Drive Safely In Fog

It can sometimes seem like other drivers around you don’t have the foggiest about driving in fog. Like a car insurance renewal, fog can sneak up on you without knowing. Fog usually comes with a weather warning, the most severe of which is an orange warning. Orange level weather warnings are given for weather that has the capacity to impact significantly on people in the affected areas.

The reason why fog comes with a weather warning is because it:

• Can come along suddenly.
• Can disappear as suddenly.
• Can come in many different forms depending on your location. Examples include precipitation fog, hail fog or ground fog.
• Your visibility can be restricted suddenly.

Before we start here is a definition of fog as provided by the UK Met Office:

"Definition of fog is a visibility of less than 200 m for the general public and motorists. Severe disruption to transport occurs when the visibility falls below 50 m. Fog itself is caused by tiny water droplets suspended in the air"

To help you get a better understanding of what you need to do while driving in the fog we’ve got a list of 5 things you should and shouldn't do.

5 Things Drivers Need To Do In the Fog

1. Turn on your fog lights and your dipped beams.
2. Slow down your speed gradually to match the conditions around you.
3. Be patient and turn off all distractions. Because fog can become denser without much notice you need to have all your faculties around you at all times. This can include turning down your radio, asking others to be quiet and cutting out any distractions around you.
4. If you are approaching a junction make sure you slow down so that you can observe the traffic coming in each direction. If you are unsure try rolling down your window as this can give you an idea if traffic is coming from different directions.
5. Check your mirrors if you are about to slow down and stop as the cars behind you might not be aware that you are about to stop.

5 Things Drivers Shouldn’t Do In the Fog

1. Don’t turn on your full headlights as they can limit your visibility even further.
2. Don’t tail the car in front. The car in front may need to come to a sudden halt that even they don’t know about so you need to leave a safe stopping distance
3. Don’t speed up until certain that you have cleared the fog. Although you might think you are clear you might still come across a sudden patch of fog.
4. Wherever safely possible, avoid coming to a sudden stop as other cars might not realise that you are stopping.
5. Don’t let your windows and mirrors get fogged up. You need to have full visibility at all times so make sure your windows are clear on the inside.

Before you set off on a morning commute you should check the weather forecast on either www.met.ie or @MetEireann to see if there are any weather warnings in effect. Although you can always forecast for fog you can plan ahead and drive safe.