Jim Cathey wrote:
"Driving lights" or "auxiliary low beams," maybe. Often the
goal of factory lights like that is to fill in that dark hole the
standard DOT pattern leaves just in front of the bumper.
And why would you need to do that? Lose a set of contacts there?
Anything _that_ close couldn't be avoided anyway, so having light
there pulling your eye away from the avoidable threat zone is stupid.
I agree. But auto manufacturers are in the business of making what
sells, not what makes sense. Some people seem to feel more secure with
that spot filled in. This probably is because most people don't look
far enough down the road. They tend to look at the tail lights of the
car in front of them, or ten yards in front of the bumper, whichever is
closer. ;) HID low beams tend to put more light in the foreground than
a DOT halogen high beam as well, but that may be partially because they
have to do *something* with all that extra light, and there are limits
to how bright they're allowed to make the main beam.
(Having light in that area *is* kind of handy when creeping along rutted
logging roads at night, but that's kind of irrelevent to a Mercedes sedan.)
That's why you're only supposed to turn them on in fog! You are
going much slower so that area now _is_ the avoidable threat zone.
Agreed. Although, I've experimented with my fogs in heavy rain/spray
situations at night, and it seems like they make it a little easier to
see the lane markings with my peripheral vision, requiring less
concentration to follow them. YMMV.
