Rant about spotlights

[satria]

I just wanted to have a little rant about an increasing trend i've noticed recently around town, lately i've been really annoyed by the amount of people driving around using their spotlights. Some don't bug me but alot of them are actually pretty blinding for the oncoming traffic, to the point where I'd class it as a hazard.

Around a year ago it would usually be the cool people in their SS utes driving around with them on but now it seems to be most cars and SUV's, hell, even a van last night was cruising with them on. I ask why? Are people really feeling the need for extra lighting on our roads?

The thing that gets me is they are predominantly new cars doing this, I'm talking cars made from 2008+ so I assume these cars would have pretty good standard headlights in the first place, so other than wanting to be a ****head why do they turn their spotties on?

Have they become legal to use?

I was trying to get a ratio of cars in my area that were driving with spotlights on and i would put a ratio of around 6-7 out of 10 cars driving with spotlights. Let me be clear I'm not talking about DRL's, I'm talking about big round spotlights.

In my opinion if it is still illegal to have spotlights turned on police need to put a campaign out against people using them as they are totally unneccessary and hazardous. It will be easy pickings for them and heck, they'll even generate a fair bit of revenue from it.

Am i just getting old or do i make a fair point?

Cheers

[WILDB]

They aren't spotlights - they are front fog lights and yes, they are illegal unless they are being used in inclement weather.

[Crazy Dazz]

Must be a Mexican thing

[Xr693]

I get more annoyed with the standard headlights of those new BMW X5 things, blinding HIDs that sit right in my rear view and side mirror! And they're standard ffs.

[uniacidz]

Originally Posted by Xr693

I get more annoyed with the standard headlights of those new BMW X5 things, blinding HIDs that sit right in my rear view and side mirror! And they're standard ffs.

Same with Hiluxes etc.
Being in a lowered car, you get alot of vehicles shining into the cabin. Annoying at times



I have seen cop cars, RTA vehicles and those Fire Services/Ambulance service SUV vehicles with them on.

So yeh, still illegal to use, but man who knows

[Halfmo Rocks]

i work with a guy who uses them all the time. been fined for using them several times...''i just like having my foggies on'' he says
i don't get it...annoys me too

[kate648]

Ok I'll admit it, I'm one of those ****heads! I mainly leave them on as I drive at dusk a lot, and my parkers are so dim they are almost un-noticeable.
As for being fined, never happened to me. Coppers didn't even mention it when I got RBT'd last night.

[kate648]

Originally Posted by WILDB

They aren't spotlights - they are front fog lights and yes, they are illegal unless they are being used in inclement weather.

Yeh I'm assuming he means foggies. I'd probably cause a pile up if I drove around with my spotties on :/

[satria]

Yeah I'm talking about fog lights just to make things clear.

[FLUTTA]

They definitely are still illegal as I got threatened with a fine and told to turn them off by a copper doing RBT's.

[fangq]

I tend to quickly flip my fog lights on and off when approached by a Close Encounters vehicle.

[calmeister]

The Minister for War & Finance has an 07 Escape. The foglights are more efficient than the **** poor headlights (high beam is a joke) on that thing!
Tend not to drive around with 'em on though.

[BennyH]

How do fog lights 'blind' you when they are essentially pointed to the ground?

[janddbone]

Without saying anything to get this thread closed... I agree and the bloke that had a total of six lights shining in my mirror tonight, knows that I was not happy as well! Most are not pointed to the ground, they are just at ground level and are a spread beam. Most are also conventional 55w globes, which when added to your headlights equal hundreds of watts of glare...

[Mechan1k]

I doubt we will see this thread for much longer ... this has been discussed many a time previously and the subject is always the same along with the responses.

The law is in place for them ... you either chose to obey or ignore it.

Don't let it get to you .... i do admit there are bright ones out there ... but you look directly at them and "let" them blind you. If i notice bright ones .... I look toward the left line in my lane and not let it phase me.

Take a deep breath and continue on an ignore it ... makes for a much more relaxed drive.

[redxm]

Had some goob coming towards me the other night with a home made HID conversion.
About 100 meters out he got 400 watts back at him.

And WTF is it with people who drive around with only parkers on, can't they see other cars on the road and realise low beam allows you to be seen much sooner (talking day time here)

[Ben73]

Worse when people drive ONLY with foglights on when it's pitch black outside.
You can only see 3 foot in front of you with them only on.

2 years ago they were popular here, at night half of all cars with foglights would use them. Now it's much more rare. More like 1 in 10 will have them on.

But foglight Thursday seams to be popular around here still.

My drum teacher used to always use his foglights on his Commodore at night. I once made a reference that they were only meant to be used in bad weather conditions his response was "Night time is bad weather for me"

[my_gxl]

Originally Posted by kate648

Ok I'll admit it, I'm one of those ****heads! I mainly leave them on as I drive at dusk a lot, and my parkers are so dim they are almost un-noticeable.
As for being fined, never happened to me. Coppers didn't even mention it when I got RBT'd last night.

So are the low beam headlights dim too?

Its not illegal to use low beam headlights by day.

I don't see the point of wayne kerrs having parkers and fog lights on. To me it highlight the driver of that vehicle is a tool.

It was here on AFF that I saw the jump in fines for this offence in QLD

I did it when younger (so yes I am admitting I was a tool back then. I got warned, and never did it again) as I had blue covers on the parkers, so the headlights looked blue, and at dusk it looked nice. The threat of the total of about $900 in incorrect use of lighting, plus vehicle defects was enough for me. It was NSW at the time. It had no visual effect during daylight.

Now I pretty much leave the headlights on, as If I don't too many people never see my car and pull out in front.

[flappist]

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein


closed......