Interesting topic. I recall the same reason being used on another forum, ie, the member always drove at night with fog lights on as they helped him see to the sides of the car when driving in the country so he could spot things (like wildlife) that the less than stellar Z4 headlights couldn't pick up.
As pointed out above, the throw of the fog light beams is so short (they're not called fog lights because they can punch through the fog with million candlepower beams) that by the time you actually saw anything you'd have either a: hit the object or b: driven past it by the time you realised what it was.
I found the fog lights in my E85 to be good for two things - driving in fog (how about that?) and for use as DRL's until I got aftermarket headlights with halos in them to use as DRL's. They didn't help one bit in improving peripheral vision at night. Plus, it is actually illegal to drive with them at night if it's not foggy here (but I've never heard of anyone ever being pulled over for it :wink: ).