LED Light Bars in WA

Relatively simple...no roof lights. Lights to be no higher than bonnet edge(cannot be mounted on top of bulbar)..

This will be a great little earner for the govt and a very simple thing for a copper to defect your car.....

Thanks Bigfish.

Lots of $ in fines running on the roads then. See illegal lights all of the time.

Derek and Big fish,
Just for the sake of Interest I use to drive trucks in a previous life, and in my travels since retiring I have seen Numerous heavy vehicles with more strip and bar lights on them than a Christmas tree, at Christmas time.
Now the Question is when are the trucks going to be pulled over and yellow stickered, or is this just another revenue raiser for the family man and his car and 4X4.
I for one am glad to see all the lights on the big rigs I can at least see them coming up a dark and cold and wet highway, from miles away, and from my point of view it is a safety issue.
good on W.A. yah dun it again, and so says me.;

From what I understand you never have been allowed "driving lights" above your bonnet or windscreen.
As far as I know this law was bought out because of the law about odd number of driving lights......eg Im pretty sure it was illegal to have 1 spot light in the middle, which made it illegal to have 1 light bar or light bars with odd amounts of leds. ( the old laws weren't made with light bars in consideration)
Because of the new law we know have more options, not less?
And as far as led lights all over trucks I think you will find they come under clearance lights not driving lights so this law wont effect them anyway.

In my opinion all it means is that it is know legal to have 1 light bar fitted correctly across the front of your car, which you couldn't before......A change for the better

Cheers

Driving/spot lights are certainly allowed above the windscreen on the roof as some new cars bad them as standard from new - some Jeep Cherokee models had them.

Benz Australia, Scanias and Volvo trucks.

Australian registered Benz

I got pulled up in Isuzu NPS 300 4x4 (NSW) which has 2 light force 240hid spots & a led light bar above them (cab over, no bonnet) & the defect was light stacking when I went to get it slipped for rego again was told no light stacking

As we are talking WA...driving lights are not permitted above the maximum height of the vehicles lights(driving,hi/low)..UNLESS..They are mounted above the roof with a switch that is not accessible from inside the cabin!! This means that to switch them on or off you have to get out of the car to turn on or off. This makes them legal for off road use. This has been discussed before.
I will bet cops in all states are going to be getting harder on the light rules because the price of high powered LED and HID is very affordable for all and many weekend Rambos (fine for offroad but not road driving) have to have as much candlepower as possible..overkill in many instances. Knobs not flicking lights off quick enough on highways don't help. I daresay that with many unmarked cop cars getting around people have upset some of these drivers as well. Mounting your lights legal in your state is no big issue. Lights are a hell of a lot cheaper and brighter from 10 years ago and mounting them high up is unnecessary.

If the cops might start targeting these bright lights, Bigfish, it would be good if they also applied some attention to these wankers who insist on using their "fog lights" EVERYWHERE.

The mounting of LED light bars etc on top of vehicle cabs, while illegal, also causes problems for drivers of heavy vehicles. In undulating country like on many outback highways, the Ol' Truckie is sitting up in the cab, with his retinas close to 3M off the bitumen. Weekend Warrior is barreling along, secure in the knowledge he can see anything, but doesn't realise that he's blinding the truckie, who has already dipped his lights, and often can't give the WW an eyeful.


Bob

A perfectly good example of why there are regulations

Exactly, TomH

And you are a perfect example of someone jumping the gun. I didn't say I wasn't going to relocate my LED bar.
I will relocate it because I know what the benefits of having a LED bar are and I don't want it to be illegal.

Perhaps a less aggressive post about pollies etc and regulations would have got a different answer.

Also had you included your follow up you wouldnt have even got a response

All very well trying to lay blame but there is a reality here. People do not need to have all these lights to see where they are driving.
If we don't have some control on the matter then it all gets out of hand.
Further, I would not like to be in a situation where my bright lights, if I had them fitted, was responsible for another motorist going off the road and with potential fatal consequence.
So before some get on their high horse about politicians etc you should take a breath and think about it. Could happen to a family member.

Usually your home state regs apply while you are passing through.
Eg the breaksafe battery monitor needed in NSW but nowhere else. Still allows vans from other states to be in NSW without it.

It would probably depend on attitude Id say.

So in WA this Jeep is not legal. Noting this model has standard lights on the roof and was sold new in WA.

The Jeep has passed ADR rules apparently as I saw a discussion about it some months ago.

The lights are classified as "Other" lights but how they go in WA I dont know.

Unless they have got some sort of exemption I suppose they would be illegal now?

My understanding is that New vehicle specifications are governed by the ADR's, the state regulations often defer to the ADR's but will apply in the case of modification.

So where the Jeep is built with Roof lights and meet ADR requirements this will be legal in WA.

But the State Regs will apply if you attempt to modify a vehicle through adding roof lights.

Alan

PhillD.

Lights in SA still can not be mounted any higher than the bottom of your windscreen. I have the regs from SA Motor Department. I had the same problem but my lights were too close together. It states in there 2 lights cant be any closer than 300mm Centre of light to centre of light and no higher than the bottom of the windscreen.

Because some idiots turn their headlights off and have just the spots on and then it looks like a motor bike. ( Or the headlights are faulty)

Same as people who think its too much trouble to replace a broken headlight bulb and drive with just the left one on and get hit because once again it looks like just a motor bike. Or the right one on and some one steps off a kerb thinking they have space to the bike that appears to be out further.

And your point is???????

AFAIK having your spot lights not switched to turn off when dipping your main headlights is illegal. Also not wiring your spot lights so the circuit is disabled by the low beam function, i.e. able to turn on without headlights, also illegal.

Practical legislation common sense and courtesy.

One or both headlights not working as per requirements, also illegal.

Same with rear mounted lights i.e. tail, stop, reversing and turn indicators not working as per requirements, also illegal.

So assuming your vehicle complies with all the above requirements, both headlights working etc, I repeat, why is having one centrally mounted spot light illegal? This spot light is going out when dipping to low beam, but apparently still illegal.

The point is that not all have their lights wired up either correctly or legally and are thus able to do what I said. It goes with all the other things that are not compliant, like big lifts, oversize tyres, overweight, etc.

I am well aware of the regulations and the requirement to keep lights in working order but what can you do when you complain to a taxi organisation about one of his cars that has had a headlight out fo 3 months and he does nothing about it because he is too mean to spend $10 to fix it.

They are rife in our area and nothing gets done about it. One black Commodore wagon used to drive around at night and it had one front side light and one taillight working.

Thats the point

OK, I'll try one more time.

I get what you are saying about the fact that certain car driving members of our society neglect simple maintenance issues such as correctly working lighting on their vehicles and the danger thereof.

What I fail to see is how having a single, as opposed to a pair of spotties, mounted legally, position wise, on the front of a vehicle, makes the vehicle illegal regardless of the fact that all other lighting is correctly functioning.

To me two separate issues here. One where the vehicle is illegal in relation to faulty original lighting.
Two, where even though all is in order with regard to the original lighting but the mere fitting of one spot light (or light bar) as opposed to a pair makes the otherwise legal and compliant vehicle suddenly illegal.

The correct people to ask that question are the authorities who wrote it

We could go on for hours and still be wrong

When you find out perhaps I could tell the guy here who has a spottie about 300mm diameter mounted on the top centre of his bullbar and the 80 series who has all 4 headlights on highbeam

Never let the truth get in the was of a good argument!

Without creating a sh...fight.... The Law Quotes "The LED light bar(s) must only operate when the high-beam headlights are in operation and must automatically turn off when the high-beam headlights are turned off.

So I am not sure how you adhere to this rule. and I see no mentio of OFF ROAD....

It also says " A manual switch must be provided to allow the LED light bar to be deactivated, so that it is
not on whether the high beam is on or off. This switch must be accessible to the driver of
the vehicle from the normal driving position."

So you could turn them off while travelling on the road if that's the case.

John,

the wording in the regs that concerns me re light bars is that they must be installed or fitted to the front of the vehicle. You have taken a bet each way and have one installed on the front, and one on the roof amidships.

Also, your array of antennas may well keep errant pedestrians from unwanted ingress to the vehicle through the windscreen, but may breech rules regarding obstruction of driver vision.

Bob

Hi Bob
The VicRoads advise is to the forward of the vehicle as opposed to having them pointed to the rear or side.
I attach below further advice from VicRoads social media site confirming the ability to roof mount lights to the front of the vehicle.

The aerials are no problem either as they are not more than 30mm in diameter in accordance with the Drivers Field of View requirements released by VicRoads, link below.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/~/media/files/documents/safety-and-road-rules/vsi29.ashx?la=en