If you are driving in fog, you should not take any unnecessary risks. Correct lighting and an appropriate speed are important for the safety of all road users.
In fog, drivers should not rely on the automatic light function. The ACE advises this. Unfortunately, this is a common mistake. Because even the light systems of modern vehicles usually only distinguish between light and dark and generally do not recognize fog.
As a result, the daytime running lights come on during the day and do not sufficiently illuminate the road and the roadside when it is foggy. Oncoming vehicles can also only see you late. High beam is also the wrong choice. The road can suddenly turn into a white wall of fog, the ACE warns.
The experts advise first switching on the low beam manually and checking the view. Depending on the situation, fog lights can also be an advantage. In addition to poor visibility, there is another danger in fog: the fine water droplets in the air can reflect the headlights and blind the driver. Since the fog lights are lower, they reduce the glare.
In dense fog, drivers should test whether they want to combine the fog lights with parking lights or whether a combination of low beam and fog lights works better.
Fog lights can also be used in heavy rain or snow. However, they are not intended for everyday use. Because the prerequisite for their use is poor visibility: in urban areas with a visibility of less than 60 to 70 meters, outside of town with less than 100 to 120 meters and on the motorway with less than 150 meters. Delineators can serve as orientation. They usually have a distance of 50 meters.
Modern cars also have rear fog lights. They may only use drivers in fog-related poor visibility of less than 50 meters to make their car visible to the traffic behind. If visibility is so limited that the rear fog light can be used, the maximum speed is 50 kilometers per hour.
By the way: If you use your fog lights or rear fog lights incorrectly, you risk a fine. It starts at 20 euros and can be higher if this endangers other road users or even causes an accident.
