It's foggy out there, folks, so ...
First, given that we've had the thickest fog conditions for some years, remind yourself of these few basic rules.
One, SLOW DOWN. It drives me crazy to see some of the antics of Irish drivers in fog, so many of them don't seem to realise that it's different to a dry sun-warmed road. Rule of thumb, cut a minimum of 20mph off your normal highway driving speed. Even if you can see the car ahead clearly, you can't see what's happening further on, and if there's an incident, then you get much less warning than usual of a sudden stop.
Use your fog lights. But only in fog. Again, there are platoons of people out there who believe their front fogs are extra driving lights. They're not, their light scatter is designed differently and when used in ordinary conditions they dazzle oncoming drivers. The rear fog light is most important, as ordinary rear lights don't have enough illumination in foggy conditions, and the fog light gives around the same light as brake lights. Again, don't leave it on when the fog is gone, as they seriously dazzle drivers travelling behind.
Don't depend on the fog lights alone, use your dipped headlights too, even if your modern car has daylight running lights. It's as important to be seen as see.
Run your windscreen wiper regularly. Fog deposits on your windscreen, not as noticeably as rain but cutting already scarce vision distance as well as making oncoming lights look very smeary and dazzling.
Keep your distance. Again, avoidance or stopping manoeuvres happen much more suddenly in fog, so leave yourself that extra cushion of space to react in time before a possible crunch. Also keep an eye on the driver behind you. If he or she are tailgating you, tap the brakes a couple of time to encourage them to pull back. You might be doing things right, but you don't want to be rear-ended by a dope who isn't. In wet conditions, also double the distance you'd normally leave between your car and the one in front.
