Weather
Fog tells you whether the lights were aimed
In a short murky morning the desk stopped judging lamps by how white they look on a dry road.
Lena Voss, Editor · 7 July 2026
A bright lamp on a clear road is easy to admire. Fog is less kind. On one murky morning the hatchback's low beam still showed the verge, and the wagon's beam showed a white wall a few metres ahead of the bumper. Both cars had working lamps. Only one of them was useful.
Aim is the story
We are not scoring a brand of bulb. We are noting where the light landed. A lamp that dazzles the driver back through mist has been aimed, or left, for a different day. The check is short: drive until the air thickens, and see whether the road or the fog is illuminated.
If we mention lights in a later piece, we will say which beam, and what it showed when the air was not clear. A showroom white is not that test.
See a mistake? Write the desk. How a piece is tested, and what the desk will not sell, is set out in How we test and Editorial standards.