The first thing we’re going to take a look at is fog lights. Available on many different types of vehicles, fog lights are a recognizable part of a vehicle’s front bumper and fascia. Usually, fog lights are mounted low on a vehicle, often directly in front of the wheel well.
They look like small headlights, and can be stylishly incorporated into the exterior front-end design of a vehicle. While the design may differ, their purpose is the same – to help you, a driver, gain visibility in poor weather.
All exterior lights are usually beneficial in poor weather. We say “usually” because there are times when standard headlights, and even high beams, can be a detriment to safe driving and visibility. What’s even worse about this, is it that the better the headlights are (HIID or LED for example), often the worse they become under certain circumstances.
Those circumstances involve heavy fog or snow. In these situations, headlights – both standard and high beam – can limit visibility. What happens when fog accumulates, or when snow is falling densely, is that the light put out by your headlights reflects off of the fog or snow. This creates less visibility, and makes it harder to see oncoming traffic, or even the road in front of you.
It can be especially bad at night when you are counting on the reflection of your lights to provide a path forward. Fog lights allow you to see in these circumstances, illuminating the road in front of you but not the fog or snow.
Mounted low on your vehicle’s front-end, fog lights are angled down with a wide lens to illuminate the road, and only the road, in front of you. By maintaining an acute angle with the ground, fog lights are able to only illuminate the road and anything close to it, allowing you to see other vehicles from their lights through the dense fog.
No distracting and glaring reflection.
This feature adds one more layer of safety for inclement-weather driving.
