Ascotrun

I find the fog lights on our E34s to be the most useless I've ever come across !

But I do disagree with you over front fogs, most of them are pointing so high I find them quite offensive, but my wife says I get more like Victor Meldrew by the day !!

Also on my list of hates are blue washer jets, blue lights behind the grill, blue valve caps, and all those silly neon type lights the kids seem to put under thier cars in an array of colours.

I must say Nigel "I Simply Don't Believe It!!"

I think I'm turning into a Victor Meldrew as well. I ocassionally use public transport (damn Birmingham buses don't you know) if I'm on a a shorter day and want to pop into town after work.

It makes you appreciate the convenience and enjoyment of driving a BMW and of course what it would be like without a licence...

Anyway, I digress, while standing at a cold bus stop a few weeks back and getting really bored, I noticed the number of people not wearing seatbelts. I started counting them (sad or what ??) by the time the bus arrived I had got upto 65. I continued counting while on the bus (said I was sad didn't I ?) and packed up when I got to 100.

The deliberate breaking of the law goes un-noticed most of the time as the police can't be bothered. Pity the tax payer has to cough up millions to support the health service. How much of this goes into repairing people's faces after they've been through the windscreen.

Fog lights on all the time are annoying, but you can always try out your main beam for a couple of seconds to give them a clue. 

Andy of Birmingham (aka 39 year Boring Old Fart !!)

Badger

Ahh you take me back !!

Birmingham buses.

I was born and brought up in good old brum, jasper carrott for president etc.

My kids dont believe me that years ago, hundreds of years ago according to them, that I used to catch buses all around brum rather than bother with the car when going into the city, and of course the local trains.

I live in Worcester now, have done for years, and I constantly laugh at the local council trying to achieve what we had 30 years ago.

Is the transport system still as good ?

Unfortunately the transport system in Birmingham seems to have gone downhill in the 19 years I have worked in Edgbaston.

Now they've put a bus lane down a particular dual carriageway (7am -7pm 7 days a week), more cars are taking to the backroads to avoid sitting in a jam. The one bus that actually uses this bus lane doesn't run by me, so I end up in the same old traffic as everyone else on the backroads sitting on a bus.

Ironically it now takes 15 minutes longer to get to work by bus since the bus lanes were introduced .

As I said, makes you appreciate having the Beemer when you've sat for 90 minutes on buses; a journey you could complete in about 35 minutes by car.

No contest really !!

Andy  540i  Sutton Coldfield

Isnt that just typical !!

I think that is happening all over the country.

More bus lanes = slower buses

More speed cameras = more accidents

But as good old John Presott was once telling us (with referance to the M4 bus lane) "the slower you go, the faster you get there" !

To quote good old Wogan " IS IT ME " !!!

The pits

You will be astounded to learn that all these lights, well I can say the washer jets for sure ARENT illegal.

I have been doing my advanced driving stuff with the IAM (have my test next monday, so fingers crossed), whilst I have been doing this I recieve the associates newsletter/mag called drive.

There was an article in this written by a serving traffic officer ( the police are heavily involved in this driving thing as all the examiners are either serving or ex traffic examiners), this chap decided to "do" one of these lads, and he couldnt find anything in his manuals, even with the help of his superiors to report this silly little wotsit for.

I thought "white light to the front" but apparently not.

I'm sure I remember years ago someone being done for illuminating a "red nose" for comic relief, but it must have something to do with where you actually mount these lights, and on the bonnet or under the car seems ok.

Front fog lamps are just the FOG lamps....If its not foggy WHY HAVE THEM ON???? It doesnt look cool, it doesn't make your 'thingy' bigger... its sad! Although saying that I use mine sometimes My fog lights and 'thingy', not at the same time though, that could be dangerous!

Jon

One of my brothers has just bought himself a new merc A class, (no I dont know why either, he hates bm with a vengance).

His front foglights are built into the headlamp !!!

This explains to me why I been dazzled by a few people, flashed them, only to have them flash me back.

Its probably EU regs now, but in the old days fog lights had to be below the headlamp level, and driving lamps had to be at headlamp level.

With them in the headlamps they are all going to be used as driving lamps, or "look at how many bulbs I have " !!

okay... i agree with you all....... but i have to admit that a car (esp any beemer) looks wicked with front fogs on, only the brightness outweighs their look. okay if you have sidelights in them and they only glow then cool, but otherwise forget it. personally i dont have fogs in mine and if i did i wouldnt use them becaue they do blind me and do cause accidents when idiots use them to look 'cool'. can you get foglights with built in sidelights for mine? i will have to research that...... that Eu regulation sucks, since despite my age i regard myself as an 80s boy, and i prefer the lower level set up (and if i do have fogs on mine theyre gonna be coloured yellow for the "french look")

i think it may be because then the lights are less dazzling to the other motorists, hence all the lights are on a similar level......... just a theory

Not sure about the fogs above the bumper being a new reg, calibras have their fogs built into the headlamps, as do some old mercs and volvos.

I have to admit being guilty at times of driving with my fog lights on when its not foggy. I live in norfolk and there are plenty of bendy roads with no street lighting for miles and as such the front headlights just dont cut it for light amplification where you need it.

Full beam is ok on roads that have distance to be able to see ahead and anticipate the roads ahead but they do nothing for highlighting the sides of the road directly in front of you or take away eye strain from trying to see something with minimal lighting.

As a result of this i use the fog lights to highlight the sides a bit better and these are not as blinding as full beam being on. I don't know if its an unwritten rule or not in my area but there are absolutely loads of people that do this including the police and as such they don't stop people for doing so.

Rear fogs i hardly ever use unless its thick fog as my rear lights are very bright (new rear lenses with white indicators high reflective surface). I do agree that people that keep them on in any condition other than thick fog are absent minded drivers who dont care about other road users behind them. In the rare cases that i use the rear fogs as soon as i can see in front i turn them off which to me is an indication that others can see me.

I love lights and i think that alot of scenarios in the right context are quite good. Undercar neons are ok if they are done tastefully and used for tracks and shows but for general driving about they can be a distraction for other drivers. The same goes for the tyre, washer, exhaust, bonnet, grill, headlamp, indicator coloured accents or neons.

I am in the process of making my own white led angel eyes for the front head and fog lights for display purposes as i really do like the look of them but it is definately because the car doesnt have that leading edge look that im doing it (yes i am affected by some kind of penis inferiority complex) but i like to make my car look as best as it can be for my liking without annoying other road users too much :).

just my 2p /me dons asbestos suit

Russ

1990 535i SE Auto

Simon325i sport wrote: Not sure about the fogs above the bumper being a new reg, calibras have their fogs built into the headlamps, as do some old mercs and volvos.

I retract my previous comment as I have seem a number of 52 and 03 reg cars with fog lamps in the bumper (where they should be)