Fog impacts on driving

 

The fog early Sunday morning was quite dense in a few locations, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a Dense Fog Advisory for some across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Most of the time the fog is quick to burn off following the sunrise and atmosphere beginning to mix a little more, but there are other times where the fog can last through much of the day. That was not the case, however, Sunday morning. The fog was quick to burn off leaving skies partly cloudy for much of Sunday afternoon.

Visibility can be severely impacted when the fog is dense, dropping down to only a few hundred feet if thick enough. This type of dense fog is extremely dangerous and can result in major accidents on the roads.

When driving in dense fog, you often have very little time to react to other vehicles or objects that may also be on the road and hard to see. For example, when driving at highway speeds of 60 mph your reaction time will be significantly reduced once that object becomes visible - depending on how dense the fog is.

When traveling at 60 mph, visibility of only 100ft gives you a reaction time of just 1.1 seconds. Visibility at 100 yards at 60 mph gives a reaction time of only 3.4 seconds. And visibility at a quarter of a mile (which can occur often here in the Stateline) your reaction time is only 15 seconds. When we drive, we use our surroundings to help us gauge how fast we are going (along with our speedometer). Our speed can sometimes actually increase in foggy conditions because we lose sight of the objects around us. That's why it is so important to make sure driving has your full attention - not distracted by the radio, phone, etc - and you are slowing down when it's foggy outside. Use your low beams, not your high beams, and remain aware and alert of what is around you. Make sure to leave plenty of distance between you and the car in front of you to account for any sudden stops or changes. To make sure you are following the proper lane, use your eyes to follow the lines on the road. The next couple of nights could be foggy ones, with locally dense fog possible for some.