CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — When foggy conditions are in place, visibility is the primary concern. Often, fog will drop vision down to under a quarter of a mile in the Coastal Bend. When that happens, the fog is considered 'dense'. Dense fog is especially hazardous to motorists travelling at fast speeds, unaware of what is ahead. Reaction times are dramatically reduced. This morning, widespread dense fog was observed across the Coastal Bend. It may seem intuitive to turn on the high beam lights in addition to regular lights when this happens, but you should NOT use high-beams in fog. Here's why...
By definition fog is a cloud in contact with the surface. Fog (and clouds) is made of tiny water droplets, which behave like little mirrors when light hits them. Like a mirror, when you shine light onto these spherical droplets, they get reflected - in all directions. Some of that light gets reflected back to you, lowering your visibility further. Those high-beams also make it more difficult for other motorists to see, creating a large glare. So, use your low beam lights when traveling through dense/thick fog.
Other tips to consider are slowing down, opening your windows to hear if anything is happening ahead of you, and using road reflectors to guide you when the fog is extremely dense.
