Spoke with a garda friend of mine who is based in the west regarding fog lights. He says that is is not illegal to drive around with your front fog lights on when there is no fog. It is illegal to drive around with your back fog lights on when there is no fog and he has issued fines for this. He says he often asks drivers why they have their front fog lights on at checkpoints and he gets one of two answers, people think it gives them more visibility of the road and two that they did not realise they had them on in the first place. The odd muppet will tell him that it looks cool. So until there is a fine for driving with your front fog lights on be prepared to put up with this for years to come.
Cars with no brake lights/one headlight
- Thread starter WhoAmI
- Start date
So what you're saying is the Gardaí are not implementing what the RSA say that they "must not be used" except where conditions dictate. Anyways, been through all this & more in other thread.
That's just a bit sad really IMHO. No offence, obviously.
"Motor vehicles (except motorcycles or electric vehicles with a maximum speed of 38km/h) must have the following lights and reflectors.
At the front:
- Two headlights (white or yellow)
- Two white sidelights
- Direction indicator lights (amber only)
- Two red lights (commonly known as tail lights)
- Two red brake lights
- Two red reflectors
- Number plate lighting
- Direction indicator lights (amber only)
- You must use fog lights only in dense fog or falling snow. Turn them off in clear weather or you will risk causing glare or dazzling other drivers.
- You may fit high mounted rear brake lights if you wish, but fitting other optional lighting is controlled by law.
Before you change or alter the physical apperance of your vehicle, for example by fitting spot lights, bull bars or ornaments, take care not to increase the risk to road users, in particular the more vunerable ones, for example cyclists and pedestrians.
You must not fit blue or red flashing lights which are solely reserved for Gardaí, ambulance and other designated service vehicles. See www.transport.ie for details.
You should not make any technical modifications to your vehicle without professional advice as these may have legal and safety implications.
You should also inform your insurance company, as some modifications can invalidate your insurance policy."
The above is pasted directly from the Rules of the Road. So if you have anything other than the lights mentioned in the rules of the road on, then you are breaking the rules of the road & so cant drive. I've highlighted the points you should bear in mind - its not only drivers who get blinded by spot lights.
Remember that a "spot light" is meant to be used when the vehicle is stationary or off road - they are designed for construction, farming, hunting etc. whereby someone may need to light up an off road area to work or check something while the vehicle is parked up. So having "spot lights" on while driving is actually much more dangerous than having "fog lights" on - so I wouldnt make that argument if I were you.
No offence taken, luckily my humour chromsome is still active, unlike others posters it seems, no offence by the way, I'm sure you have days when you like to smile.
Seem to have hit a nerve, I'm sure you are quite a capable driver and I'm sure you know all of the rules of the road, I on the other hand don't and am never likely to, but I wouldn't have pigeon holed myself into the 'idiots who can't drive' bracket. They do look cool though you have to agree on that!
I really don't think so. I think they say too much about the driver to be cool.
BTW, fog lights are not the same as spot lights. Spot lights are the sort of light you mount on the roof and move by hand in case you want to count sheep in the middle of the night or something. Fog lights are the ones mounted below your headlights on the front of your car.
I can't say that I have ever really noticed anything ontoward about drivers with spot/foglights or that theres was such animosity against drivers that have these extras on their cars. I do think that many posters are a ott in their grievances but you can't please everyone. Btw my use of the word cool was a little tongue in cheek, but I still can't fault them for how they look on a car.
Which are you talking about, spot lights or fog lights?
So it's fog lights so, not spotlights. Thanks for clearing that up.