Danger of fog in autumn: This is how drivers react correctly

Created: 10/14/2022, 06:00

By: Sebastian Oppenheimer

Autumn not only brings colorful leaves, but also has fog in its luggage on many days.

Drivers should be prepared for this.

With the autumn, thick wafts of fog are moving across the country again.

The veil of haze settles particularly well in the morning hours and in the evening over large areas, including motorways and country roads.

For traffic, the reduced visibility caused by fog can be a serious hazard that should be prepared for and responded to appropriately.

Optimum light and visibility are important in autumn.

Accordingly, it is advisable to clean the headlights (but not polish!) and to check their function.

A quick cleaning action is enough to optimize the light output, and cleaning the windscreen from the outside and inside also improves visibility.

Danger of fog in autumn: This is how drivers react correctly

It should also be checked whether the alignment of the headlights is still correct.

This can be found out quickly and precisely with a light test in the workshop, which is often offered in autumn.

If headlights are adjusted incorrectly, this generally worsens the illumination in front of your own vehicle and other road users can be dazzled.

In general, it is advisable to always have a few tools with you in the car during the dark months of the year.

Anyone who lives near a river or body of water knows the places where fog often occurs.

However, drivers are often surprised by fog and poor visibility.

It is therefore important to be on the road with foresight at this time of year.

If you notice cloudy haze from afar, you should take your foot off the gas and switch on the low beam.

Relying on the auto light is not a good idea.

Since it reacts to differences in brightness, it often does not recognize visual impairments such as fog, or does so late.

Daytime running lights are not bright enough for difficult visibility conditions, and the rear lights are missing for your own visibility.

Basically, it is advisable to listen to the traffic radio in autumn, because it provides information about road sections affected by fog.

Danger of fog in autumn: slow down and increase the distance to the vehicle in front

If you drive into a fog bank, you should slow down regardless of the light and increase the distance to the vehicle in front.

Most drivers do this intuitively.

However, there are also general guidelines and legally binding limits on visibility.

If it is below 150 meters, a maximum of 100 km/h is considered the appropriate speed.

If visibility drops to 100 meters, only 80 km/h are permitted.

According to § 3 StVO, if the distance is less than 50 meters, the speed must drop to a maximum of 50 km/h.

Even if the official speed limit on the road is actually higher, exceeding the fog limit carries the same fines and points as normal speed offences.

There are also guidelines for the distance.

The rule of thumb is: one meter per km/h.

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(Iconic image) © Gottfried Czepluch/Imago

It is not always easy for drivers to correctly assess visibility.

Bollards that line the road at 50-metre intervals can serve as orientation.

If you are at the level of such a pillar and only the next two pillars are clearly visible, the 150 meter mark is undershot.

If the next but one pillar is already in the haze, visibility is less than 100 meters.

If even the next post is difficult or no longer recognizable, only a maximum of 50 km/h is allowed. 

Warning lights in the car and what they mean

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Danger of fog in autumn: Use of the rear fog light is precisely regulated

Only then, and only then, can the rear fog light be switched on.

Drivers often activate them when it is raining or snowing or when visibility is well over 50 meters.

However, the catalog of fines in Germany provides for fines of 20 to 35 euros for the use of rear fog lights with visibility of more than 50 meters.

The situation is different with the use of fog lights.

These can even be switched on when it rains or snows.

If you drive into a fog bank with restricted visibility, you can actually always activate the fog lights.

Among other things, these ensure better visibility, since the low beam, which is ideally always activated in the foggy season, no longer penetrates the road due to the reflective fog.

Under no circumstances should you activate the high beam, because the fine water beads reflect the light and also impair visibility.