The first dense fog of the season appeared on the 16th of December and engulfed entire North India including Delhi/NCR, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Today, fog in Delhi improved but has engulfed parts of Rajasthan as well.
Dense fog has crippled normal life as air, rail and road movement has been affected for the fifth consecutive day. The visibility had reduced considerably creating hazardous driving conditions. Fog is generally a phenomenon which occurs in early morning and late evening hours. It is advisable to avoid driving during these times, but of course, your office schedule wouldn’t permit that. It is sometimes difficult to postpone travelling until dense fog lifts; therefore it becomes essential to follow these tips-
Reduce your speed- first of all, your safety is more important than anything else. So keep a watch on the speedometer. Fog tends to create an illusion of slow motion and you might get tempted to speed up.
Drive with low beams- High beams impair visibility as it gets reflected back off the fog.Many vehicles come equipped with fog or driving lights, usually mounted in the front bumper or even below. Fog lights, unlike driving lights, usually have yellow lenses and create wide and flat patterned beams to minimize reflection from fog. These lights are definitely the best for foggy conditions but even driving lights are better than regular headlights.
Use wipers- wipers and defrosters come in use during foggy weather conditions. Use them when the moisture in the air settles on the windshield, making it difficult to see.
Maintain your distance-keep distance between vehicles and instead of the normal 2 seconds, increase the count distance behind another vehicle by 5 seconds.
Fog is a dense bank of cloud of the ground level and it is dangerous to drive in such conditions. Use the right edge of the road, and be calm and patient while driving. And if nothing works, pull over and wait on the side of the road till visibility is safe enough to drive. But do not forget to turn on the hazard lights alert. Foggy weather conditions will prevail in Delhi/NCR and parts of North India till mid-February, but your safety is bestowed only in your hands.
blogs.kcrw.com
