I don’t know about you but I’m having serious issues with MyVi drivers and their inappropriate use of fog lights.
What are fog lights, you may ask? Well, in the case of the MyVis, there are those beady-eyed lamps mounted low on the front bumper.
Fog lights, as the name suggests, are meant to be used when visibility is poor due to rain, fog or snow. And they are meant to be used in tandem with the normal headlights to act as an assisting tool. Malaysian MyVi drivers, however, chose to use the fog lights as their main illuminating device in, more often than not, clear weather. Which culminates in other motorists, such as me, coming from the opposite direction, receiving unnecessary glare. And render you invisible every time you come up behind me. I don’t about you but I very much prefer to avoid rear-ended collisions.
Do you know why a car’s head lights seem temporarily brighter when you see it go pass a speed bump? It’s because all head lights on all matter of road vehicles are slightly aimed downwards towards the road surface to firstly, lets you see the road because that’s really important, and secondly, so that other drivers coming at you would not have to cover their eyes and scream in agony because of the glare coming from your car. Head lights are meant for you to see the road and others see you. It works both ways.
And fog lights are there to help when the weather is shit. As such, tiny as they are, are pointed straight ahead and offers a stronger light density to penetrate the fog and sleet. Which means, under normal conditions (which is most time in Malaysia), it gives out more glare.
Bearing this in mind, MyVi drivers now are under the impression that since their fog lights gives them better illumination of the road markings, their opted to use solely that instead of using their normal head lights. Let alone using both under clear weather conditions but to think that fog lights are substitutes for head lights? That’s not just wrong. That’s stupid. Head lights are not called head lights just because they are bigger. They need to be at a pre-determined height on a car. It’s the reason why they are not mounted low on the front bumper like the fog lights or on the roof. So that when a car comes up behind me, I would know.
Once I was driving on Federal. I was on the right lane and doing 80. Out of the blue, a black MyVi appears behind me. I reckon it was there probably I few seconds before I realized its presence because of, well, you guessed it, the misappropriation of fog light use and the lack of head light use. Since it was tailgating me I would normally get out of the way but since it was one of those ignorant dimwits, I decided to share my annoyance by just taking my foot of the pedal and let my car drift ever so slower. By the time it overtook me from the left I was pretty sure the lesson was never learnt but I was pleased with myself anyway.
So, people, driving in Malaysia, you don’t need fog lights because fogs here are only found on the way or down to or from Genting at dawn. Or the stretch between Gua Musang and Kuala Krai at 3 in the morning. In KL, only when it rains that requires the closure of the SMART Tunnel do you find the slight necessity to use fog lights. Other than that, please, use normal head lights. Why is it so difficult? Forfeiting head lights does not make you look cool. It makes you look like an ass. A dumb ass, as a matter of fact. And why does MyVi drivers tend to do this? I do not know. But they do. I’m confident if I go out for a drive right now, I could easily spot one in matter of minutes.
I never do this but it’s such a shame we do not have any road regulations on this. In Germany, it’s illegal to switch on your fog lights during clear weather. It’s prohibited in the UK as well. Which is why our car makers have been making extra bucks by offering these unnecessary and annoying options to their customers. They don’t care. It’s all about profits for them. Like the small wipers for head lights on a few Merc models not long ago. C’mon, really?
Educate yourself people. Or so help me god if one ever drives up my alley again without switching the head lights on.
Unless you’re driving a Hilux then we’re totally cool.
What are fog lights, you may ask? Well, in the case of the MyVis, there are those beady-eyed lamps mounted low on the front bumper.
Fog lights, as the name suggests, are meant to be used when visibility is poor due to rain, fog or snow. And they are meant to be used in tandem with the normal headlights to act as an assisting tool. Malaysian MyVi drivers, however, chose to use the fog lights as their main illuminating device in, more often than not, clear weather. Which culminates in other motorists, such as me, coming from the opposite direction, receiving unnecessary glare. And render you invisible every time you come up behind me. I don’t about you but I very much prefer to avoid rear-ended collisions.
Do you know why a car’s head lights seem temporarily brighter when you see it go pass a speed bump? It’s because all head lights on all matter of road vehicles are slightly aimed downwards towards the road surface to firstly, lets you see the road because that’s really important, and secondly, so that other drivers coming at you would not have to cover their eyes and scream in agony because of the glare coming from your car. Head lights are meant for you to see the road and others see you. It works both ways.
And fog lights are there to help when the weather is shit. As such, tiny as they are, are pointed straight ahead and offers a stronger light density to penetrate the fog and sleet. Which means, under normal conditions (which is most time in Malaysia), it gives out more glare.
Bearing this in mind, MyVi drivers now are under the impression that since their fog lights gives them better illumination of the road markings, their opted to use solely that instead of using their normal head lights. Let alone using both under clear weather conditions but to think that fog lights are substitutes for head lights? That’s not just wrong. That’s stupid. Head lights are not called head lights just because they are bigger. They need to be at a pre-determined height on a car. It’s the reason why they are not mounted low on the front bumper like the fog lights or on the roof. So that when a car comes up behind me, I would know.
Once I was driving on Federal. I was on the right lane and doing 80. Out of the blue, a black MyVi appears behind me. I reckon it was there probably I few seconds before I realized its presence because of, well, you guessed it, the misappropriation of fog light use and the lack of head light use. Since it was tailgating me I would normally get out of the way but since it was one of those ignorant dimwits, I decided to share my annoyance by just taking my foot of the pedal and let my car drift ever so slower. By the time it overtook me from the left I was pretty sure the lesson was never learnt but I was pleased with myself anyway.
So, people, driving in Malaysia, you don’t need fog lights because fogs here are only found on the way or down to or from Genting at dawn. Or the stretch between Gua Musang and Kuala Krai at 3 in the morning. In KL, only when it rains that requires the closure of the SMART Tunnel do you find the slight necessity to use fog lights. Other than that, please, use normal head lights. Why is it so difficult? Forfeiting head lights does not make you look cool. It makes you look like an ass. A dumb ass, as a matter of fact. And why does MyVi drivers tend to do this? I do not know. But they do. I’m confident if I go out for a drive right now, I could easily spot one in matter of minutes.
I never do this but it’s such a shame we do not have any road regulations on this. In Germany, it’s illegal to switch on your fog lights during clear weather. It’s prohibited in the UK as well. Which is why our car makers have been making extra bucks by offering these unnecessary and annoying options to their customers. They don’t care. It’s all about profits for them. Like the small wipers for head lights on a few Merc models not long ago. C’mon, really?
Educate yourself people. Or so help me god if one ever drives up my alley again without switching the head lights on.
Unless you’re driving a Hilux then we’re totally cool.
1 comment:
I shared your thoughts too. And i am also a Myvi driver (who does not use my foglights). However, a couple of days back, on the way to work before dawn, my headlamps went kaput.
I could only turn on either my low light and highbeam. So i drove using my low light AND foglights, for other people to notice my presence on the road.
Post a Comment