights is intentional. Some novices may turn on their fog lights by mistake without noticing it themselves, let alone realizing that the fog lights are causing interference to others. Many novices will have this question: How do I know if the fog lights are on when I am sitting in the car? It is very simple, we can tell it by just looking at the icons on the dashboard.
Next, we need to understand clearly where the fog light switch is and how the fog lights are turned on, so as to avoid affecting others due to our own misoperation.
● Where is the fog light switch?
Most of the current models on sale will have the fog light switch set behind or on the left side of the steering wheel, and there will be a conspicuous sign to remind the user.
● How to turn on the fog lights?
After turning on the width lights, you can turn on the fog lights. Among them, the front fog lights can be turned on independently; the rear fog lights can only be turned on at the same time as the front fog lights and cannot be turned on independently. There are two main styles of fog light switches, push-button type and knob type. Different car manufacturers will have their own methods of turning on fog lights.
1. Push-button fog light switch
This kind of fog light switch is relatively common on American brands such as General Motors and Ford. The characteristic of this opening method is that it is easy to operate and the corresponding functions can be realized with one click.
2. Knob type fog light switch
This kind of fog light switch itself is divided into two styles: one is integrated on the left lever (turn signal lever), which is common in independent brand and Japanese brand models; the other is independently set in the form of a knob in the middle In the area on the left side of the console, Volkswagen models are typical representatives of this type of fog light switch.
Summary: Fog lights can only play their due role in an environment with low visibility. Let’s not force them to bear the burden of daily lighting. Moreover, fog lights with strong penetrating power are also a serious problem for other drivers. interference. Regulating the use of fog lights is indeed a piece of cake. The key lies in whether the drivers have this awareness. Whether you are a good driver with quality or a wicked ghost who is always cursed depends on how you use fog lights.