Introduction
What are fog lights?
When to use fog lights ?
Are fog lights essential?
Introduction
when you are driving in bad weather conditions and the road becomes unclear due to the fog , rain , mist or because of any other circumstance then the role of fog lights comes into play. These fog lights are different from our main headlights, and are used only in the weather conditions or conditions which are not well. Fog lights are also known by different names like fog lamps which are further distinguished as front fog lamps or front fog lights and rear fog lamps or rear fog lights ,so don’t get confused if someone use the term different from term that you know.
What are fog lights?
The lights which are used for having better view of the road in bad weather condition and in poor visibility conditions. During the unclear weather it becomes very difficult to drive, so for this reason fog lights are fitted in the automotive. The front headlights , the high beam headlights and the low beam headlights cannot solve the purpose of lightening the surface well when it comes to driving in bad weather conditions. So, ultimately we have to switch to the fog lights.
The main headlights brighten the road to far distance but in foggy weather we need to see mainly what is ahead of our car and this purpose is only solved by the fog lights, even our low beam headlights won’t solve the problem, so by switching to fog lights the road near our car brighten up, thus making driving much easier and safer on the same time. Many people gets confused by the functionality of the fog lights and headlights as both are fitted in the front of the cars. But from this don’t get the idea that fog lights aren’t used at the rear portion of the car, rather the fog lights are fitted besides the brake lights in the rear portion of cars. The brake lights and the tail fog lights have similar red color and have slightest difference between them .The rear fog lights are brighter than the the brake lights and because of this similar light colors, the approaching drivers get confused if the person is using the brakes or the rear fog lights are turned on.
When to use fog lights ?
The fog lights are used majorly for two purposes :-
First purpose :- To enhance the visibility ahead of your car in bad weather condition for example when its rainy outside or when there is fog before your car while driving in such conditions the fog lights should be turned on. But this won’t do you much good if you want to go through the snow as in snow eyes gets dazzled majorly. The visibility only enhances with the fog lights if you are driving slowly and only turning on fog lamps in poor visibility condition solely will be of no good if you are not going slowly as it could cost you your life in adverse situation.
Second purpose :- To make your car visible to oncoming or approaching drivers, as in adverse situations it becomes so difficult to be visible to other motorists and with the fog lights half of the problem is solved as the fog lights especially the yellow fog lights pierce well the fog which are small water droplets. Fog lights lessen the glaring effects that are caused by the other oncoming motorists lights when enter eyes and this can cause hazardous situations as the road will become unclear and it will be a very tiresome activity for your eyes and brain as you have to be more cautious to get through the road in low visibility conditions.
The glaring effect majorly produced by the lights which have short wavelength for instance if you use blue , violet light or indigo colored fog lights the glaring effect will be high, thus one have to switch to the fog lights which causes less glaring or no glaring at all. The red light have high wavelength and can also solve the purpose but there is one demerit of the red fog light that in the wet weather when the tiny water droplets work as small mirrors then these small water droplets reflects red lights and dazzles the drivers when reflected back to the eyes of drivers, thus becomes risky but this situation doesn’t happen when one uses the yellow fog lights or white fog lights.
Fog lights can’t be used for longer periods :-
The function of fog lights is to brighten the road ahead of you in poor visibility conditions. Theses fog lights when are used for longer periods the pupil of the eyes becomes dilated for longer periods and it gets difficult to see when the main high beam headlights are turned on. This is similar to the effect when you go from sun to the dark room the pupil of the eye gets dilated similar thing happens with the fog lights. But when main headlights turned on the pupil gets constricted causing it uncomfortable to see without tiring eyes.
Are fog lights really essential?
Yes , they are essential if you driving in foggy weather or in the rainy weather when the visibility is not good. But these fog lights should not be used in the normal weather conditions or even at night time with normal weather. Unnecessary turning on fog lights is not really required and one must be careful while using fog lights as these lights are no doubt are of great usage but when turned on unnecessarily they causes hard times for the oncoming drivers as it blinds them.
And one should also consider that out of yellow or white which fog lights should be used as both lights offer different effectivity in different categories and these fog lights should be fitted by the experienced mechanic as the positioning of the fog lights matter as one have to make them fitted in cars in such a way that the lights make a sharp angle with the road and gives good illumination only then. Fog hovers near the ground but it isn’t settled at the bottom so, fine visibility can be observed if the road gets well illuminated.