Driving Lights On Roof Legal or not

[Red_Zook]

i have a mad mate who is scared of the dark (lol well thats just what i think anyway) with 4 ipf lights across the roof of his lux, the other day he was cruzin about with white covers on them, he got pulled over by the fuzz and they were gona nab him 4 them because you arnt aloud to have them........ any one herd of this b4?

[-Scott-]

It is illegal to use them on a public road - if he doesn't turn them on he's not breaking the law. Most police officers cannot understand the distinction between having them and using them.

The covers are a bit of a give-away that they're not being used - especially in daylight. Get your mate to contact the state transport authority (whatever they call themselves in your neck of the woods) and ask for a clarification. If I'm right ( ) ask him to get something in writing which he can then politely show to Mr Plod.

Cheers,

Scott

[Tiny]

In NSW I beleive that is illeagle to fitt more than 4 additional set of "white" lights to your vehicle, and you can get knocked back at rego, and be defected if you have more than the designated amount.......easy fix it put yellow fog light type covers over tham when you need to

[V8Patrol]

Laws vary from state to state so best to look into your own states regulations.

I had this drama a while back with 4 additional drivinglights fitted ( bullbar mounted ) and a further 4 on a "roof rack"......
I "got away with it because I said that the 4 on the roof were "work lights " NOT driving lights..... The fact was that they were pointing off to the side of the rig and not directly in the direction of travel of the rig was my "winning point".

Another minor law that many muck up on is the way the lights are fitted....
Your not allowed to have driving lights ( or any other type [fog etc] ) mounted in such a way that the centres of the additional lights is higher than the standard lights. ...... its possiable that this may have been what the lawman was trying to justify.

The irony of this stupid law is that the a few new 4x4's now come with "roof lights" as standard and these vehicles have complied with Aussie standards, Im not sure which make but I think its the landy, no doubt some-one will know which make /model has them


Kingy

[ISUZUROVER]

In QLD there is a 1400mm rule for driving lights (must be mounted 1400mm from ground or lower). But as a bove you could argue that they are "work lights" not "driving lights".

[toughnut]

There are 2 easy fixes for this. You can mount as many lights as you want.
1 you can have them on a fold down rack so they are folded back when not in use; and
2 You have a plug that you can physically disconnect when not in use.
The ruling is lights that are in use. Not lights that are mounted on the vehicle and not in use. You can put lights all over the car as long as the ones you use comply to the regulations. Just be polite when explaning this to the cops cause they may look at your rig a bit harder if you argue too much.

[Tas_Dean]

As far as I know, you need to have an isolating switch on them that is not accessible from inside the vehicle, and for this switch to ba in the off position when on public roads.

Cheers, Dean

[cj]

For Vic regs have a look here and it may be helpful to others as it references the ADR's

http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/vrpdf/rd ... i%2010.pdf

[murcod]

A guy I work with has a full on "B&S" ute - WB Holden complete with Caterpillar mudflaps, five poster bullbar, all the stickers etc etc - with four spotlights on the roof. Two of them are huge Lightforces and don't have covers on them.

He got pulled over here in SA once and defected for tyres, but apparently nothing was mentioned about the spotties by either the officer who booked him, nor the one who cleared his vehicle.

[turps]

The Vic coppers had some SS utes a couple of years back. They had the chrome roll bars with 2 ipf's on them. Plus the bloody mobile radar mounted between the lights.

[MEX]

UPDATED VEHICLE MODIFICATIONS GUIDELINE FOR QLD'ERS.

http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/qt/driv ... _Jan05.pdf

NOW YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR UP AGAINST.

MEX

[Patroldude]

Yet the new Jeep Extreeme that likes to play on the beach has driving lights fitted standard in the roof facing forward....

It merely depends on the officer that pulls you at the time - be a smart arse or have an attitude and they will reciprocate - treat them with respect and a decent attitude they usually leave you alone.

As for laws - they vary all the time - damned if you do - damned if you don't.

mk

[RoldIT]

In the ADR (that I downloaded from Vic Roads website) it states you can have 1 pair of main beams (factory headlights) and 2 optional pairs of main beams (driving lights).

There is no restriction on height but they state they must be on the front of the vehicle.

I assume the ADRs are national standards.


Personally, I'm still gunna run them and I'll take them off when I get told.

As others have said, if you drive like a wanker, I guess they are gunna look for anything they can get you on. I dare say most cops wouldn't know either way.

[Ferozaahhh]

In WA you can have a max of 6 forward facing white lights, including your standard headlights. So you can chuck 4 up on your roof but ya can't have any on ya roo bar. Also, some coppers might not be real traffic orientated so the fact that they don't book ya doesn't necessarily mean that it's not illegal.

[Patroldude]

Hope they don't see me - Got 4 Cibies in front bar adn 4 rear facing PIAA Spots on the rear not to mention on board fluros, under bonnet lights, rocklights etc... hell - I just don't like driving at night - plus u can only se the fronts - rears are mounted under top support of roll bar and under canopy (when I run it during week.).

For some reason I gotta upgrade my darn alternator tho...

Mk

[Badooky]

for WA that means that 80s crusers and the like with twin head lights at each side are only allowed to have two spotties, poor bastards. As you can see in my pic i have four on the roof and have had no dramas when ive been pulled over

[chopper]

we had Dept transport speak at our last club meeting, they told us that so long as the lights were not used on road, they were perfectly legal, no mention of heights, or number of lights, or of how they were wired

[Spike_Sierra]

hey phil, i bought four new lights today and going to put em on, havnt been told off for my other lights......yet..

[Gribble]

I assume the ADRs are national standards.

That can be over-ridden by state regulations.

[william_witham]

My navara has 2 Hella's between the headlights on the bar, 2 super oscars on top of the bull bar, two IPF's in the side mirror frames and 4 nightvisions on the top. I drove past a cop with them all at full heat and he pulled me over and gave me a $135 fine and cut every wire he could find. That was in QLD

[chopper]

but what was the infringement for, the ones on top of the bull bar are illegal, mirror frames ??

or was it just because you didn't dip your lights??

[-Scott-]

My navara has 2 Hella's between the headlights on the bar, 2 super oscars on top of the bull bar, two IPF's in the side mirror frames and 4 nightvisions on the top. I drove past a cop with them all at full heat and he pulled me over and gave me a $135 fine and cut every wire he could find. That was in QLD

It's illegal to USE the roof lights on a public road - he's not gonna believe you "won't use them on-road" after you've just cooked him with them.

The lights on top of a bullbar are considered a vision obstruction - they're simply illegal.

The Hellas between the headlights should have been OK.

Failing to dip - spots or not - is illegal. I'm guessing that's what the fine was for, and he let you off on the illegal lights?

If you're gonna play the game you've gotta know the rules.

Scott

[Camshaft1]

In Victoria as long as you have EVEN numbers of lights you are ok. I was pulled over twice for various reasons and told the 3 big hellas i had on were illegal. if i made it an even number i was fine.

[grazza]

so I can have 28 spotties?

[killa]

My navara has 2 Hella's between the headlights on the bar, 2 super oscars on top of the bull bar, two IPF's in the side mirror frames and 4 nightvisions on the top. I drove past a cop with them all at full heat and he pulled me over and gave me a $135 fine and cut every wire he could find. That was in QLD

Isn't it illegal for him to tamper with your vehicle? They aren't allowed to touch the keys, surely you could have him on cutting the wires

[+dj_hansen+]

$135 and him cutting all the wires... or him start asking questions and going over your car costing you possibly thousands?

Please mr orafic-er, cut the wires...

[DaveS3]

I assume the ADRs are national standards.

That can be over-ridden by state regulations.

Yeh??

AFAIK the ADRs are the Be All & End All.

The ADRs should over-ride the state regs.

Dave.

[professor]

In Victoria as long as you have EVEN numbers of lights you are ok. I was pulled over twice for various reasons and told the 3 big hellas i had on were illegal. if i made it an even number i was fine.

I heard that too

another thing that is required of lights on the roof in NSW now is that the lights have a latch circuit meaning that when you put your lights on high beam the roof light dont come on till you hit a button and when you dip your lights all driving and roof lights dip aswell to turn roof light on again you hit the button again.

This is what a local copper was telling me and this is what all the b&s utes are doing too!!

[crankycruiser]

I'm sure some one has said this (i'm too lazy to read it all)...

The new jeeps have lights on the roof............

I got pulled up a couple of yrs ago for lights on the roof of my ute.. they told me I could have them as long as I had covers on them..

[grazza]

I wish it wasnt so damn hard to find out the real facts on what is legal or not.

Anyway from the Qld Transport "brochure"

"Additional pairs of headlights, showing a beam of white
light only, may be fitted and must not affect the driver’s
view. The headlights must be mounted symmetrically.
Additional high beam headlights must extinguish
automatically when low beam is selected."

"Modifications which are not covered by this booklet or
the Approved Persons Scheme, or modifications which
involve substantial structural changes to the body or
chassis of a vehicle, require a written submission. A fee
is payable for the evaluation of plans."

Nothing about roof lights, number of lights, height above ground, etc...