Just need to vent...

I won a set of Hella fog lights as a door prize at a car show 30+ years ago. I installed them on my wheels-of-the-moment and they were by far the best fog lights I've ever used. Much better than the built-ins on the various cars I've owned since. They weren't even an expensive kit. I know carmakers have strict regulations on them for headlight performance. I kind of wish there were more strenuous regulation in fog lamps to match.

Rear fog lights are a lot less common, though they always seemed to be sought after by European car enthusiasts, just to make theirs a tiny bit more Euro-than-thine.

From a manufacturing standpoint, I've noticed that more than a few carmakers have standardized on a lighting design involving two symmetrical fixtures. In the USA they are both reverse lights. In Europe, they are a reverse lamp and a rear fog, and there are a few where one is a reverse lamp and the other is a dual function reverse and rear fog with two different colored lenses in the one housing.

 

Dumb enough to keep these low-ball operators in business.

You have received only one cold call of each type, political and real estate? Consider yourself very very blessed.

 

Dick Van Dyke just crashed his car; slid in the rain.

 

I find they're good in heavy fog because they are low down. It means they illuminate the road, when normal headlights would just bounce off the fog and dazzle you.

 

Yes, I'm sure all those factors are more important. I was just thinking this might add - slightly - to the problem.

Yes, it's the same here, and in Britain. But this was in the 50s, when they just had ordinary lights.

 

Italy?

I'm quite surprised. I was there in January. I was struck by a few things (literally, in one case: a BMW X1 that pulled out in front of me without warning in Rome. What was weird was the guy driving it - who was Italian - used to live round the corner from me in Shanghai) about the way people drove there.

I thought the key problem was one of machismo - for women as well as for men. Giving way was a sign of weakness and failure. Even if, for example, backing up to give someone more space to manoeuvre would actually let things happen faster and get you to your destination faster, you wouldn't do it, because it made you a failure. On all the motorways, if it was three lanes in each direction, people wouldn't drive in the "slow" lane, even if it was empty, because that was a sign of weakness. That, and that there was very little planning ahead: I saw people get stuck at junctions because they hadn't thought about how they'd get out of them, for example.

I totally agree with you on Germany though.

The other place I was pleasantly surprised by the driving was Myanmar. Great forward planning, great spatial awareness, and a good deal of politeness. People I spoke to there said that it was because of sanctions: they knew that if they crashed they wouldn't be able to get spare parts.

 

I think there are a lot of similarities between parts of California and parts of Australia. But that's an excellent description of the SoCal vibe.

 

It's a shame it was a car. It would have been so much better for the world's headline writers if it were a small goods vehicle, and he was driving like an idiot, and hit a levee.

 

Or they could have gone with "Lexus Lexus Bang Bang"

 

We are just lucky it wasn't his flying car.

Should have checked for recent posts. In penance, the punch line.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitty_Chitty_Bang_Bang

 

It does. But there are so many contributors to this American problem that it would be difficult to separate this one.

At least we haven't had a 200-vehicle pileup. Yet. The Chinese currently lead us on that.

I know our taillights of that era were dim compared to today, but didn't think they were similarly dim as the battery-powered lights.

 

Yes, I'm sure that's right.

Things are slowly improving in China, but the driving is still pretty bad. I think the biggest part of the problem is that in other countries, we learn subconsciously about driving as children, watching our parents drive. We're still at a stage in China where most new drivers have not watched their parents drive.

In Britain, car tail lights were really very dim back then. I reckon it could happen.

 

From my first China visit in 2002, to my last near the end of that decade, it seemed that the driving habits and practices did 'improve' noticeably, from being similar to the crazier American teens at first, to more like their 'more mature' early-20s selves at the last trip. Still not good, but it seemed like visible progress. At least I never saw any roadside dead bodies, as earlier travelers at my workplace described.

I certainly believe it has a lot to do with not having driving parents to watch and subconsciously learn from.

Was this part of the Lucas electrical 'quality' that used to be legendary in auto forums?

 

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Right here for ya, boss.

 

Oh, yes. In the 90s it was absolutely appalling. These days it's not completely terrible. But back in the 90s, no-one had grown up watching their parents drive, and the people who were driving had often only been driving for a couple of years. Also, the roads were terrible. These days, all of that has improved a lot.

I can't remember whether I've posted this before: it's about licensed self-driving taxis in Shenzhen, in Southern China.

What I find remarkable is how well the AI copes with Chinese driving. There is all sorts of chaos and rule-breaking and stupidity on the road, but the AI seems to take it all in its stride.

Lucas were pioneers and I will not hear a bad word said against them. Other companies messed about with quality to create planned obsolescence: a part would die after a year or two so you had to buy a new one. Lucas beat everyone on this, with their products often having failed while they were still on the shelf. No-one else can come close to that.

 

I have mostly encountered cautious and thoughtful drivers in China. With a few amusing counter examples. The one dead body I saw on road was an (ex) motorcyclist who in retrospect might have chosen a helmet to keep all that gooey stuff inside.

 

I remember seeing parts of a motorcyclist underneath one of those old Jiefang trucks in Chengdu. That was unpleasant.

Even in the 2000s, driving in Kunming seemed less frenetic than elsewhere in China.

 

"Kunming seemed less frenetic" You got it, mate. 'Security' guards play cards here. Banks have money trucks guarded by shotgun dudes who stand around and look in the same direction instead of establishing a perimeter. It's mellow in a way I find both satisfying and amusing.

I spent many years in USA where two 2nd Amendment people shot at me and I'm glad they missed. Who would need more of that? They won't all miss.

Less frenetic suits me well.

 

Yes, but I see that everywhere in China. It's one of the things I love about it. But that's more of a safety thing. What I found different in Kunming is that people were just more relaxed. Except for angry underwear lady. She was angry.

 

I could use one of the amusing ones next.