Hey, pipe down, willya? Shhhh! I've got a
shady reputation to live down to!
Yup. But that name for them makes problems. A lot of people think "Well, I'm driving, so I'll turn on my driving lights!", not realizing that they are auxiliary high beams: safe and legal
only with the vehicle's main high beam headlamps on dark, empty roads (or off road). Never with low beams, never by themselves, never in bad weather, and never in traffic. The term is left over from long ago, when there were few cars on the road and most night driving was done on the "driving beam". On the rare occasion another car came along, you dipped down to the "passing beam" until you and the other driver passed each other, then back to the "driving beam". These days traffic density means the low beam gets the most use.
And then there's fog lamps, which are basically useless to most drivers most of the time, but people leave them permanently on or treat them as fashion accessories. They can be useful in very soupy weather at very low speeds, but other than that, they
actually hurt your ability to see what you need to see at night.
