Things to remember when driving a car on cold, foggy days
Limited visibility due to fog is the cause of many traffic accidents. So how to drive safely in cold, foggy weather conditions?
In recent days, under the influence of cold air mass, many provinces in the North have experienced dense fog in the morning or evening. The dense fog has limited visibility for everyone participating in traffic.
This phenomenon somewhat affects visibility and increases the risk of traffic collisions. In such weather conditions, to ensure safety when driving, what should drivers pay attention to?
The following tips can help drivers stay steady on the wheel when driving in foggy conditions:
Check the vehicle before departure
Check all warning lights, engine operation, brakes, tires and air conditioning system before setting off.
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In particular, lights are a must-have, working well if you want to drive on foggy roads, because they not only help increase the driver's visibility but also help other vehicles see your car. Therefore, before driving, quickly check whether all the lights are working or not.
Some cars are equipped with white fog lights instead of yellow fog lights, which will not be effective when driving in dense fog. Therefore, keep some yellow or red plastic strips in your car to stick on the headlights when necessary.
To keep the air conditioner at the right temperature
You should keep the temperature at a level that your body feels comfortable at, meaning it doesn't have to be warmer than outside, just not cold.
In the North, in winter, the suitable temperature range is about 20-26 degrees. Before getting out of the car, you should turn off the air conditioner or reduce the temperature to help your body adapt, avoiding heat shock when going out, especially for children and the elderly.
Use low beam
When driving on the road and encountering a situation where fog reduces visibility ahead, the first action of the majority of drivers is to turn on the headlights to improve the situation.
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But this is a very wrong action. At this time, you should not use high beam headlights, but switch to low beam. Because fog is essentially a collection of water vapor like mirrors reflecting light, turning on high beam mode only makes the light bounce back to the driver's eyes, unable to see the road. Low beam helps the light stick to the road, creating movement signs.
"Modified" fog lights
Fog lights are designed to project a wide, low beam of light below the fog to illuminate the road. If your vehicle is equipped with fog lights, use them effectively.
If you don’t have one, you have to “make” a fog light by taking a piece of yellow decal and sticking it to half of the headlight, switching it to low beam and you have an artificial fog light. Use yellow light because the wavelength of yellow light is shorter than daylight, the energy is greater so it can penetrate the fog without being reflected.
Turn on the heated windshield
Fog is often accompanied by low outside temperatures, which directly affect the surface of the windshield. The inside of the windshield will quickly fog up as the water vapor begins to condense. Most cars today are equipped with a windshield heating system at the touch of a button.
Therefore, when detecting signs of fogging of the car windows due to condensation, the driver should activate the windshield defrosting function via the button usually integrated on the center console to avoid limited visibility.
Ajar
When driving in foggy conditions, open your car windows slightly so you can hear better what is going on outside the car.
Turn off the music
Driving in foggy conditions requires more than just your eyesight; sometimes you need to use your ears as well. So, turn off your car’s audio system and lower your windows a bit so you can hear the cars around you.
Go slow, keep your distance
When driving in fog, it is beneficial to follow another vehicle. You can use the headlights of the vehicle in front to help you navigate, but you must still maintain a safe distance.
Minimize sudden braking, because the short visibility does not allow the driver to step on the gas pedal too hard and then have to brake suddenly when detecting a car in front. In addition, going fast and not keeping a distance will be more difficult to handle if there is suddenly an unexpected situation in front such as the car stalling, going downhill...
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Stick to the road markings
Make use of curbs, road markings, and traffic signs to monitor your route.
Pay attention when redirecting
When needing to stop or change direction, the driver must use the signal lights from a distance, slow down, slowly stop close to the side of the road or slowly turn, and must not suddenly change speed or direction in this situation.
Be careful not to brake suddenly, because if you do so, the car behind can't control its speed and crash into the car in front, causing an unfortunate accident.
Do not stop in the middle of the road
Absolutely avoid stopping your car in the middle of the road or in crowded places when there is fog. In case of a car accident, try to quickly pull the car to the side of the road, turn off all white lights, turn on the emergency warning lights and leave the car.
Note road conditions
With new and unfamiliar roads, in addition to going slowly, you also have to concentrate on observing to know the road conditions. Because if you only follow the headlights of the car in front to move without paying attention to what is under the wheels, it is very easy to get into bad situations such as muddy, slippery roads.
