Driving in fog

As you may have read in the papers recently, a major pileup on NH1 involving up to 25 vehicles resulted in the death of 4 people and multiple injuries, all because of low visibility under foggy conditions. All four deceased were travelling in one car that rear-ended a stationary truck while going through Karnal in Haryana. This ultimately led to a major pileup involving over two dozen vehicles.

Now the national highways that we have in India are comparable to some of the best in the world; however, driving conditions are hardly ever ideal and dicey weather conditions make things even worse. The worst offender among the latter is fog which reduces visibility dramatically and often causes multiple car pileups. It makes sense, then, to adjourn the journey over foggy conditions though in case you are caught in fog, the following safety tips should always be followed to keep yourself and other motorist around you safe.

When driving through the thick end of fog, the most basic of precautionary measures to follow is to turn on the front and rear fog lights.

Similarly, keep the headlights on low beam. However, one should refrain themselves from using their headlights with high beam as the thicker spread of light actually reflects the moisture off the fog and in turn, decreases visibility.

Since several new cars nowadays are being offered with daytime running headlights as standard, those behind the wheel should ensure that the taillights and the rear fog light are switched on as well.

Most importantly, fight your subconscious and pay extra attention towards driving manners of yours as well as other motorists around you. The crucial thing to do is to drive defensively, maintain constant speeds and leave sufficient space between you and the car in front to evade any imminent hard braking.

Also, keep a good look at that rear view mirror and monitor the traffic behind you. If the vehicle behind isn’t in your sight anymore, it’s probably because of the worsening fog. The ideal thing to do, then, is to turn on the rear fog light and maintain a constant speed.

In case of a breakdown, do not stop on your intended lane on the highway. Instead, try to pull over immediately to a shoulder lane as you’re likely to be rear-ended by someone who would be too close for comfort and will probably start a chain reaction of collisions.

We would again like to add the most crucial precautionary measure of all i.e. to keep a safe distance when following someone in foggy conditions. Most of the drivers tend to tailgate the car in front because they believe it’s easier for them to see, however, it’s worth noting the fact that it’s the lack of feasible distance between cars that mainly causes most of major pileups in fog.