We don't have to agree, but the article is much more than that. If you think outside the box, what does the data show, we probably agree on more than you think.
"Many of today's vehicles have front fog lamps. What good are they? The quick and correct 2-word answer:
Not much! Even good fog lamps, which are relatively rare, are of very limited use to most drivers."
"As you can see, neither type of fog lamps by themselves provided adequate light..."
"The important thing to understand here is that even fog lamps conforming to the newest, most stringent performance requirements give only very minimal improvement in actual seeing ability—and the rating differences, if subjected to rigorous analysis, would likely not be statistically significant."
"Extremely high-performing fog lamps are quite rare, but they do exist. And under abnormal driving conditions (very thick fog, very heavy snow) they can be of some help."
"And as explicated in dense scientific detail in
this study(pdf), it just doesn't make anything better—though there is the potential for a real safety improvement by using a red
rear fog lamp."
"Almost all factory-installed or dealer-optional fog lamps, and a great many aftermarket units, are essentially useless for any purpose, especially for extremely demanding poor-weather driving."
"In most driving situations, fog lamps are neither useful nor necessary..."
The study supports, fog lights don't help the driver, in almost all conditions. If you read, which you may have, the study that this article is based, fog lights provide comfort to the driver, but not a driving advantage. In fact, the study suggests high beams may be the most effective, that although there is glare, it does help in identifying objects sooner than low or fog-beams. There are few accidents related to fog; however, those accidents that occur happen more frequently with other vehicles (as opposed to driving off the road or single-vehicle accidents). Since, as the study suggests, fog lights are only effective out to 25 - 30 feet, they have little to no impact on driving, in almost any conditions. Again, the study suggests they provide comfort for the driver, but no driving benefit. So, if fog lights don't help the driver, even in fog, they do something else.
What the study also supports, and why I have mine mounted the way I do, is they are only beneficial while driving less than 25mph. I have mine mounted such that on a single or two-lane dirt road they project light only slightly further than my speed allows me to see (much of the reason they are all but useless on road). They are illuminating the sides of the road as much as they are in front of me. I then also have driving lights mounted that project slightly further, but not much farther than I can reasonably drive at 45mph. Most people have their lights aimed up and out, but will never be driving 100mph in Baja, so they aren't very useful, or they have fog lights and overrun them because they think they should serve as driving lights while using them in the wrong conditions.
Anyway, we don't have to agree on the purpose of fog lights. Maybe we'll just agree that they aren't very effective when used by most people in most conditions, and they tend to blind oncoming drivers; regardless of what we consider to be the definition of "effective".
