Winter season has stepped up and the cool breeze is getting colder day by day. One thing that accompanies the winters is cold tarmac, fog and not prepared vehicles. All of these factors with other minor things can prove fatal. Driving in fog is something we all face during various situations may it be winter or mountains or rains, so here are some Do’s & Don’ts that you must take care of while driving in foggy situations.
DO’S
> Prepare your car for foggy situations. Get your fog lights checked and if you don’t have them, then get them installed. Keep your tyre pressure at most 2psi down than normal to increase grip. Servicing would only help more. Also get your brakes pads checked with a servicing of heater to prevent misting on inside glass area.
> Try to get special fog lights made for winter and less visibility driving and if you can’t get them, then cover your main headlights and fog lights with yellow foil to increase the depth of the light. Rear fog lights should also be taken care of, as they dictate the following traffic towards safety.
> Maintain at least a one car length gap from the front moving vehicle. If the vehicle in front is going fast, let it go. Maintaining distance would only save you in case of a crash of front moving vehicles. Keep more distance especially in case of driving behind a long vehicle as they can brake more effectively and also block the vision of road for you.
> Maintain your speed. When visibility is down you shall not try to surpass your level of confidence. In case of hurry, try to get to work before timed schedule and prevent risk.
> Always follow the basics like sticking to lane, use of seatbelts. In case of less visibility keep an eye over the maximum visible point nearby (like lane marking or road divider or railings aside).
> At last, try not to drive in fog as much as possible.
DONT’S
> Never try to park your car on road or road side. When parking on ‘off-tarmac’ keep the parking lights and hazards lights on to help the surpassing traffic.
> As mentioned above, never ever over speed even in case of urgency. Fog means less or zero visibility and that might lead to surprises that you would not want while carrying speeds. Avoid such things.
> Try to avoid tailgating long and extra long vehicles like trucks, trailers and buses. Not only these have air brakes that stop quickly than cars, they also block road vision for you thus decreasing confidence and chances of safety.
> Don’t use high beams in fog as it scatters less when strikes the fog particles thus leading to less visibility for oncoming traffic. Low beam has more spread due to less angle of incidence while striking with fog particles.
> Don’t brake hard. Hard braking would only result in crash from tailgating vehicles. In case you encounter a sudden pothole, let your car roll over it. Changing lanes immediately and braking suddenly would prove more fatal.
> Don’t listen to loud music. It would help listening to traffic sounds.
Misty mornings, cold waves of wind & beautiful views is what accompanies fog but bad driving and carelessness can lead to messing up of this beautiful environment.
Drive wise.
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