Under bumper lights.....

[lownloud]

Ok I'm going to go out on a limb here....
Does anyone else find the use of under bumper driving lights incredibly irritating? At this time of year I drive to work and home from work in the dark and seem to be getting bombarded with more and more cars and particularly tradies and SUV's with under bumper lights blazing peoples retinas with what seem like incredibly bright lights.
Now I don't remember ever seeing a rule in the RTA handbook that states that if your auxiliary lights are below an imaginary line somewhere in the front bumper region, then it's Ok to have them on in a built up area. Correct me if I'm wrong?
I can only assume drivers of said vehicles:
1. Have no regard for their fellow motorists.
2. Imagine they are "cool as Fonzie" running these lights.
3. Think they are "Euro". (I've been to Europe, they don't run them unless it's foggy)
4. Are blissfully unaware they are breaking the law.

Am I just a grumpy old man? Thoughts?.....

[Stefan]

5. All of the above.

[Streets]

Yeah not a fan of any unnecessary auxiliary lighting, or those that pull out their standard bulbs and bung in high-intensity bulbs without adjusting them.

A good story though, one time I was in the Maccas drive-through and an enormous raised Land Cruiser or something pulled up behind me. Took up my whole rear windscreen and the headlights were right at my eye level. They actually switched to parkers so he wasn't blinding me. I thought that was nice of him/her. You don't usually see courtesy like that.

[Big_Daz]

To be honest it doesn't really worry me too much... Unless they have the High Beams on then yes I consider that **** highly irritating...

[OffRoadFalcon]

These driving lights/fog lights drive me nuts too. Although during the day they don't bother me, it's just at night when they become blinding.
Fine if it's foggy or extremely heavy rain, or if there's no oncoming traffic. Depending on brightness, if they are too bright and are blinding me, I will give them a quick flash.

The worst though, is ARB bull-bars that are fitted with them. As they are very bright and sit very high, and so many owners drive with them on.

[vztrt]

The only lights that bug me are the Bi-Xenon lights you get. Feels like people driving around with their Hi-Beams on. Other lights don't really bother me....except people who leave their high beams on when going the other way.

[Sabantien]

The fog lights?

I see a lot of people driving around with them on, and it is also illegal unless visibility is poor. Not that the police do anything about it.

Some definitely are annoying, but I agree with vztrt, the bi-xenon lights are the real killer. Way too bright.

[2011G6E]

I am proud to say I hold the distinction of being the only person I have ever heard of who has been actually pulled over and sternly cautioned for having the fog lights on.

Back when we bought our former car, the G6E, I picked it up on Saturday morning, and we drove straight down to Bundaberg. Driving along, my missus reading through the paperback-sized owners handbook, amazed at all the electronic toys, figuring out what everything did. Got about an hour south of Rocky and pulled over by The Plod for a random breath test where they were pulling over everyone heading south.
Cop went for me, in a big way, for having the fog lights on. I had to actually search for the switch to turn them off. I pleaded ignorance, saying we only picked the car up an hour or so ago. No excuse. I squeaked out of a fine by the skin of my teeth.

Never heard it happening to anyone I know.
And the idiots who just leave them on as a matter of course or who obviously fit much brighter bulbs in them...good lord, driving along the Capricorn Highway and around Rocky at night the place is heaving with them...

[ingles]

SA coppers are pretty hot on it-cant say it bothers me much; if the lights ARE proper fogs, sure they are bright but they are nice and low.I would rather that people can see other road users, coz lets face it, some need more help than others..........

[Ben73]

They don't really bother me. A couple of models of cars and The ones in bullbars are often bright, but I just try to look away from those ones.

So are you allowed to use driving lights in rural areas? I find them more annoying in ritual areas than in cities.

[tut0r]

Foglights never bother me in most cars. Its only when people screw around with them. My foglights on the xr6 have no chance of blinding a damn midget, they point so low and if anything I use them for the extra width when on dark roads.

I fitted the new projector drls on the ute(bought from someone here). I must say I didn't even adjust them whoever I bought them off had them set up nicely. Leftside points slightly higher but the right is on a normal height. Won't blind anyone........

Now my friend in her 98 lancer has the bi xenon BS. Couldn't spot anything 2 metres in front of you with the damn useless things, always yelled at her to adjust the buggers as they were blinding.....Turns out it was actually her parkers that her ex put in look like some LED bull**** that stings the eyes like a projector high beam!!!

[davenl5l]

I live in country sa in a area that has debatably the worst roads in the country . the surface matches the dirt on the side for colour and the white lines don't stand out there are no fog lines on the sides etc. to compound this I wear glasses so when theses ignorant morons are coming towards me it is like every car has its high beam on .this is even a bigger problem in the wet as you cannot see the white lines or the road edge. these lights are FOG lights and guess what ? they can only legally be used when its FOGGY !!!!

[2011G6E]

Depends on what you're driving...in our Triton? Nope, not really a worry as long as, has been said, some numptie hasn't been playing with them to try and make them into spotlights or aimed them up into peoples eyes.

In the Celica of course it's a different matter...low to the ground you're looking at taller vehicles headlights anyway, but when some idiot has "adjusted" their fog lights or stupidly fitted an Ebay HID kit into standard headlights, you're blinded until the guy goes past.

[Ippy289XP]

Originally Posted by lownloud

Ok I'm going to go out on a limb here....
Does anyone else find the use of under bumper driving lights incredibly irritating? At this time of year I drive to work and home from work in the dark and seem to be getting bombarded with more and more cars and particularly tradies and SUV's with under bumper lights blazing peoples retinas with what seem like incredibly bright lights.
Now I don't remember ever seeing a rule in the RTA handbook that states that if your auxiliary lights are below an imaginary line somewhere in the front bumper region, then it's Ok to have them on in a built up area. Correct me if I'm wrong?
I can only assume drivers of said vehicles:
1. Have no regard for their fellow motorists.
2. Imagine they are "cool as Fonzie" running these lights.
3. Think they are "Euro". (I've been to Europe, they don't run them unless it's foggy)
4. Are blissfully unaware they are breaking the law.

Am I just a grumpy old man? Thoughts?.....

Only one word can describe people who have these lights.
*********!

[XG_Falcon]

I used to be friends with a guy that purposely aimed the foglights on his bullbar upwards so that they'd blind other drivers. Literally the only reason he used the lights were to blind other drivers.

This thread reminded me of driving around country SA with this drop kick.