[paragsachania]

Whether using Hazards or not, my only wish is that other drivers are able to make the right judgement and be able to differentiate between what is stationary and what is moving.

Personally, I would never use Hazards when my car is in motion. I generously make use of the rear fog lamp (thankfully my variant has one). Periodically cleaning the lens of your rear lamps also immensely help others to see you.

Talking about wrong usage of hazard lights, Pune Mumbai Expressway is synonymous. Here is one from the last day of last year when I was driving back from GJ.

https://youtu.be/wVpslO23WTw

[arjab]

Originally Posted by Hayek

I think all cars should have front and rear fog lamps

And the poor rear fog lamp is the first item to get deleted in the name of cost cutting, safety be damned !
That is because Indian homologation laws do not mandate the compulsory fitment of rear fog light/s.

Examples galore: Maruti new SWIFT, its booted sibling (D'zire), Vitara Brezza(its supposed to be an soft roader but it doesn't have rear fogs!), and almost all of the balance Maruti range, Renault's, Tata Nexon 2019 model onwards (i think of late the top model Nexon's had a rear fog), Tata Tiago 2018-19 rejigged models, None of the Honda CITY's or AMAZE's have it. Hyundai has also deleted the rear fog; and the list goes on.

Only the VW's and SKODA's have rear fogs as standard i guess in all its models across the range, albeit a solitary fog light.

And as you rightly say, rear fogs can be a life saver.

In my personal experience, once when descending from Chail(Himachal), in my first gen SWIFT which has a rear fog, I had to brake, literally on top of a hairpin, as a tree had fallen across the road and it was impossible to spot it in the pea-soup that we were driving through.
A few seconds later, a Tata Sumo taxi screeched to a halt inches behind me. The driver got down, actually thanked me and said that had it not been for the rear fog light visibility of the SWIFT, he would've definitely rammed the car.

I guess the Engineer or the Costing guy / gal who came up with the "foglamp delete" idea has no experience as to what it is to drive "blind" in dense fog. Else he/she, possibly, would'nt have done what has been done!

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by revvharder

...advises the use of fog lamps and hazard lights when driving in foggy conditions...

(Issued in public interest by Haryana police)

Originally Posted by GTO

...experts disagree with the same:

Delhi Traffic Police's annual fog advisory on Facebook till 2015 mentioned the use of blinkers (hazard lights) in foggy conditions. Distinguished BHPian sudev had then commented: Blinkers are not for fog but to be used only if there is hazard on the road leading to stoppage. Fog lights at rear at appropriate.

From 2016 onwards, their revised advisory was more detailed and omitted advising the use of hazard lights.

Even this year, they have not mentioned using blinkers or hazard lights in foggy conditions (news article).

Haryana Police obviously have not done their research before taking out the advertisement.

[Cooltronics]

While technically I feel blinkers during rains/fog and critical weather situations are distractions and not recommended by the books because
a) You do not know whether the car ahead will turn left or right
b) They distract your attention and even your clutch brake reflex seeing the brake light of the car ahead, goes for a mild toss

BUT, let's understand that horns, indicators etc. are a communication language in India in itself
e.g.
a) You tap your horn to inform the pedestrian, 2 wheeler driver, motorist while you are besides them
b) You tap your horn a little louder when you are over taking them in a narrow lane
b) You honk loudly when someone makes a mistake and you need to break suddenly.
Now, knowing this and also the fact that we do not follow road signs, overtaking rules etc. the driver switch on blinkers to inform the guy behind that things are bad, I am slow for a reason and you be slow and better do not over take
Have seen the use of blinkers also when a new driver is learning and car stops, as soon as blinkers start, the honking behind gets reduced.

So, I still find it useful because we have our own rules while driving but I remain very careful in overtaking or even normal speeding as there will be no reaction time

[alpha1]

I have a question for folks advocating Flashing Hazard's light as a workaround for fog.

What do I do when my vehicle becomes stationary in fog (breakdown, medical emergency etc)?

[superbad]

Rear fog lamps, while ideal, are not present in most of the cars, even those costing a million rupees. Even turning on rear lights may not be sufficient in densely foggy conditions. Hence even I believe that continuously flashing hazard lights catch the attention of other drivers & provide a degree of visibility for your vehicle.

[J4J]

It may be because of such notifications that many bikers now use hazard lights at all times.
I have seen many bikers who travel long distances use hazard lights continuously even if the day is absolutely clear.
No one has any idea where their vehicle will turn next .

[Researcher]

A lot of people do use hazard warning lights in fogs and no offense to anyone, but personally I prefer not to use hazard warning lights unless I am absolutely stopping due to some reason. My car has a rear fog lamp in the right side tail lamp assembly only (2008 SX4 ZXi), but I am yet to differentiate any effect between the fog lamp and the brake lamp since both use the same type of enclosure and same bulbs (21W, 12V). Although I use the rear fog in critical conditions, I am not sure if they are adding any extra benefit over the usual brake lamps which are operational if you turn on the front fogs as in my car, fogs do not operate without turning on the headlamps.
One more reason I do not use hazard warning lights while on the move is because turn signals for any one side cannot be used with hazard warning lights (can confirm for my car only), which sort of impairs me from signalling before taking a turn. Also, I do find the blinking lights from the cars in front a bit distracting and causing minor glare.

[shashi792]

Originally Posted by Cooltronics

a) You tap your horn to inform the pedestrian, 2 wheeler driver, motorist while you are besides them
b) You tap your horn a little louder when you are over taking them in a narrow lane
b) You honk loudly when someone makes a mistake and you need to break suddenly. Now, knowing this and also the fact that we do not follow road signs, overtaking rules etc. the driver switch on blinkers to inform the guy behind that things are bad, I am slow for a reason and you be slow and better do not over take
Have seen the use of blinkers also when a new driver is learning and car stops, as soon as blinkers start, the honking behind gets reduced.

Added to the list is, During night, I have seen drivers, using their blinkers when they slow down for a road hump (These are not standard speed breakers, they are literally a hump, sometimes two in a row) in a highway (usually state highways). Is it the right use of blinkers? Probably No. But, am I happy that he indicated that he slowed down to almost a halt, Yes.

I usually don't overtake when I have a dense fog or a heavy downpour. But, IMHO, I don't mind folks infront of me using the blinkers. Actually, I'm happy that they also care about the other folks on the road and doing their best to indicate.

Most of the posts above talked about the abuse-of-blinkers or not having fog lamps. But, an ideal situation, wherein all road users follow the rules which include slowing down when in dense fog, or the infrastructure from NHAI indicating its a foggy area. We can safely avoid blinkers-abuse. Until then, I believe indicating is better.

[shashi792]

Originally Posted by alpha1

I have a question for folks advocating Flashing Hazard's light as a workaround for fog.

What do I do when my vehicle becomes stationary in fog (breakdown, medical emergency etc)?

You may use a warning triangle with the blinkers. Its actually mandatory to have them in your emergency kit. I think most manufacturers in India also provide one.

Some vehicles come with warning triangles as part of their emergency kit - usually imported European cars. It is not compulsory to carry a warning triangle in New Zealand unlike countries such as Austria, Spain, France, Belgium and Italy.

[NST440]

In a country like India, finding a car with rear fog lamp is very rare and all cars have blinkers so the Govt. knows well of what they are broadcasting and to what kind of demographics.

Also, since I am from a place where we witness dense fog every year , blinkers do actually work and are visible from a distance be it morning or evening.

Not using blinkers just because they are hazard light meant for parking alone is not an important point to adhere to when its the question of being visible to on coming trucks, lorry, cycle walk, rickshaw wala and what nots in the fog.

Our highways do not consist of cars only, there are buses, lorrys, tractors, trucks, thrashers, combines and other heavy vehicles which I am sure do not have rear fog lamps, what aid do they have ( if they ever use ) is blinkers.

All this said, I wish that people should at least use blinkers and listen to the ad proposed by the Govt. seriously, can save a life or two.

[THE_DRIFTER]

I am from Punjab where fog starts just in November end itself and the fog is quite dense too, so I've witnessed that since most of the cars here do not have rear fog lights, hazard lights do help a lot in catching the attention of drivers.

Though on the other hand, as pointed out by many BHP-ians, they can cause trouble too!
For example, A car is broken down and parked in the middle of the road ( or say, on the side of the road ) and parked with hazard lights ON. Now an average driver would assume that it is a moving car ( because you do not have enough time to react in foggy conditions ) with hazard lights ON and this would end up in a long pileup of vehicles.

[slango97]

Originally Posted by varunsangal

This is typical of people using their own interpretation of signals. Now even Haryana police is at it!

Use of hazard lights as a regular signal when driving through rain, fog, tunnels, dark etc is unfortunately becoming all too common.

In some cities have seen right/left indicators as indication to overtake as well!! Had a couple of near misses, before I had to learn to do a visual confirmation before turning.

Anyways where you turn is essentially a state secret.

Regarding the latter point, it is quite common I believe. I live in Stockholm and I see many people do it especially when driving on the fast lane to signal to the car in front to move over.

[NiInJa]

My understanding of hazard lights is that it should be used when your car can pose a risk to others. I have used the hazard lights in extremely dense fog at night (on Tamhini Ghat last year). The visibility was so bad that I could barely see anything ahead of me, all cars were being driven at no more than 15-20 kmph. Also, it helped us the see the vehicles ahead as the orange color was cutting through the dense fog. Most cars didn't have rear fog lights. That was also a great experience to understand why fog lamps are placed low and how normal high/low beams serve no purpose. I have done the same in extremely heavy rains when I HAVE to drive my car at crawling speeds on highways, but switched them off immediately once it is safe.

If I were to drive in a high speed lane at very low speeds due to some problem, I would switch the lights on as and when needed, but shut them down if I had to use indicators.

When I was in Dubai, the drivers would turn their hazard lights on when braking in panic so as to warn the cars behind that our car which is in a high speed lane is crawling as there is something ahead which is preventing us from doing normal speed.

I think it should be at the driver's discretion, but one should avoid the stupidity of driving with hazard lights on in a perfectly normal tunnel with no visibility issues. Also, don't understand why these biker gangs ride with their hazard lights on in normal conditions on highways.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by alpha1

I have a question for folks advocating Flashing Hazard's light as a workaround for fog.

What do I do when my vehicle becomes stationary in fog (breakdown, medical emergency etc)?

keep them blinking

If you have driven in typical north Indian fog in winters you would be actually moving at dead speed under 10Kmph.

In Dec I had to drive from Muzzafarpur to Roorkee and visibility was hardly 10 feet at 8:00 AM. I could see only the blinker of car in front of me and only thing giving confidence to drive was that I knew I am on a highway.
Blinkers are more useful compared to continues light from fog lamp to judge distance from bumper of car in front.

And no it was not smog due to pollution but pure white dense fog this kind of condition is not seen anywhere in peninsular India.

On a separate note
I don't see why we need to be so stuck up about what was original intention of blinkers.