MIC’S MEMOS
Light bars and the legality of lights fitted to vehicles have recently shot into the legal spotlight and it’s time to engage with the authorities, says Mic van Zyl.
We sold around R100 000 worth of lights and light bars at last year’s Nampo Harvest Day. At this year’s show, we sold all of four lights. So, what’s changed? Just about everybody who visited the Ironman 4x4 stand wanted to know what was happening with the legislation around lights and light bars. Some visitors accused us of selling illegal lights. They even insisted that we should be held responsible for the fines they received from having our light bars fitted to their vehicles. Light bars and the legality of lights fitted to vehicles have recently shot into the legal spotlight (pun intended) for some reason. I’m guessing it’s because these lights have become increasingly popular.
Trouble first started brewing in Namibia and then in Botswana and even Zimbabwe. Then local authorities started to pull people over in SA demanding the removal of light bars and spotlights. In some cases, licence discs were removed from cars and vehicles removed from public roads. It has all become a bit of a mess and it begs the question as to why such police focus is not applied to other more important facets of road safety like unlicensed drivers and unroadworthy vehicles.
THERE ARE A number of fundamental laws pertaining to white lights on the front of your vehicle if you use it on a public road. You may not have more than six, they may not be installed higher than the leading edge of the bonnet, they may not break the vertical centre line of the vehicle, they must be installed in pairs (two, four or six lights), and they may not be rated higher than 55 watts, depending on which book you read. So, no bar lights across the middle of the vehicle, no lights on top of the bull bar centre hoop, and definitely no lights on your roof or roof rack. We are an importer and distributor of spotlights that use halogen, HID and LED light sources covering traditional round spotlights as well as the newer style of light bars. We are naturally concerned about the current legal situation and the effects on our customers. We sell light bars to boat owners, plane owners, farmers, hunters, nature conservationists, police, rescue, mining – a plethora of people and organisations that use our lights in applications that are not affected by or covered by the road law.
IT’S THEREFORE incorrect to refer to our lights as being illegal due to the fact that it is illegal to use them in certain applications on a road vehicle. While we are within our right to import and sell these lights, we are under no obligation to regulate the use of the light. It is up to you as the purchaser of the light to ensure that you use it legally. There is also some contention as to the legality of using lights that use LEDs, whether they are round spotlights or not. The big issue with all of this, however, is the fact that the traffic police who are enforcing these laws are for the most part in the dark (the puns write themselves – Ed) when it comes to the technicalities of the laws surrounding spotlights. The good news is in the USA and Australia the road laws have been amended to accommodate this technology. Ironman 4x4 Africa has undertaken to engage with authorities to attempt to do the same here in Southern Africa. This is going to be an interesting process. Hold thumbs.
The biggest issue with all of this, however, is the fact that the traffic police who are enforcing these laws are for the most part in the dark when it comes to the technicalities.