Invisible
Posted: Mon 14 May, 2007 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Driving, Thoughts, Travel, Weirdness 5 Comments »One thing I did notice this weekend while driving, thanks to the shitty weather, was how certain cars just disappear in particular types of weather. (And yes, yes, I know, every time I do a long drive, I do a post about driving standards – or lack of them – afterwards. Live with it) With road conditions the way they were – heavy rain, lots of water on the road surface – there was a massive amount of spray in the air, and I realised that white and silver cars just disappear in those conditions.
On the way up, I saw the aftermath of an accident where a silver-grey car (unsurprisingly, a BMW) had obviously been driving with no lights on, and another car (amusingly, another BMW) had come up behind it at speed, and just stoved in the entire back end of the car, run straight into it. I’ve no idea about injuries – by the time I went past, it was only the police directing drivers round the wreckage- but it was impressive.
On the return journey, in the really heavy rain and spray, I was amazed by how many people still didn’t have even sidelights on, let alone headlights and/or foglights. Yes, OK, it was daylight – in theory – so lights didn’t need to be on, but the visibility was so bad, it was worth having lights on so you could be seen, even if they weren’t necessary to see. And the majority of the cars with no lights on were – you guessed it – white or silver. And they just disappeared. You be going along, knowing there was something ahead because of the spray, but you couldn’t see the car at all.
At some points, I even used the fog lights – although I had enough of a memory-span to remember they were on, and turn them off when visibility improved again- because the range you could see dropped right down to about 30 feet max. at some points. And still drivers didn’t turn their lights on. Bizarre. I swear I’ll never understand the mentality of some drivers.
See, this is why every single one of the three cars that I have now owned has been bright red. And I always, always have my dipped lights on when I drive, even in the height of summer (you allude to fog lights, which I also find useful on very sunny days, so pedestrians can see you better).
And hence (frantically touching wooden desk) why I’ve never been in an accident in any of them. I don’t understand the mentality of some drivers either, but I do understand that they are mental.
I’d never have you down as one of “those people” who use foglights in any weather other than Fog. It’s a pet hate of mine, foglights in the rain equals a mass of glare for the driver behind you (and it’s almost impossible to spot when your brake-lights come on).
i would comment more about other drivers myself but as i do so much long distance driving my whole blog would be covered with driving maddness so i just come over to read your site lol, and yes lyle, there are some twunts on our roads
Steve- normally, I’d agree. However, I tend to see Fog as being a pejorative term for ‘visibility of fuck-all feet’, regardless of whether it’s Fog, Low cloud on hills/mountains, or pissing rain that also has fuck-all visibility.
And when I did see other (sane) drivers using them, I didn’t find there was glare – this wasn’t ‘just’ rain (this was M&S Rain – oh no, I digress), it was the spray from tyres, and needed the foglight to penetrate it. So that’s why I used it.
BMW Drivers 🙁