OK, I know if you drive around with your front fog lights on when it's not foggy then you are a tw@t, and that it is illegal. But what is the legal position on "driving lights". These are obviously supplimentary to headlights but are not fogs. Does the same law apply?

[Edited by corradoboy - 7/28/2003 4:59:55 AM]

 

yes, it's effectively like driving round with full beam on. on mine, they only work when you're on full beam.

 

Cheers Gordo.

 

Driving lights must by law be wired to come only with main beam.

 

While we're on the subject of lights, did you know that if you get a special amendment to your MOT, stating that the vehicle will only be used between half an hour before sunrise till half an hour after sunset, you don't need any lights whatsoever.

Seems crazy to me, but apparently it's perfectly legal option...

 

It is also an offence to dazzle oncoming traffic...

So 10,000W lights on all the time might do that

 

While on the subject of our fogs, I believe the visibility must be below 100metres or 300 odd feet to have them on,
what happens if your on a motorway on a rainy day the spray makes visibility about 30 feet, but if pulled to the hard shoulder by plod, the visibility would be 100yards or more, where do you stand with respect to where the visibility should be taken from?

Peanuts

 

i've got that MOT option on my motorbike just run with a brake light


kev

 

I seem to remember that driving lights were defined by the minimum height above the ground of the centre of the lens for headlights. 2 feet 2 inches I think it was or whatever the foreign equivalent is now.

Les

 

Here in the US every twit with fog lights uses them all the time.

ALWAYS!

Combine this with the SUV craze, and you get fog lights shining directly into your mirrors. If there is a law against it, no one is enforcing it.

Real driving lights are much more scarce here, but as manufacturers build better headlights, some of their main beams are as good as auxilliary driving lights. Recently I was driving a rented Toyota sedan in Texas, and the main beams were quite nice.

I like to install driving lights with a 3-position switch: (1)off; (2) on with main beam; (3) on, regardless of whether anything else including the ignition is on.

I used to run Cibie and Hella headlight conversions before halogen lights were common here. Their boxes said "This headlight does not comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 and can only be used on off-road vehicles."

Imagine 7-inch Cibie headlights in a 1973 AMC Hornet and a 1975 Buick Regal... No one knew what they were, but they made the standard headlights of the 1970s look like warm amber bicycle headlights.