# Why are they "parking lights"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 20, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206 "2003-12-20T20:25:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Quint\_Essence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/54ee81/32.png) [@Quint\_Essence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint_Essence)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2003, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-they-parking-lights/220206/61 "2003-12-26T07:37:11Z")

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Fog lights are distinguished from regular headlights by being both centrally located and LOW.  
Lower is better as fog tends to hover slightly above the ground, and the lights are lower to reduce the amount of light directly reflected back by the fog into the drivers eyes.  
The yellow light is used because the reflected light is less glaring.

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