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Police clamp down on illegal fog lights

Posted on February 9, 2010, 8:08am and updated on February 10, 2010 at 8:41 am

Limestone Coast police will target drivers using vehicle fog lights illegally over the next two weeks to address the road safety threat posed by using the lights without cause.

Laws banning the lights except in hazardous road conditions took effect on July 1 last year.

Acting traffic manager Senior Constable First Class Paul Griffiths said the undue use of fog lights was a major concern on the region’s roads as their brightness was dazzling from a distance in clear conditions.

Snr Const Griffiths said police were concerned by the number of people ignorant of the laws and officers were currently loath to impose the $170 fine it incurred.

However, from 12.01am on Thursday police will target South East drivers who use fog lights instead of low beam headlights in the hope The Border Watch has helped get the message across.

“Fog lights are designed with 25-watt globes to improve visibility and are generally mounted low on the vehicle to get under the fog, smoke or dust and alert other drivers to the vehicle’s presence,” Snr Const Griffiths said.

“When conditions are clear they can be blinding to distant oncoming traffic, day and night.”

Snr Const Griffiths said the ongoing road safety “Headlights On 24 Hours” campaign was aimed at urging people to use low-beam headlights, not fog lights, to “see and be seen”.

“The problem is some people don’t know the difference or don’t know how to turn fog lights off,” he said.

“They are not driving lights, which work in conjunction with high and low beam; fog lights operate off a separate switch.

“People should also know it is highly illegal to replace the standard fog light globes with coloured lights, which happens frequently, or to place high wattage halogen globes in external car light fittings.

“Police are sick of hearing complaints about drivers using fog lights as headlights.”

The operation will end at 11.59pm on February 24.

According to Snr Const Griffiths, Limestone Coast police are also unhappy with the increased number of motorcyclists disregarding road laws.

He said it had become a major problem with Mount Gambier Highway Patrol reporting 10 people for riding unlicensed or without holding the appropriate class of licence in the past two months.

He said there had been numerous high-speed chases and people caught riding unregistered and uninsured motorcycles, along with other common traffic offences.

“Adults with car or truck licences frequently ride full-powered motorcycles to work, for example, without the appropriate licence,” he said.

“There are also kids riding monkey bikes — which can’t be registered — on roads and parks.

“We are working to curb the belief that because a motorcycle can not be registered it can be ridden on public property without a licence.”

Snr Const Griffiths said young hoons had also made a comeback, taking the liberty to misuse their vehicles particularly on the Mount Gambier township bitumen verges.

“State legislation will soon increase the vehicle impounding period for people caught behaving recklessly from seven days to 28 days for a first offence in a bid to combat dangerous driving,” he said.

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Comments

One Response to “Police clamp down on illegal fog lights”

  1. David on February 9th, 2010 1:49 pm 1

    Thank god for that, I spend a lot of time travelling the SE at night for my work and those lights are not only a nuisance but they are also dangerous. When you give the driver a quick flash of your high beam to let them know they are dazzling you they then usually proceed to hit you with the full high beam and spotlights as well if they have them fitted. This is a great initiative by SAPOL and not before time and I look forward to the reduction in this madness.

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