Fog question

I guess its a macho thing. I know Im not blind and these yahoos blow by driving down vantage,wa this morning 60 mph,freezing pea soup fog 28° wet road.I know they dont have xray vision. Unsafe in a hurry. Mainly container guys "mileage pay"

 

Not in WA an OR. Drive it every day.

 

wow what a pain, I had one part before that was a pain to get, few months ago was headed to Vegas and within minutes of getting on the road my right turn signals went out on the trailer so I pulled over and found it was a relay, switched my relays around so I would have my right blinker at least, tried a loves, pilot, flyingj etc and finally made it all the way to Vegas to the TA before I found a place that carried that size relay I needed, Now I carry an extra of that dang thing.

 

You should have a good idea now. But , Ill give my 2 cents. I drive Or n Wa everyday. Its been pretty thick this week. Draging 85's today and 100's the two days before. I will put on my flashers and slow down so I could stop within the distance I can see. Stay to the right. NEVER EVER EVER let other drivers rush you. Number one thing is to get home safe. That goes for all aspects of driving and securing your load. As for your light? There are tons of places to stop and get a light. Even pull in a repair shop if needed. If there is a unfortunate accident its your fault.... Your light was out... Even if its not. It is. If my company was telling me to wait to get to Cali? I would work somewhere else. (let me know, I know a good place thats hiring safe drivers.) You will be fine.

 

If you only feel safe doing 10-15 miles an hour on the interstate you should just get off the road. At 40 cents a mile were talking $4-6 an hour burning up your driving time.

Also so the others are correct about staying in the right lane with flashers on and not letting others rush you. At the same time you need to be realistic about the difference in your speed and the general flow of traffic. Don't worry about the one jack wagon that comes by you at full bore but any time the general flow of traffic is going significantly faster than you, you have become the hazard that you're tryin to avoid. In the spirit of always wanting to get home safe at that point you need to get off the road.

 

As it is now, animals dart out into the traffic, and of course at night we cannot see them. Now take into effect the fog. So yeah, those jack-wagons think that nothing is going to happen. They are always playing Russian Roulette.

 

Also remember if you don't keep a sharp eye in your speedometer you may start to drive faster than you think you are. Time has a wried and funny shift in heavy fog. Its very hard to gauge your speed by looking out the windshield only. Slowing down and staying there takes discipline. Your natural tendency is to go a little faster, faster, the longer you stay in it. Scattered fog is more dangerous. Because you will be at top speed before you get there and you may think you can make it through the other side without any problems. Complacency is also a killer. The reason why you see speed demons hauling ### in fog is complacency. They have done it so many times in the past without problems so they think this situation is just like the rest of them. Don't confuse experience with complacency. Experience is knowing each situation you face on the road is unique. Its knowing how to deal with the most common problems for that event. Complacency is thinking they are all the same.

 

I've never been more scared than I was coming down Cabbage WB in pea soup fog one dark winter morning. I'd cross Donner in a blizzard again 10 times instead.

I couldn't top 15 mph, soup was so thick I passed the rest area I was keeping my eyes peeled for when I'd never wanted anything more in my life than to get off that #### road.

Local dump bedders were passing and barely missing me at ~70 mph. I have absolutely no idea how they could apparently see as if there were no fog, FLIR, maybe.

It was a beautiful cold, dark but clear night on top at the coop. I could see the top of the layer of fog in the starlight as I did my VI, confidently assumed there would be breaks in it, but I confidently assumed wrong.

The absolute most important thing about motor vehicle operation is: Nobody gets hurt. "They" say: Once you lose the fear of the damage you can do with the equipment, you're just a crash looking for a place to happen.

Your fears are well founded. Try to hang on to them.

 

Yes only run as fast as you feel is safe for you but, if everybody is passing you because you are running 15-20 mph on the hi way with 4-ways on and no one is following you it is time to park it as you are now the hazard.

Someone said use low beam light only is right. Hi beam only reflects back at you and makes it harder to see.
Along that same line fog lights should not be more than 18" off the road way. The light will go under the fog.
Years ago fog lights were yellow not clear like today so maybe yellow shade sun glasses would help? I know when I raced go carts and if it was a dark gloomy day we use a yellow face shield to help brighten the track, glasses my do the same.
Dave ----

 

Years ago, I remember, just about every semi had those fog lights that hung below the bumper, and they had those vanes inside that would direct the light down in front of the truck. I forget the name of them,( old-timers?) but were very popular.