foglight assault

[mrbaxr6t]

heres one for you guys : I work nights and left for work from home noticed my cars' headlights seemed a little odd, But I got to where I needed to be and checked it to discover I was down a lowbeam filament in my headlights so I made a mental note to get new globes tomorrow. I did my shift and got in my car to return home when the other lowbeam filament blew which meant I was driving with parkers So I did the most logical thing I could think of and turned my foglights on so I could see where I was driving to get home. On my way home I was pulled over for using my foglights when it wasn't foggy I explained to the officer that I had to as my headlight globes blew earlier, he got mad and told me he was going to defect my vehicle because I didn't have working headlights I told him that I felt that was excessive given that the globes just went and that I was forced to use the foglights (reason he pulled me over) so that I could see to get home safely.

What the hell is the world coming to when use of foglights is such a horrible offence, I would have thought the cops would rather see me get home safely over having an accident and injuring myself and/or others which I also told him. He gave me a fine for use of foglights when no fog or some other such crap (havn't even read it handed it to a solicitor)

Driving with foglights is against the law but I would have thought driving with NO lights is wrong against the law and insane. My car has now had some new globes put in it and everything works but for the fine.

I thought I would post this story to warn others of the impending danger of using foglights under any circumstance other than fog will attract a fine

[superpursuit83]

You will be told your lucky he did not defect the car I reckon.

[GS608]

Which state is this in? Doubt you will get out of the ticket as you were using your foglights but he should have used discretion and just warned you. Could always write a letter to his superior and explain the situation.

[scoupedy]

fog lights are for when its foggy eh too many morons drove around day and night with them on thinking they are le mons racers the cops didn't bust any off them until the public (me) got the shhhhits with it and now they have gone the other way (excesive)
Take it to court and the judge will in all likelyhood let you off just tell them you were heading to the closest servo not home

[MotherNatureVer2]

Whilst I can understand your upset over this I am also glad that the cops at least somewhere are onto this topic.

I travel 160KM round trip every day & the return trip is at night on country roads with no lighting at all. I am constantly bombarded with oncomming cars with fog lights on ..... they might dip the high beam but have no idea how powerful these fog lamps can be.... although I am sure most of them have higher rating bulbs in them ...... they would do jack it the fog.....

[dave289]

Basically, you got fined FOR making it more dangerous for other road users, why should I have to cop your fog lights in my eyes or anyone else for that matter. your headlights blow, then you fix them ,you dont make things more dangerous for other road users. No sympathy here mate, see this crap way to often .

[glavas]

should have pulled over got the car towed mate the safe thing to do. you broke the law deal with it.

[geckoGT]

Seems very harsh to me. I admit it is highly unlikely that 2 globes blew at once and can understand the cop being a bit doubtful about it but it is not impossible. The cop should have understood that some lighting is better than none.

Personally I would take it to court and go armed with the receipt for the two globes to prove they were changed.

The risk is the magistrate may go heavy on you for driving a defective vehicle (no low beam during night hours) and give you a bigger fine.

The whole situation sucks and why are they pinging people for things such as this when every day I see people driving around with headlights not working, tail/brake lights not working or no lights on at all?

Must have been a cop having a really bad night.

[geckoGT]

Originally Posted by dave289

Basically, you got fined FOR making it more dangerous for other road users, why should I have to cop your fog lights in my eyes or anyone else for that matter. your headlights blow, then you fix them ,you dont make things more dangerous for other road users. No sympathy here mate, see this crap way to often .

Apart from the fact that fog lights use the same wattage as the low beam (no brighter @ 55w) and are aimed lower (so they project under fog, not into it) so it is impossible for them to shine in your eyes.

I really do love the logic sometimes. Particularly when I hear it from people that think it is ok to drive around in urban and semi urban areas with spot lights blazing (not inferring you do at all, just a sideline observation).

should have pulled over got the car towed mate the safe thing to do. you broke the law deal with it.

So you would pay a couple of hundred dollars in towing after a shift at night for $40 worth of globes?

And lets also point out that in a B series you can not replace the right side globe without removing the battery, not something you can do at a servo without a 10 mm and 13 mm spanner and a lifting tool for the battery. Not sure about everyone else but I do not carry these around in my boot. I also would be against the idea of stopping on the side of the road in some areas waiting for help if I could avoid it, sometimes this is not safe to do. There is no way I would let Tori do this, I would tell her to drive with fog lights on very carefully to somewhere safer.

[Den76]

Stupidity at it finest,

Be sure to keep you receipt for the globes as proof of purchase

Fight it all the way and good luck

Similar stupidity happened to me a while ago mates XP coupe Falcon broke down so one tow vehicle and my self as support vehicle, l drove behind the XP with my hazards lights on to warn other motorist that the vehicle is being towed as the XP doesn’t have factory hazards lights, Vic police pulled me over stating that l was not allowed to drive with hazards lights on, explained to the fine officer the circumstances, long story short copped a fine and 3 demerit points, now looking back at it l should of taken it too court but never worried about it

[zdcol71]

I too am glad that the coppers may be starting to come down on tossers, who for what ever reason, think its cool to drive around sub tropical Queensland with their fog lamps blazing. If however the OPs story is to be believed, I do think he was harshly done by, given the time and circumstance.
Just as an aside, this morning in Brisbane we were blanketed with an absolute pea soup, and coming to work at 6.00am it was pretty ironic to see so very few fog lights in use.

[geckoGT]

Originally Posted by zdcol71

I too am glad that the coppers may be starting to come down on tossers, who for what ever reason, think its cool to drive around sub tropical Queensland with their fog lamps blazing. If however the OPs story is to be believed, I do think he was harshly done by, given the time and circumstance.
Just as an aside, this morning in Brisbane we were blanketed with an absolute pea soup, and coming to work at 6.00am it was pretty ironic to see so very few fog lights in use.

Yeah, it was foggy enough to use the front and rear fog lights on the Mini as we drove to carindale nice and early to get our Iphone 4's.

[BigAL_250]

Originally Posted by geckoGT

And lets also point out that in a B series you can not replace the right side globe without removing the battery

Have to beg to differ on that, If you remove the bar holding the battery down, you should be able to shift it far enough away to get a hand down there without disconnecting it. I've done it several times and I don't exactly have small hands.

[zdcol71]

Originally Posted by geckoGT

Yeah, it was foggy enough to use the front and rear fog lights on the Mini as we drove to carindale nice and early to get our Iphone 4's.

I lived at Tamborine Mtn for many years and could not have gotten by some mornings without the fog lamps on my Alfa. In fact I found it far better to drive with just the fog lights, without headlights, as the main beam just creates a blinding wall of white light in front of you with a thick enough fog.
I am not questioning the value of them ,just the need for (most it seems) people to drive with them constantly on, rain hail or shine, headlights/high beam etc

[XR6TCraig]

I feel for you mate. Laws to stop people from using their foglights when not neccesary are there for a reason, but I also feel that the copper should have used his discression and a bit of common sense too and let you be on your way.

Thinking about it, best bet in these circumstances I suppose would be to ring the RACQ/NRMA, RACV, etc, but this means sitting on the side of the road for up to a couple of hours, when really you were not posing any threat or danger to anyone doing what you did and keep driving home, at an appropriate speed for the conditions of course.

I know I would have done the same as you as it is impossible to replace globes on my car without several tools, which I do not carry.

Originally Posted by geckoGT

And lets also point out that in a B series you can not replace the right side globe without removing the battery,

The left side is no picnic unless you remove the airbox either, so I wouldn't like to try changing either at a servo or in the dark on the side of the road.

[IAM58L]

Originally Posted by glavas

should have pulled over got the car towed mate the safe thing to do. you broke the law deal with it.

As above. In the eyes of the law you broke it and are guilty of an offence that why you got the ticket lets look at the proofs for it

Motor vehicle = your car
Road or road related area = where you were driving
operated fog lights when no fog or smoke.

Yes I think its harsh and the cop is a a$$ for giving you a ticket and I would write a letter to the infringment processing mob and see how you go and good luck with it. But most of us will end up getting a raw deal with law enforcment the way it is these days, its the way this country is going.

[MotherNatureVer2]

Originally Posted by geckoGT

Apart from the fact that fog lights use the same wattage as the low beam (no brighter @ 55w) and are aimed lower (so they project under fog, not into it) so it is impossible for them to shine in your eyes.

Dont do too much night driving in the bush then?? These lights, I can assure you, DO hurt the eyes of drivers of oncoming vehcile particularly when there is no other street lights available.

Lets call it a daily experience for me!!

[sgt_doofey]

Originally Posted by MotherNature

Dont do too much night driving in the bush then?? These lights, I can assure you, DO hurt the eyes of drivers of oncoming vehcile particularly when there is no other street lights available.

Lets call it a daily experience for me!!

Add in a wet road, and it becomes worse. One of my pet peeves as well MN.

[BleedBlue]

When you say foglights are these also called driving lights i.e the lights on the underside of the front bumper? I thought foglights were yellow as white does not cut through fog? If so I fail to see the issue with having these on, I drive past people that have them on and it doesn't bother me in the slightest and definately don't shine in my eyes. There are some new cars with just their low beam's on that bother me but not these.

I turn them on in my Territory and they shine down and to the sides. Not sure what the fuss is all about......

[Seduce XR6]

Originally Posted by dave289

Basically, you got fined FOR making it more dangerous for other road users, why should I have to cop your fog lights in my eyes or anyone else for that matter. your headlights blow, then you fix them ,you dont make things more dangerous for other road users. No sympathy here mate, see this crap way to often .

I will make no friends with this comment but I dont have any on here anyway so am not worried at all.

Now this foglight issue has been done to death & is just plain stupid.

Foglights on vehicles such as XR6's or Territories are not bright & do not make it dangerous or blind oncoming drivers one little bit.

How do I know, well I have had vehicles such as these coming towards me at night, in the daytime & even when raining & had no issues with them at all.

I would be the first to complain if they were even half as bad as many of you make them out to be, but they are not so whats the issue?

I will tell you whats worse, drivers who drive in low light with no lights on or those superbright bulbs that look bright white or blue now they dazzle but are they banned?

I am sure many on here have replaced their bulbs with these with no regard to other drivers & may even be among the list of whingers complaining about foglights.

Some BMW's & Mercs have these dazzling bulbs standard, do they get fined?

Foglights are low, aimed at a slight downwards angle, have caps on the top half of the bulb & are low wattage.

Now a few types of foglights may dazzle because they are the old type & look yellow or orange so maybe only these types should be banned for use outside of fog.

Oh & as to the thread starter he did no wrong, what choice did he have if his bulbs blew, would you rather he drove with no lights & killed himself or someone else?

I will go again now but some of you really need to think about some of your comments in this thread, I guess we can all own Fords but that does not mean we are all bright

[Seduce XR6]

Originally Posted by MotherNature

Dont do too much night driving in the bush then?? These lights, I can assure you, DO hurt the eyes of drivers of oncoming vehcile particularly when there is no other street lights available.

Lets call it a daily experience for me!!

Maybe its your eyes

[DivHunter]

Couldn't care less about fog lights, far more people have poorly aligned headlights with ultra bright, ultra white globes and half of them are on 4WD making it 10 times worse.

[DBourne]

Originally Posted by dave289

Basically, you got fined FOR making it more dangerous for other road users, why should I have to cop your fog lights in my eyes or anyone else for that matter. your headlights blow, then you fix them ,you dont make things more dangerous for other road users. No sympathy here mate, see this crap way to often .

Dude, if fords standard fog lights blind you, you must be an albino!

I understand why spotties and driving with highbeams isn't allowed, but the standard BA fog lights wouldn't blind a thing.

And I cracked up laughing at people saying "err u shoulda pulled over and called for a tow truck"

I'm willing to bet you $20,000 if the same thing should ever happen to you, you would of done the exact same thing as the OP.

Unfortunately it's a spot of bad luck and obviously a cop who was having a bad (low quota) night

[LTDHO]

Good to see someone getting done for this.

[bdave351]

After seeing a number of XR and FPV drivers driving around Sydney recently with no headlights on, only fog lights then I can see why he wouldnt beleive you.

[onfire]

I got done a little while ago for using my fog lights... 12:45am in the morning coming home from work. Not a soul in sight. Myself and another xr6 pulled up together. No idea who the bloke driving was.

We both got pulled over for the same reason. Fog lights at night. $117 for having lights on. Really?

This and when we called the police earlier at work, they took 3hrs to come out.

[DivHunter]

So when it is foggy in the hills but due to the road changing altitude there are gaps should I be quickly switching them off and on?

[Seduce XR6]

Originally Posted by SgtBourne

Dude, if fords standard fog lights blind you, you must be an albino!

I understand why spotties and driving with highbeams isn't allowed, but the standard BA fog lights wouldn't blind a thing.

And I cracked up laughing at people saying "err u shoulda pulled over and called for a tow truck"

I'm willing to bet you $20,000 if the same thing should ever happen to you, you would of done the exact same thing as the OP.

Unfortunately it's a spot of bad luck and obviously a cop who was having a bad (low quota) night

Spot on Sarge

[fairmont1998]

I think the main offenders of blinding people are the lights fitted to commodores. No Ford foggies ever dazzle me when they approach, but you can pick a commodore from miles away. They aren't fog lights the way they throw light everywhere.

[Seduce XR6]

And looky here what I found on a current thread in the Territory section:

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11303586

These extra bright bulbs are the dazzling ones even at low beam, but plenty like them & nobody complains re being blinded by them do they?