Driving into a bank of fog can make it nearly impossible to see. One thing that can help is turning off your high beams and using low beams or fog lights. These lights are set at a lower angle, so they’re a bit better at cutting through the moisture, rather than just reflecting the light back into your eyes.
But even with the proper lights, you may find yourself in a situation where you have very little visibility. Your inclination is to stop driving because you don’t want to rear-end someone else – and you can’t tell if anyone is ahead of you. Is this what you should do to stay safe?
Move out of the travel lane
There are certainly cases where you need to stop driving because the fog is just too thick to drive safely, no matter what vehicle you’re using or how your lights are set. But it’s often best to pull out of the travel lane and stop your vehicle on the shoulder, in a parking lot or on a side street.
Part of the problem with fog, after all, is that some drivers will slow down to a crawl or almost stop their vehicles, while other drivers will barely reduce their speed at all. If you simply stop, you may think that you are acting safely, but you’re drastically increasing the odds of being rear-ended by someone else.
Unfortunately, even if you drive properly in the fog – or in other types of serious weather conditions – you could be injured by a negligent driver who causes an accident. If you are, you may deserve compensation for lost wages, medical bills and more. Consider your legal options carefully.
