Non-Stock Lights Illegal?

Guess you can't ride in California if you have non-stock lighting on your bike. Utimately no tickets were issued.


oliceST:


http://youtu.be/zaRWElC4AiU

That's interesting! I've never heard of it being illegal for adding lights like he was describing!

I have driving lights that I added, never been stopped for them.

that was more of a fishing expedition then anything if u ask me, it was more on seeing that they had motorcycle lic. and just dont go too crazy on aftermarket lighting.

justin_sabre said:

that was more of a fishing expedition then anything if u ask me, it was more on seeing that they had motorcycle lic. and just dont go too crazy on aftermarket lighting.

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+1. I've had a flashing Whelen LIN3 (police light) LED stop light on all of my bikes for the last 10 years. Never been stopped.

justin_sabre said:

that was more of a fishing expedition then anything if u ask me, it was more on seeing that they had motorcycle lic. and just dont go too crazy on aftermarket lighting.

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Yeah, good point.

The Garda? here in in Ireland have launched a 'Light up/Slow down campaign' here this weekend I think it's called. I have the transalp well lit up now,10 watt cree leds on the crash bars and 3 watt cree leds underneath the mirrors,with an upgraded headlight bulb,
considering smidsy's are the second most common cause of motorbike crashes,after cars turning right I think,then extra lighting/visibility should be encouraged,as long as the lights aren't blinding uncoming drivers after dark.
I had to angle the 10 watt crees down more,they are very bright considering they are only 10 watt.
The more visible you are the better in my opinion.

No problems with the lighting I have put on my ST in over 124,000 miles. I almost got rear ended in that same area a few years back which is why I added lights and reflective material on the back.

No extra lights like red flashing lights on the front and rear of a police bike?

Go figure.....I don't think that's the law but I'm not in CA.

He didn't ticket them, and he did say they had orders to concentrate on motorcycles. I guess they will have a field day with me. Those lights were added by the dealer long before I ever saw this bike.

Definitely fishing...must have been a slow day for him!

He stated that he was assigned to motorcycle enforcement so that was his job. I see no problem there. If something more urgent occurred I imagine he wouldn't be bothered with lighting violations. I want to see my tax paying dollars at work. So if he's not responding to a priority call he should be doing something other than being accused of taking a donut break.

But the CVC does provide for additional lighting for vehicles so I wonder what he believed was non-standard about the lights. CA has a standard for flashing brake lights and yours might not have been legal. Or they might have. But he didn't elaborate. Some lights that are legal in elsewhere may not be legal here.

Several of us have added lights and some of them are in fact illegal. Just because we haven't been stopped doesn't mean we won't be. Even though we're willing to take that chance we should *know* what's legal and what isn't. If we mod the bike in an illegal manner we should be prepared to sack up if stopped and not play the-don't-they-have-something-better-to-do card (you two didn't do that).

If you don't want to be part of a fishing expedition don't look like bait.

Not heard of lighting stops by our police as they seemed focused on distracted driving (using cell phone, etc.). Of course, human nature being what it is, things have become stupid in many instances. I know of several people who have been ticketed for eating a Tim Bit (donut hole), sipping coffee and such. When the officer pulls a no-lights U-turn in traffic which requires other drivers to take evasive action, then blasts through a red light to stop someone for sipping coffee, one might wonder.

Unfortunately our RCMP are under fire for many actions which is eroding public respect and confidence. This is never good but when someone is stopped for eating a Tim Bit, then observes the same officer working on his car computer while driving, the "what the blank, blank, double hockey pucks" comes to mind.

Always been told by the State Patrol around here (Iowa) that as long as I don't mess with the factory lighting then I can add more. Also, red and blue up front are a big no-no, as are blue lights anywhere that can be seen by others while riding (parades excepted), and there is a limit to how many "lamps" for the head lights there can be up front, and additional brake lights can only flash for 6 seconds and then must go solid on. Otherwise extra lights are OK. I did look all this up to verify it in the State Code here.

Oh, I did have a KnightRiderz rear LED light bar that would flash for 6 seconds then go solid for brakes, and would "move" left and right for running lights. In all my searching (why I was in depth researching the State Code here) I did not find anything to prohibit this light bar. I talked to many State Patrol, even from other states around Iowa and the only information I could get from them is this type of light bar (moving light) is a gray area. They didn't really know if it was not legal but all told me they and others they worked with would not bother pulling me over for that anyway unless there was some other really obvious infraction. And even then I wouldn't likely be ticketed for the light bar unless the LEO was really having a bad day and just in the mood to shower me with "awards" anyway.
I did get pulled over once but not for the light bar. Seems a rookie LEO with an evaluation instructor didn't know my modulating headlights were allowed and regulated by Federal Law. I keep the card with the bike to show in cases like this. Neither one knew about modulating headlights and they thought they would do me a "service" by letting me know my headlight was broken! They definitely saw the moving light bar on back but that was a non-issue to them and OK.

In California, if you buy the lights at a store there, read all the fine print. Many times you will find wording to the effect of "legal for off road use only" or some such buried in all the other legalese. In that case, they are not legal for use on the street. It's a misdemeanor for a store to sell illegal equipment for use on the road so that disclaimer is required in California. I haven't got my copy of the California Vehicle Code with me but the pages covering lighting run to multiple dozens. Then there is Title 13 CCR (California Code of Regulations) which has more lighting specifications (for instance, a turn signal is supposed to flash 1-2 times per second) and many referenced engineering specifications. Lots of places to go wrong.

I think I would spend a few minutes looking at 18 wheelers in a truck stop before I got too concerned about accent/visibility lighting. Bajas may be a different story.

Please take every opportunity to offer thoughts in the subject area of lighting. Those of us who worked in the vehicle repair field, and even doing inspections, are not as informed as would like to be. It's not a surprise that Leos are not necessarily well informed on lighting, especially general service officers as they are dealing with everything from the criminal code, through mental health act, enviro, local by-laws, encyclopedic..... No one can possibly remember it all.

TourNut said:

Having designed Tail Lights for 23 years I know that the states are supposed to follow FMVSS regulations including the police , sheriff , traffic courts , etc. as well as us that designed the lamps . They have to meet a lot of light intensity outputs and a lot of test points out at certain angles . Blue and red lights to the front are not allowed , blue and white out the back are not allowed , even license plate white light can not be direct light out the back from the source. Covering the lamps with various filters , like dark smoke , and emblems are not legal because it alters the design intent of the lamp - the test points & intensities. The FMVSS design guide book is about an inch thick , chock full of regs. for all motor vehicles . It would be hard for LEOs to remember all that , let alone the rest of us , even us designers have to bone up on the book before we design a lamp ,or it gets produced and then doesn't pass testing - major bucks lost there and other serious business repercussions besides. I was always careful enough to design correctly and not cause a loss like that, and I designed them 23 years until retirement as a result but man , sometimes it was a lot to remember and also get it into a CAD system at the same time !

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A very respectful interaction, good to see. Hopefully that LEO later went and brushed up on the Vehicle Codes and talked to other LEOs.

st1300doug said:

... "in the Grand Scheme of things"......there are lots more things to haggle over than this! Geeez!!!

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This and the "everybody else is doing it too" fuels the misconception that its not illegal to temper with OEM equipment and adding lights as one pleases...

Since it's snowing here (Montana) and a ride is out, I pulled up the online version of the California Vehicle Code. The lighting sections start at 24250 and continue to 26106, or just under 2000 sections. Not all numbers are there but most sections have several sub sections and even sub sub sections. Here's a link should you choose to peruse it:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=veh&codebody=&hits=All

I particularly enjoyed reading the following lighting section:


25451. Any motorcycle equipped with one lighted acetylene headlamp
complies with the provisions of this code concerning lighted
headlamps on motorcycles when the acetylene headlamp is fitted with a
clear plane glass front and a bright six-inch spherical mirror and a
standard acetylene one-half or five-eighths foot burner, projecting
sufficient light ahead to reveal any vehicle, person, or substantial
object upon the roadway within a distance of 115 feet.