Possibly not what you were expecting:

What I really hate is all those sloppy articles that get published in every newspaper/magazine/website about this time of year. Usually introduced with a headline like 'make your car ready for winter' and a subtitle of 'Our Motoring Expert Kevin Analtard gives us his top winter motoring tips'.

The article will of course have been churned out by a barely literate 'journalist' fresh out of Luton University with a degree in media studies and consist of really useful advice about checking tyre pressures, cleaning the windscreen and making sure all your lights work. The sort of thing that anyone with half a brain would do ALL YEAR ROUND not just in the winter for crying out loud.

The great motoring public of course don't do any of those checks at any time of year let alone the winter and so at the first sign of a snowflake they all go skidding around on their bald, under-inflated budget Sanyongomoto ditchfinders, peering through their smeary windscreens that they can't clean because they haven't put any screen wash in the reservoir and they'll either have no lights on at all or have their rear fogs blazing away blinding everyone behind them. None of this of course will deter them from staring intensely down at their lap checking facebook on their 'phone. 2008 MY Java Black TDV8 HSE

Flippin eck Paddi Do you feel better now you've got that off your chest.

Kevin Analtard

Can't beat a good rant eh Paddi

Brill  Mike

2014 Facelift Discovery

Excellent...just going to put some screen wash in now  Current Volvo XC90 R Design T8
Gone 2010 TDV8. Stornoway Grey
Gone VW R50, AUDI S8, ML320 Sport, FFRR V8
Stolen 2007 TDV8.

All very true Paddi

It really boils my how many people STILL think that using a dipped beam headlight in poor visibilty or at any other time, actually runs their battery down

I guess its a hangover from the days when dynamo's were fitted to cars, as they were not very efficient MY2007 RRS TDV8 Black - tinted glass - side steps- stormer grille - 20" diamond cut alloys - alpaca leather - TV/DVD pack - some blingy chrome bits & bob's

What's winter? Gone - 2008 Stornoway Grey RRS 2.7 TDV6
Gone - 2009 Buckingham Blue RRS 2.7 TDV6
Gone - 2010 Alaska White RRS 5.0 V8 Aspirated
Gone - 2017 Chawton White RRS 5.0 V8 Supercharged
Current - 2010 Java Black RRS 5.0 V8 Aspirated
Current- 2024 RRS P400 SE Dynamic

Paddi wrote:

they'll either have no lights on at all or have their rear fogs blazing away blinding everyone behind them.

Yes, the rear fog light brigade really get up my nose.

Having a headlight bulb out and trying to compensate for it by having the other on full beam bugs me as well.

Although, many years ago, aged 17, I was tooling up the A57 in my Morris Marina (£70 it was) and got stopped by a local rozzer. He asked me why I had my main beam on and pointed to the blue light on the dash. I had assumed that the blue light meant the lights were on.

Back in the days when we all taught ourselves to drive.

BKHK wrote:

What's winter?

surely you remember the xmas cards with the grey, wet, dull and depressing scenery of people trudging around with their hands in their pockets and heads down BK.. Another Pommie Bar Steward down under

MY20 Defender 110 SE P400 Eiger/Ebony
MY10 3.0 RRS TDv6 Fuji/Ebony/Anigre

Stuart wrote:

Paddi wrote:

they'll either have no lights on at all or have their rear fogs blazing away blinding everyone behind them.

Yes, the rear fog light brigade really get up my nose.

Having a headlight bulb out and trying to compensate for it by having the other on full beam bugs me as well.

Although, many years ago, aged 17, I was tooling up the A57 in my Morris Marina (£70 it was) and got stopped by a local rozzer. He asked me why I had my main beam on and pointed to the blue light on the dash. I had assumed that the blue light meant the lights were on.

Back in the days when we all taught ourselves to drive.

they totally my life away, other day behind one on a19 for miles in the rain, main beamed him nothing? in the end i got so sick i just undertook the lane hogging fog light using tw@t, i mean the name FOG light is the clue, not rain/snow light, also boils my when people use them when your directly behind them in fog or when theres a slight mist but you still have a miles worth of vision

Well surprise surprise. Just watching BBC news channel and up popped a 'motoring expert' from the IAM who proceeded to merely confirm what I have always thought about this august body. "If you come across standing water there is risk you will experience a phenomenon we call hydroplaning"

He went on to suggest declutching to aid control. Typical hubristic nonsense. 2008 MY Java Black TDV8 HSE

Quote:

i mean the name FOG light is the clue, not rain/snow light, also boils my

Bad advice from the news lady then We all know that following cars with rear fogs on during wet weather conditions gives a star burst effect when the light emitted hits water droplets on the windscreen  MY2007 RRS TDV8 Black - tinted glass - side steps- stormer grille - 20" diamond cut alloys - alpaca leather - TV/DVD pack - some blingy chrome bits & bob's

Its in the highway code i think...just checked - yes it is, apparently you should if the conditions are met to overall visibility not just fog:

Quote:

226
You MUST use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced, generally when you cannot see for more than 100 metres (328 feet). You may also use front or rear fog lights but you MUST switch them off when visibility improves (see Rule 236). Law RVLR regs 25 & 27