Driving in Oregon? Turn off your fog lights!

[ejisme]

A couple issues I've seen:

Dodge/Ram trucks of a certain age automatically turn on the fog lights. I noticed this on quite a few trucks a few years ago. Two of my co-workers had early 2010s Dodge trucks. They said they just come on when starting. They have to manually turn them off. Who would remember to do that all the time.

My 2020 Chevy truck and wife's 2018 Equinox have auto headlights. On frosty mornings I have to scrape the windows, but it still affects the sensor for the auto headlights, and the truck/SUV don't see other vehicles very well. So, it turns on the bright lights and keeps them on until a car is very close approaching me, or I get really close behind another vehicle. Turning to manual headlights doesn't seem to help. What does work is to turn on the fog lights. The system won't let fog lights and bright lights be on at the same time. I'd think fog lights on would be better than bright lights on, so that's what I do.

[BoyBlue09]

Originally Posted by Kenningtons

All:

Under Oregon law, fog/auxiliary lights must be turned off whenever there is another vehicle within 350' or coming the other way & within 500'. In addition, they should be turned off during normal conditions and never used in lieu of headlights. Failure to comply with this law can result in a $287 fine.

Yet many drivers seem to be unaware of this.

Driving with fog/auxiliary lights on not only distracts other drivers, but also focuses the drivers attention right off the hood- instead of scanning 2-3 blocks ahead, per the Oregon drivers manual.

Please turn off your fog/auxiliary lights in Oregon.

Thanks!

That is news to me. Wow. Fog lights should not impede other drivers' view but the distraction factor I can't argue. What you say makes sense to me, however, about the law. I loaned my vehicle out recently and it came back with the factory fog lights turned off which I thought was odd. The person had recent exposure to the driver's manual so it all makes sense now. Thanks