Driving in Fog

Wasnt there a big crash that is rumoured to be at least partly due to fog?

edit: yup - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-17380638
 
I live the correct side of the east midlanRAB (Newark) and every day I pull onto the A1 at Fernwood. As stated the must/ fog was very thick this morning and it was just lucky that I saw the guy tearing down the A1 on the inside lane with no lights on. I enters the A1 doing 60 and he went past so fast it rocked my car!!

And I could not believe the amount of people with no lights on with
 
I wonder how many people who are criticising car counting, can put hand on heart and say they have never done something similar whilst driving? Counting red/blue cars with the kiRAB, checking out the attractive looking girl, rubber necking the accident on the opposite carriageway? I didn't think so
 
That's another topic Gavini!!

Me? Never speed, had 6 points once as a genuine accident when I helped a dealer friend move cars from one site to another but his insurance didn't cover non employees sobi was stopped and done for no insurance... Never listen to music in the car, ignore the phone, don't interact with the kiRAB, only ever had one accident caused by black ice... Not perfect but I consider myself a medium quality driver.
 
Many many cars this morning with no lights on, and as has been said I bet these are the same idiots who insist on having their fog lights on at every other time.

I really do think the police should sit on the side of a road with their ANPR systems and fine people for driving with their fog lights on when it isn't foggy. Maybe there should be an IQ test for people who want to buy a car with fog lights?

Counting while driving is easy... how else would you "take the third left after the petrol station" or "take the second exit" when following directions?
 
LOL at this thread. Complaining about people not having their lights on in fog, as it's more dangerous to drive in fog than a clear day, then goes on to state not only counting (31 no less) the cars (which means actively looking for them) and flashing them (which means consciously looking for them), but also "memorising" their race, gender (inc hair colour), age, car type and the regularity of the offence. Really? When you should have been paying EXTRA attention to the road due to the massively restricted vision (20 metres) ?
 
No one's saying counting isn't easy. But there's a difference between mindlessly counting and actively looking for cars without lights on to count them. Thats a conscious distraction from driving. And to do it when the visibility is down to 20 metres or less is not only extremely hypocritical, but a downright brazen lack of care an attention
 
Force people to have motorbikes prior to car ownership, you'll soon learn to switch them on. Or become dead, which for some would be a good idea.
 
With respects I'd counter (as an accident free professional driver of many years), staring forward into fog can also be very dangerous.

a bit like staring at a VDU during a game which reduces your natural rate of blinks so a small mental distraction like counting - (i sing (very badly) stops the brain from being 'frozen' so to speak, into concentration.

To count other vehicles means you will avert your eye's and be more aware of events all around you. Add the fact Advance driver courses teach you to do this even talk aloud as part of hazard anticipation (thus accident avoidance), i can't see how it could be bad (excuse the pun) to count vehicles.
 
I am not suggesting that anyone stares into thick fog, or that my driving skills need attention.

Its called being aware of your surroundings in this situation, not counting how many ****ing cars have their lights on or not in the fog.

Matt C has said it all.
 
I'm an accident free professional driver too - what's your point there?

And where did I say sit bolt upright staring nothing but straight ahead? As a professional driver, I'd assume you know that giving driving your full attention is about surveying your surroundings, taking in whats in front, behind, and either side of you; cars, pedestrians, weather conditions, etc, taking them into account and adjusting your own driving to suit.

So, as a professional driver, with all the above in mind, you endorse counting cars with their headlights turned off, memorising the age, gender, ethnicity, make model and colour of car, frequency of "offenders over a given distance" as suitable, and responsible, behaviour given the weather conditions?
 
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Stay with me a bit, fog is very disorientating, there is very little visual stimulation to feed back speed we get under normal driving.

This can cause the less experienced to naturally fix their gaze ahead, looking hard at the vehicle ahead or looking for one, this can result in sort of mild trance effect.

Because rear screens and mirrors become obscured by moisture they become virtually useless, the driver might then stops looking at them in favour of concentrating in front. Now there id no aversion of gaze which means no interruption to the staring, so eye strain and the 'mini trance' condition can worsen.

If you add in possible driver fatigue factors,, then imho counting anything in this situation is of a great safety value.

I'm mot claiming i'm right as i'm no doctor or been medically trained, just over the years observed others accidents, and what i feel are the likely causes.
 
I cannot believe some of the posts to this thread.

I granted Wolfie a little poetic licence with his post... but even then. As with any task that is repeated time and time again, driving becomes second nature and you eventually perform these tasks, or parts of them, without thinking through each moment in time. Do you constantly think about changing gear, or how much force to put on the brake pedal, or through experience do you instinctively act?

If I had to consciously be aware, and react, to everything I encounter on the road everyday I know I'd be a worse driver than I am today... I never would have progressed beyond the stage of a 17 year old kid taking his first car out on his own for the first time. I'd be the sort of person we all see everyday on the road, the person that isn't involved in an accident but the type who you see and you just know "he's going to cause an accident".

If this instinctive/subconscious driving means you have time to make a mental note of a few cars driving towarRAB you without lights on then so be it.

I'd rather be behind or in front of that driver, than the one thinking "am I too close to the car in front? Am I in the right lane? Do I need to change gear now or can I let the engine rev a little higher? Is he going to brake? Should I brake? Will the guy on the side road pull out in front of me?" The guy thinking through all of those things whilst driving is, IMO, more of a danger than the one who thinks "another bmw 3 series without his lights on, that is the fourth car this morning."
 
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