Anyone ever cited for using fog lights?

[Brabus]

Originally Posted by Suze

I use mine when it's raining, foggy, dark, cloudy of if I feel the need to draw attention to myself.

I think the smarts fogs are pretty un-annoying when compared...

lol, I use mine ALL the time just to prove I have a talent at annoying complete strangers. Oh wait, my car doesn't have fog lights. hahahaha I do want those quad Brabus fog lights (two are DRLs and two are fog), but at $649 just for the lights, then the Smart fog light button is $171, then $50 activation. If I had fogs I'd keep them on just to get my moneys worth!

[mendo]

John, I think that the lights on the Smart are reasonably placed and aimed. they do a good job of lighting up the sides of the road and the patch just in front of the car. Mine don't glare out at any oncoming traffic or traffic that I approach. I have never been pulled over when they were on. I think that if they were obnoxious then I could see that law making sense. I don't think that these lights are dangerous to any other traffic.

[AlanPerry]

Originally Posted by John_H

Thanks, AlanPerry, for telling me I can't read (or perhaps it was "interpret").

Please look again at the emphasized part of the quotation in the first post of this thread. My interpretation of the Oregon Driver's Manual: if you can't use high-beams legally, you cannot use fog lights. Nowhere in the quote was the "vehicle headlight system" mentioned but instead "when you are required to dim your headlights."

As someone else noted, that is because I was quoting the law itself, not Oregon Driver's Manual. I would suggest that, if you ever get cited and have to go to court, you read the actual section of the code that the officer says that you violated, not someone else's interpretation of the law.

You would think that a police officer would know this stuff, but sometimes they don't. I was cited for improper overtaking after a car turned left into me while I was passing. I read the section of state law that I was cited with violating in the ticket and it turns out that I, as the passing car, had right of way in that incident. My attorney didn't know this. He presented the argument exactly as I had written it. The judge did didn't know this. He had to look up the law and reread for himself. Apparently the officer didn't know this because he cited me and not the other driver.

[AlanPerry]

Originally Posted by mendo

John, I think that the lights on the Smart are reasonably placed and aimed. they do a good job of lighting up the sides of the road and the patch just in front of the car. Mine don't glare out at any oncoming traffic or traffic that I approach.

I don't see any glare issues with the fog lights, but there is one problem with the low beam headlights. The beam pattern has a relatively sharp cut-off (the transition from lit area to unlit area) and the car has a short wheelbase.

Because of the short wheelbase, under some conditions, like undulations in the road surface (or some of the more clunky gear changes), the car will pitch front-to-back. From an approaching car's point of view, it can appear as though you are flashing your high beams at the approaching car.

[sheureka]

I don't know if this is true on the newer smarts (mine has a 11/07 build date) but the low beams are really aimed high. When I first got the car people were flashing me all the time, thinking the high beams were on. It's a very easy adjustment and I no longer have the problem. - sheureka

[John_H]

I fell asleep last night thinking about how I could try to work cable-driven displacement of the front and rear body (relative to the axles) to dynamically tilt the headlights. It would be very cool but probably not simple.

[Padawan]

Originally Posted by sheureka

I don't know if this is true on the newer smarts (mine has a 11/07 build date) but the low beams are really aimed high. When I first got the car people were flashing me all the time, thinking the high beams were on. It's a very easy adjustment and I no longer have the problem. - sheureka

The aim was off on my 2008 (build date 9/08) also. I'm very particular about my headlight and fog lamp aim, so I took my car to my favourite light aiming spot (a dark parking lot with a block wall to aim at) and adjusted the headlights and fog lamps to proper aim. Much better visibility now, and no drivers flashing me.

[Karl Roth]

Originally Posted by John_H

I fell asleep last night thinking about how I could try to work cable-driven displacement of the front and rear body (relative to the axles) to dynamically tilt the headlights. It would be very cool but probably not simple.

John, most European cars have a knob on the dash to adjust the headlight aim.
there is nothing inherently wrong with the aim of the smart fogs just there widespread miss use. The same self centered attitude that makes that a problem keeps you from having the ability to aim your headlights from the drivers seat...
karl

[Kermit]

Do Euro 451's have interior headlight aiming ability from the interior. I know some 450's had it.

[CruisingAZ]

Here is a not so funny story out of Oregon...

In 1977 when I was 17 years old I had my license suspended for points (teenage driver), The weekend I got my license back I was traveling along highway 224 outside Boring Oregon in my 1968 Chevelle (the reason for the points), this car was equiped with two driving lights, two high beam bulbs & two low beam bulbs.

As a rounded a corner I saw another vehicle coming towards me so I dimed my lights (turned off high beams), the approaching car (a state trooper) passed me, turned around, pulled me over and cited me for failure to dim (He wanted the driving lights turned off).

My license was suspended again for 90 days for points!