FRONT DRIVING LIGHTS FINE-ALMOST??

[Mr Two]

Last night i was minding my own business,just driving around Festival Park in Stoke on Trent,doing nothing wrong(or so i thought)when a policevan pulled out of McD's behind me,v.quickly caught me up,put on his "flashy"lights n pulled me over.
"Did you know you are driving with your fog lights on and thats a bookable offence"he says!!!!!"Scuse me"ocifer i said,"i thought they are driving lights and yes i know they are on."To which he replied"they are FOG lights and if you drive your car with them switched on i will have to book you and you will be fined £30!"So i thought i don't fancy a fine tonight and said"sorry"
Anyway,after having all my details checked out he said i was free to go.
Do any of you know about this "fine"?

Dave

[acf8181]

well, in police officers eyes any light near the bottom of the bumper is classed as a fog light (you can get a fine for fogs on unnecessarily)....also, what were you doing in fezzy park! fav place for chav's and thus will have a lot cops looking to book people for silly offences.

[Baker]

yes mate. Non endorsable fixed penalty notice. given plenty out myself

No points on licence, but £30 fine.

They are FOG lights, and should only be used when foggy or in poor visability, as can dazzle oncoming drivers.

also given out for no seatbelts, mobile phone using in car, and other stuff.

turn em off to save your wallet, police are getting tougher on it.

[Rogue]

I've done the research on this and legally, the position of those lamps on the car means that they are indeed fog lamps. You definitely should not have them on unless it's actually foggy!

Rogue

[Baker]

its not just the position, its also the brightness they take into account.
The new mini has what appears to be fog lights, but theyre are slightly higher where a foggy goes, and only 5watt sidelights....just a lot lower thats where sidelights go.

[sadako]

Yes, driving with fog lights on in broad daylight also makes you look like a 2@. Turn them off plz

[acf8181]

it does have to be said that most fog lights are less likely to blind oncoming traffic than a lot of the new HID's, so does seem a bit to me as though raising police funding is the main reason behind it.

[Shawyboy]

Gotta say that this is also a new one on me. I was also in the car the time the police pulled us over, and was unaware that this was illegal.

To me the police should spend there time catching and stopping the boy racers, not the people who look like they are up for a race, just because they drive a sporty looking car. We were just round there getting some petrol from Morrisons, not looking for a race etc. Had we been aware it was illegal, they would have been switched off.

In response to Sakdako's little comment about people driving with them on being 2@'s, i would just like to point out that it was not broad daylight we were travelling in, it was 10pm at night, almost dark, and like i say, had we been aware that driving with them on was illegal they would have been switched off.

Cheers

[hoyle]

yeah it's been illegal for as long as i can remember, there are loads of little offences, like talking on mobile, drinking or eating while driving and i even think somewhere I read smoking while driving can get you a fine. driving with front or rear fogs, though I don't mind front fogs but rear fogs wind me up and should come with points on the licence

[Hurstie1981]

Well he gave you the benefit of the doubt and let you off with a warning. Fog lights are 10 times brighter than side lights and definatley not driving lights. (thats the chav excuse). They should only be used when road visibility "is seriously reduced" in that i mean that visibility is less than 100m.
HTH Graham

[cantfindausername]

This whole tyopic really chapps my ass.

I got fined 30 notes in guildford one night as on sundays they run a zero tollerance due to the cruise.

Anyhoo... I dont see why its "illegal" to want to see the road better. The lights dont dazzle on coming drivers, they light up the f**king kerb!!!

Would you get pulled over for driving with your lights on full beam?

Its quite possibly the w*nkiest law to hit the streets.

Also what you could do... drive with them on, when they pull you make sure you switch them off, then ask them to proove that you had them on.

F*cking useles pigs. Why not catch a real criminal instead of pocketing the money of a legit road user.

Rant over........ for now........

[Lauren]

Shock horror in police doing their job scenario!!!

seriously though they are fog lights and they do dazzle other road users... tbh i really wish manufacturers wouldn't fit them.

[Hurstie1981]

T

Anyhoo... I dont see why its "illegal" to want to see the road better. The lights dont dazzle on coming drivers, they light up the f**king kerb!!!

If they light up the kerb, how the hell does this help you to see the road better? Fog lights do dazzle oncoming drivers, also drivers infront of you, its a fact.
They are called fog lights for a reason!

[cantfindausername]

Sorry, not just the kerb, but also the white line. Meaning you can see where the road goes. Well, thats where mine point.

This is one of those marmite subjects where people either love foglights or hate them.

[Hurstie1981]

Well the area in the road that fog lights illuminate is relatively a close distance from your car, thats not the part of the road you should be looking at when driving, you should be driving looking ahead of you. People have had serious accidents due to being dazzled by other road users, its common courtesy not to use them,

[Baker]

F*cking useles pigs. Why not catch a real criminal instead of pocketing the money of a legit road user.

Rant over........ for now........ [/quote]


oh dear.

[Lauren]

F*cking useles pigs. Why not catch a real criminal instead of pocketing the money of a legit road user.

Rant over........ for now........


oh dear.

But what the road user was doing was illegal and inconsiderate to other road users.

Personally i wish the polie would blitz the whole foglight brigade.

[Ian Geary]

I tend to use my dipped headlights at dusk - they are designed to give a decent beam pattern well in front of the car.

Driving with full beam lights on would get exactly the same attention as front fog lights from the police I suspect.

The highway code is full of little known rules, like the no hooting between 11.30pm - 7am. I'm sure these get forgotten instantly after the driving test.

Here's a useful site for anyone wanting to refresh their kowledge.

http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/drivers.htm

hth

Ian

[Dave Goodhand]

Personally it was a shame you weren't fined £30.

I HATE people who drive with their fogs on, regardless of "driving lights" or whatever.. they are FOGS.. if its not FOGGY don't use them.

Hence when you have your MOT the bloke decides to check these as part of the test, of which if the light on the dash doesn't illuminate when its on it will fail.

Sorry but if you can't be bothered to drive by the laws and want to dazzle other drivers you should buy a BMW.

If its not people with fogs on when its not foggy (100m distance or less iirc) its people sitting in the outside lane of the motorway at 70 (or sitting in any lane other than the lefthand one)

[cantfindausername]

If its not people with fogs on when its not foggy (100m distance or less iirc) its people sitting in the outside lane of the motorway at 70 (or sitting in any lane other than the lefthand one)

What so sitting at THE SPEED LIMIT is a bad thing??