Tips For Driving In Fog

My wife comes from an Italian family and that means Sunday dinners together. The family heads to Frankfort and more often than not takes Higby Road and that means fog at this time of the year.

I learned to drive in fog in southern California by driving on Palos Verdes and Pacific Coast Highway. We would get some pretty thick fog coming off the ocean. What I learned was trial and error when it comes to driving in fog. Here are some tips I learned.

By far and away the number one mistake people out West would make and I've noticed the same here, is stopping on the road because they can't see. Never stop on the road. You'll cause an accident. Instead, pull over and get as far away from the road as you can. Turn off the lights of your car otherwise another driver may think you are on the road and they may follow you causing an accident.

Slow down. It becomes difficult to gauge your speed in thick fog and the safest thing to do is set your speed by watching your speedometer. Sounds crazy but it works.

If you have a newer car more than likely it will have fog lights. If it does, use them they work really well.

Do not use your high beams. Next time your driving in fog flip on your high beams for a second and you'll know why you don't want to use them at all in fog. Those high beams reflect right back at you making matters worse.

Another trick is let the white line on the right side of the road guide you. I remember coming home from our Homecoming dance with my date leaning out of the car on the passenger side watching for the white line on the right side of the road. Scared the dickens out of the both of us.

Always remember to leave plenty of space between you and the car in front of you.

Fall is the foggiest time in Central New York. Although we're not dealing with fog today, we are dealing with a flood warning and high wind warning with heavy rain in the forecast. Several roads in CNY are already flooded and trees are down around the area.

After flooding and Fall fog we'll have to deal with Winter and the driving tips are pretty much the same if you find yourself in a whiteout.

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