Headlight / driving light alignment

I agree most people are unaware of what’s legal & what’s not
1) the rule no lights above original head lights or height from ground
Most light bars are above the top of the bull bar (so illegal in 2 ways height & protrusion)
2) Bull bars nothing is to project fwd or above the bar & no sharp edges (Arial (1) mounted be hide the bar are exempt) (winch fairleads/hooks are also exempt only if they are done to the min protrusion practically)
So most spot lights fitted are illegal as most brands of bars these days are supplied where the driving lights sit a bit fwd of the bar
3) Rod holders are a no go unless mounted behind the bar etc.
You can mount your CB/uhf Arial bracket behind the bar but not fwd of the bar
4) Roof Led/Driving lights are illegal if in a fwd position unless it is switched with lockout
But cannot be used on any named Road, named Track or named Fire trail

& the list just keeps going on & on I don’t think there is a 4wd out there that technically would pass

Then of course you chuck in overweight vans, overweight vehicles, modified exhausts, modified egr,s, modified suspension, window tinting, altered tyres, body lifts.......

Best to throw in Harley Davidson noisey exhausts too just for good measure.

From post a bove, I thought Arial was a font used in typing letters.
Then there is Ariel which are motorcycles.

Hi Duck, ARB make an LED light bar that fits to the front of the top bar on the bull bar. This is completely legal in all states as it does not project beyond the front of the bottom replacement bumper bar, which is designated as the “leading edge” of the bull bar. See photo below. Even if fitted to the top of the top bar, so long as the drivers forward vision is not impeded, it can still be mounted here. Impeding the drivers forward vision is classified as being able to see a point on the road surface at a certain distance in front of the vehicle. I can’t remember the exact number, but in my case it is 5.7 metres.

I was under the impression that mounting a light on top of a bar was illegal because of the vision issues as well as the issue of sharp edges from the lights mount and the end of the light bar. I took mine from the top and mounted underneath. Heaps of mounts out there that will allow you to do this and also keep the light from protruding past the front of the bullbar.

Bigfish, check the photo, the light bar is not mounted on the top of the bar, but on the front. There are no sharp edges, because the mounting bracket is molded to fit the diameter of the top bar, with the fixings sitting behind the bar. The light bar & the spots both sit behind the leading edge of the bullbar.

Macca.

Lights can be fitted to the bar as long as they are within the profile of the bar. That ARB job does fit within the profile, mounting it on top of the top bar is out as it sticks up and can interfere with the drivers view. Mounted on top of the bar got a green tick on another fact sheet I saw, but that bar was on a Kenworth.

Duck, you had better catch up on the ADR's mate.
You can have lights on the roof, provided they are mounted Fwd of the middle of the vehicle. Yes on a wagon or a ute headboard, no on a dual-cab headboard in Qld, but no worries in WA.
Qld Vehicle-standards
WA Vehicle Standards

ADR's are in need of an amendment as there is no reference to light bars at all.
The actual wording of the ADR:
7.3. ‘DRIVING LAMPS’

7.3.1.Presence: Optional on motor vehicles. Prohibited on trailers.

7.3.2.Number:

7.3.2.1.Two or four.

7.3.2.2.To be used in conjunction with headlamps.

7.3.3. Arrangement:

No individual specifications

7.3.4. Position:

7.3.4.1.In width no individual specifications.

7.3.4.2.In height: no individual specifications.

7.3.4.3. In length: at the front of the vehicle and fitted in such a way that the light emitted does not cause discomfort to the driver either directly or indirectly through the rear-view mirrors and/or other reflecting surfaces of the vehicle.
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2013C00238

Was not referring at all to the photo Mclaren 3030....just to a rule regarding lightbars and bullbars.

Stuffed my cut and pasting:

WA Vehicle Standards

Same old..... same old.... I’ve driven home from Sydney many a time and seen cars with NO rear lights, never mind driving on full beam, fog lights etc. cops aren’t interested and the road is crawling with them. Never known a rego pulled up through badly aligned lights, which I would guess 50% are badly aligned. No need to be heavy handed; in the UK you would be pulled over, not booked but told to fix it ASAP and report to your nearest police station within 7 days to be checked all done.

Again, say it time and time again but no TV driver education/reminders like you see in other countries. Costs too much.

Well, its much easier to install robotic speeding tax collectors on the side of the road 'only in the interests of road safety of course', because speed is a nice easy metric to measure.
When it comes to road safety there is nothing like a visible presence and getting a ticket at the time of the infraction to change driver behavior, rather than 4 weeks later in the mail.

Here's the go - the Chinese have got the punishment sorted .... [;^)

BBC News - Chinese police punish drivers with dazzling headlights by ....

Cheers, Ron.

One trip when I was doing shuttle linehaul work, I arrived back in Longreach, stepped out of the truck, and jumped in Landcruiser to travel back home. Had to go through a checkpoint on Thomson River bridge, where Task Force were checking everyone, breath tests, logbook & drug tests for heavy vehicles.

Pulled up, did the DUI test, and a sergeant, with a knowing smile, asked how I liked the HID headlights. Could only reply they were good, with a smile.

Plenty of vehicles on roads at night, both trucks & light vehicles, that are having an "each way bet" with their headlights. One that's okay, and the other seemingly on high beam, and focused right into one's retinas.

Bob

Yep, some of the LED inserts on older trucks are a bit silly bright now. Most of the blue HID ones are gone from the cars now around here. Just need to fix up a few more fog light abusers and I can get back to being grumpy again haha.

The fog lights/low spot lights now that's one I would love to see a blitz on with heavy fines
No fog, there in suburbia, street lights on everywhere but they to have them on even when they have 2 x 150kg passengers in the back seat of the lowered 4cyinder & the lights are pointing at the possums in the top of the trees but there gotta have them on

Can't help but agree on the infuriating use of fog lights, when there's not a skerrick of fog about!

The problem appears to be, many drivers seem to think their fog lights are "driving lights"!

They have probably never even driven in fog or even understand the principle behind fog lights!

Once again, a serious lack of driver education, a serious lack of enforcement, and some serious flaws in vehicle design, when many don't even have a fog light illumination warning light.

Many drivers are just totally unaware of the fact their fog lights are on!

Don't even get me started on badly-adjusted headlights, or aftermarket globes that are just plain illegal.

The cops seem to be reasonably hot on illegal lighting, usually because they home in on the hoons and young blokes, who seem to think that frying the possums in the trees with their 200W globes is great fun.

I've rarely seen anyone pulled over just for badly-adjusted headlights.

I'm really starting to notice the annoying power of the LED lighting, including the new headlights on all the interstate trucks.

Despite the truckies being good with headlight dimming overall, it really gets to you, when you pass 100 or more LED-lit trucks heading East, in an hour or two of driving, on Gt Eastern Highway on a Friday night.

Cheers, Ron.

Hmm call me cyncial here BUT if a vehicle was manufactured with respect to ADR then

the fog lights should come on with parklights and automatically turn off when main lamps are powerd up -in either low or high beam.

If they are driving lights then can only come on with Hi beam.

so in effect the vehicle is in breach of ADR and should never been licenced in first place - why i shake my head at many new cars as they breach the ADR's bigtime.

week or so ago I observed a lexus RX?? SUV type thing with its indcator on - this looked like a led chaser light moving from left to right like one of those high mounted lane arrow heads used on rubbish trucks or recovery vehicles -how that is legal beyond me was actually confusing

Ron FYI Friday night isn't truckies night anymore every night is truckies night on Great Eastern hwy - my back yard is the highway up near the Mdg LIA - balme the tier 3 rail closures as a starting point

"fog" lights are required to be independently switched, such that they can only be used when there is fog or other problem (such as dust). The lights that come on with the ignition are Daytime Running Lights (aka DRLs) and are required to switch OFF when the main lights are activated.

So, all those whanchors who drive around with the low-level lights on as well as their headlight main beams (or high beams!) are illegally operating.

I'd LOVE to see a blitz on these, with defects and impounding!
Seriously, if there's a switch there, you should know what it is for, and if it's for "ancillary" lights such as foggies or drivers, switch the blooming things O.F.F. !
/rant/

On Toyotas, as I'm most familiar with them, (and I think most other makes are similar) the fog lights ARE independently switched.

But they're on a rotating ring just in from the light switch. So you can see why people who never read their car operation manual, haven't got a clue.

Then you have daytime running light selection, park or headlight selection, automatic headlight selection - plus high/low beam - AND indicators - all on the one lever!

Is it any wonder half the drivers don't even know what lights they have on? - when every second driver fails to even use the INDICATORS at every third one of their lane-swap exercises??

Automatic headlights must be the greatest FAIL around - because I see at least a dozen motorists every night (in the city and suburbs), driving around with NO lights on!!

This must obviously be, because they all now EXPECT the headlights to turn on automatically, whenever the sun goes down!!

Cheers, Ron.

And while were at it those who fit Day Time Running lights that do NOT turn off when park/head lights are switch on.
I see one vehicle every morning whit such lights and the right hand side DTR is angled up slightly that it dazzles on comming traffic.
In regards to Fog lights just after i bought my D MAX in 2013 i was once stopped for a breath test (passed and a non drinker) and the officer mentioned to me that is illeagle to use such lights when no fog and that i could be fined.I asked him whats the fine he replied do you really want to know so i turned them off and rearly use them now

Agree with Ron N with regard to people not turning their lights when it starts To get dark. Sometimes I wonder if they think it is a competition to see who can leave their lights off the longest before getting “flashed” by on coming traffic.

Macca.

Macca - I'm old enough to remember, when the exact time of sunset was posted every day in the paper, for the benefit of motorists, to advise them when headlights had to be turned on!

There was a police drive on, for a very long time, back in the days when headlights were poor, to ensure that drivers had their headlights on, as soon as the sun set!

The statute is still there, and still in force, that headlights must be on, "between the official hours of sunset and sunrise"!

It's interesting to read in the old newspapers how many crashes were caused by poor lighting, or no lighting.
Lighting has improved substantially over the years, and so many younger drivers have forgotten all the lessons learnt in earlier decades!

I have a very personal grudge against idiots who drive around at night with no lights on. Of course, brilliant street lighting is partly to blame.

But one night, about 10:00PM, and about 15 years ago, I pulled up a T junction near Hyde Park in Perth - went to turn right after looking both ways - and as I did so, a bloke in a car with no lights on, came flying out of the dark to my right!!

He just switched his lights on, as he was 15 metres away from my drivers door, as I pulled directly into his path!!

Every since then, I give people with no lights on, high beam, flashing headlights, the whole works - and 50% of them still go past with a stunned look on their faces - and still no lights on!!

The discussion below shows I'm not alone, and many drivers attitude to lighting is a big issue.

Whirlpool - trying to avoid fine for insufficient lighting

Cheers, Ron.

WRT the post by Ron N
"But they're on a rotating ring just in from the light switch. So you can see why people who never read their car operation manual, haven't got a clue.

Then you have daytime running light selection, park or headlight selection, automatic headlight selection - plus high/low beam - AND indicators - all on the one lever!"

A couple of points ...
1. IF they haven't read the manual, who can blame them? Have you? I know I have read the bits that I needed when something didn't work that should, or worked when it wasn't supposed to!
The fault is with the salesperson, many of whom do not understand the difference between DRLs and fog/driving lights. I have asked several locally, and they either don;t have a clue or waffle in generalities.
2. DRL is not a selectable thing. By the ADRs, they are required, if fitted, to switch on with the ignition, and switch OFF when the main lights are selected.
Only other option is when they are part of an "adaptable" lighting setup, in which case they should dim (to be like parking lights) when the mains are on.

Yes, that's an issue too. On all lifted vehicles the lights should be readjusted to point down a bit so the low-beam cut-off is at the same point as unlifted OEM lights.

I had a Kia Sportage once, an early one, long body. It had headlight tilt adjust from the drivers seat. As load tilted the rear down, you could compensate the headlights. What a great idea, should be standard, IMO.

We had a couple of bmws with a similar 3 position switch for headlight height. Anything with HID needs to have auto leveling under the ADR’s.

The Sportage I had had just a couple of candles, like most non-exotic 4WDs. If a budget manufacturer like Kia could see the need, why can't the mainstream?