What is the law on having these fitted to a car, esp a Impreza.

Reason I ask is that my dad and our next door neighbour says that I will be breaking the law if I fit these as you 'can't fit driving lights underneth your headlights'.

I have tried googleing and I have not found anything.

 

Define "driving lights"

Many people have many different versions of them.
DTRL's are perfectly legal.

 

Driving lights I mean the PIAA PRO XT driving lamps aka RB5.

 

Aaaah so rally spot style lights?

There is no law in having them fitted. However turn them on for improper use and the issues start to build.

 

These lights you can only use with main (high) beam and you cannot use them as fogs.

I thought that they where legal. Is there any info on DFT site?

 

Yes they're legal but there is a rule about minimum heights which is where the comment about not being able to use them if they're below the bumper comes from.

But look at the Pogo 205, they've got driving lights below the bumper and Pogo sold plenty of them so the laws an ***. Plus it's never going to be properly enforced so ignore it.

 

I was not really worried about it at all. I just want to see better at night driving on those unlit country B roads.

Thanks very much anyway

 

Indeedy, mine will only activate with the full beam. Can't see why they would be illegal but using them as fogs would be impossible.

 

...all you would see in the fog would be a white wall.

 

My driving lights only come on with the beam as well ! Slightly off topic and not sure if its completly true but didn't Pug break a rule on the location \ height of the fog light on the 206 as well ?

 

I bought some ring fog lights back in the 80s and they came with fitting instructions that showed the heights and distance from the edge of the car for both fogs and driving lights. I think driving ligts had to be a similar height to the main headlights and only operate with the main beam.

 

Pug also had driving lights under the bumper on the 106 and 306 as well. Not sure about current models though, I gave up on Pug when they failed to replace the 106Gti and 306Gti.

 

As long as the spots go on and off on the operation of the dip/main beam switch you'll be ok. You should have a separate switch wired up so the spots can be turned off altogether but that switch must not control the dip/mainbeam function in any way.

 

I have a row of spot lights on the roll bar of my landy behind the cab.. completely illigal to use on the road.. so its just wired into a seperate switch, use them for flashing outa junctions and off road!

 

At the risk of sounding thick, what are the front lights for in the front bumper of a scoob ( classic model) foglights or driving lights? ive never used them.
Even if you had driving lights i bet you would still get pulled for having fog lights on.

 

They're fog lights. Totally useless, replace them with some driving lights

You won't get pulled for using driving lights. They only come on with the full beam so you'll only be using them on unlit roads (ie. out in the sticks). If a cop car is coming towards you then you'll obviously dip them as they approach. If they're behind they'll just think he's got a nice bright set of lights on that scooby Round town they'll be off all the time so no chance of getting pulled.

 

OK, I've just ploughed tghrough some of the UK lighting regs, and as far as I can understand, the regs are as follows:

1. There's no such thing as a driving lamp, it's specified as a main beam headlight.

2. There are no requirements for maximum, or minimum height, (that surprised me).

3. They must be fitted in pairs on a car.

4. They must NOT be fitted closer to the outer edge of the car than the dip beam lights.

5. They must NOT be fitted further than 400 mm from the outer edge of the vehicle, (that's measured to the outer edge of the lit area of the lamp).

6. They must extinguish , as a pair, or deflect, as a pair, when dip beam is selected.

7. There must be a warning light fitted in the vehicle that tells you when they are illuminated, (the main beam warning light will do if they are linked).

Apart from that, it's as you like.

Alcazar

 

Cheers mate, you're right, they are useless, will look into it.

 

Thanks jeff you are a star

 

Did the SIDC Police Training Day a long time ago and that was one of my questions of the traffic officer taking the day (Richard Grimes).

He said that as long as they were controlled by Main Beam & you did not use them "aggressively" (ie to dazzle other road users) then they were legal.


So I went out after the course and replaced my useless fogs with a pair of SS 130w Cibies

So much better

 

from the horses mouth...brilliant

 

"GC8 forever" ? How sweet.

 

well it is the best of ALL of the impreza's todate

 

Evo 6 seems to push that rule a bit

 

The lights on Pug 205's are high beam assistance only

 

I thought that you were refering to the helpful, informative and now sadly departed ScoobyNet user GC8.....

 

Sadly, European regulations also add to the mess, hence Pugs having lights all over the place....
Don't think the police would bother if they are used correctly, i.e. out in the sticks.
Thoroughly recommend PIAA's as they use H4 bulbs to "do" main & dip beams !

Dunx

 

So whats the difference between high beam assistance and a driving light?

But I've checked the regs I have (the SVA type approval regs) and I now agree with Alcazar, no rules for location of main beam lights. There are max and min heights and min distances from the side of the car for dip beam lights but none for main beam. The comment I made about lights below the bumper only being foglights was either an old set of rules or just wrong.