Question: Driving Lights

Regs here in SA are:
Must be fitted in pairs (as stated) and
Total of 6 white lights fitted to the front (not counting parking lights).

So for arguments sake, if you owned a HQ Premier with dual headlights, you are only permitted to fit one set of spot/driving lights. On the other hand, if the same car was a Belmont, you could fit two pairs.

There are other regs about the height of the lights in relation to your factory headlights etc, but the above answer is specific to your query.
Fab.

You'd be stuffed then with a Ford EB or AU XR6/8 !!!

are the my lights are better than yours argument. spent many years driving coaches in outback qld.& nt. there was a need for more and better lighting most of the vehicles we drove wernt fitted with any it took strike action to get them fitted. its very tiring if you have to strain to see whats up the road. large bulls, roos and eagles do make a mess to the front of a coach, bigger mess if they come through the windscreen. i still do my trips to the bush given the distances driving at night is unavoidable. after trying various types of driving lights i still prefer the normal white light. i use 100watt lamps spread beam. for those of us old enough to remember the red x trials in the 50,s driving lights fitted to roof racks were the norm. cheers bill

Boris

FAB72 has laid out your answer for you.

Put the mothers up the top and enjoy night turned into day

DD

LOL poor gnats :D

Boris

Don't put anything in front of the radiator on a Troopy as they are a narrow body vehicle with a correspondingly narrow radiator, that requires every bit of airflow it can get.

So if you can get them up the top above the wind screen then so much the better.

I have mine set up so that when I come back into 'town' so to speak I just undo two nuts, disconnect a Anderson plug and lift the whole rig off as a complete unit.

The roof cross bar stays in situ with the UHF and Next-G aerials on it.

DD

If you are interested in being legal then note the regs stated earlier. No mention of the roof but it does state that the lights must not be higher than your headlights. Roof mounted lights are illegal.

Do as you wish but if Murphy runs your way then anything illegal can be used by a "smart" insurance company to claim that your car was illegally on the road and therefore any insurance you have in null and void.

But it's your choice.

Phil

Phil

The following is a direct copy and paste from Vicroads Vehicle Standards Information.

"Using driving lights
Driving lights are designed to illuminate the road over a long distance. They are the same as the high beam (main beam) head light and emit the same lighting pattern.

Road Rule 218 states that drivers must not use the high-beam headlights when driving:
• less than 200 metres behind a vehicle travelling in the same direction
• less than 200 metres from an oncoming vehicle.

Driving lights cannot be accidentally switched on. They can only be switched on and off with the high beam head lights."

The mounting of them is not mentioned has it is covered in a couple of other areas re protrusions outside of the body line likely to cause injury to a pedestrian if whacked and Drivers clear field of vision.

So as long as you comply with the aforementioned two requirements you can basically put them where you like, however those two restrictions are pretty encompassing and really only leave the front of the vehicle below the bonnet line and the roof area anyway.

Also, Vicroads pretty much follows complies with the ADR's re vehicle standards.

Don't lose sleep over this like you did with the Continental Sausages along with Herb & Garlic Mashed Potato.

And for all cootas over 75yrs I am going to recommend that your age care facility nurses confiscate whatever it is you use to roam the WWW.

DD

Bugga! Forgot the punchline to it all (LOL)

As I live in the fabulous State of Victoria and register my vehicles there, I comply fully with the Vicroads Vehicle Standards concerning driving lights.

DD

DD

What with the cootas etc etc. Whats a coota? I certainly didn't lose any sleep over the snags. You lost seemed to though. I just had a laugh.

Are you saying that it is legal to mount driving lights on roof bars in Victoria?

Phil

In one word - YES!

The JEEP KJ sports comes with a Roof Mount light bar and you can buy same as an accessory.

You just have to comply with Road Rule 218 and the driver visibility and vehicle pedestrian safety conditions.

Regularly see vehicles with 4 Driving lights on either a Roof Bar or the front of a Roof Rack plus two big suckers on the bull bar in Melbourne and country areas.

DD

PS

The snag - mash potato incident is now my most favourite camp fire story. My 'eye witness' embellished account of it has them ROFLTAO.

This post has been read by the moderation team and has been moderated due to a breach of The Post Removed by Request Rule .

Forum Moderation Team

Hey guys, theres no need to be precious about jibes, or to resort to name calling. Theres been nothing malicious said here and we would like to keep it that way. Please play nice.

The Squad

maybe he might like to visit Ubirr at Kakadu and watch the sunset over the plain lands below the rock escarpement, then have to drive back to where ever he is camped for the night, so needs the extra lighting to look out for wildlife. Or maybe he has a sick 4 year old child at Katherine Gorge and needs to drive back to the hospital at 9.00 p.m at night, you'd be surprised how many skippies you'll see along the 60 odd klms back into town.
both these things happened on our recent 5 week holiday in the Northern Territory, both had alot safer driving with the aid of spotlights on the front of the fourby to light the way

rumpig,(sic) your response almost defiys response. What about????? ad infinitum?. IF (!) you had driven from Kakadu and then had to take a sick 4 year old child at Katherine Gorge to the hospital, I would be most surprised. And so would most reasonably intelligent people. You exagerate the justification for excessive lighting as the other correspondent regarding lighting up the "track for 4 kms". Please think before you make such comments. It makes me wonder what sort of person is really interested in explore oz. Most have sane and intellegent input to this wonderful forum. But I guess ther will always be the exception. My apologies to the majority of posters.

My reasons for wanting extra driving lamps, are above all safety related. I do understand your argument however, and it makes perfect sense what you say. I work in remote locations and often finish work at sunset or later, and if you have ever been in the NT, Jabiru, outback etc, this time and darkness are hazardous for driving. I need to get to emergency breakdowns at ANY time of the day or night. Brahman bulls litter the highways in the NT and their telltale carcasses do also (mostly killed when hit by road trains 5 trailers long). The lights provide an extra safety element, just as a survival knife does. I carry with me many accesories for safety when driving in outback remote locations. Most motoring guides recommend motorists carry various items for safety pruposes. I am not here to blast peoples eyes to smitherines like some "megga spotlight wielding redneck showoffs do, and dip their beams just AFTER you hit that rise or corner". , i just want to be able to see a pack of bulls or Roos or wild Brumbys (yes wild horses are common place in arnhemland especially around Maningrida), early enough such that i have ample time to slow down. I endeavour to limit my night driving whenever possible, but sometimes it is just unavoidable.

Actually Brian, it would appear you didnt think before responding. There are very valid reasons for fitting extra lights for times when night driving is required. Just because you dont doesnt mean others wont.

If as you state you can just rely on your normal lights reaching further because the rear is weighed down then that shows a degree of laziness and little regard for other drivers with maladjusted headlights.

You have also misread and misquoted Rumpig's scenario.

I am amazed at your response.

Where abouts does it say that he is towing a caravan or any of that.

Rather silly response there Brian.

Brian has sugar in his tea, SO EVERYONE HAS TO HAVE SUGAR IN THERE TEA.

Back to the topic.

Those little compacts are powerful little lights mate, as are the full size 4000s.

Its hard to say what you will find best, and what combo will suit your vision.

Personally, i would mount all 4.

Im not a show off, wannabe, with lights for wank factor. I drive long distances at night, through cattle, roo, emu, camel, goat, horse and sheep country. Ive had a mate killed by a hitting a bull at night. My life is worth more then anyones opinion.

I need to see whats ahead, i also enjoy heading home from out bush, camping or fishing late.

I have 3x Hella 4000s on my bullbar, 2 wide cornering beams and one euro (spread) beam in the middle. These are all converted to 70w HID. They provide awesome light, directly to the sides of the car they provide light up to 25-30m into the bush each side, and then up to about 200m they cover about 50m into the bush each side and also penatrate to about 400m down the road. Its pure bliss, drive all night without straining your eyes and see every little creature within a safe distance.

Its a safety factor. It makes night driving alot easier and safer.

If i was to only mount 3 of those lights though, i would mount the 2 smaller Hellas and the large pencil beam.

If mounting only 2 then would go with the larger ones, purely because of the pencil beam and its ability to pick up eyes and creatures from a long distance. But it will vary from person to person.

The comfort of good vision is most definitely favourable. If anyone has driven with a superior spotlamp setup, and then switched them off just for kiks, the comparison is dramatic, and you suddenly realise just how vulrenable motorists are when they drive without the benefit of the extra lighting. These suggestions are great and i am getting a clear picture now as to what is suitable for my needs. I am angling for the 4 way setup (hehe), as the troopie has a fibreglass highroof a with an "ARB light frame" mounted on it, about a foot above the top of the windscreen, (sorry that i forgot to mention this option). The lights on it are rusted and el-cheapos so the compact spread beams would sit there perfectly. The two bigger Hella Rallye FF4000's could occupy the space in the middle of the winch bar above the highmount winch.
Oh did i mention i have a detroit rear diff-locker on the back wheels!, its just GREAT for towing caravans, lol, and even better for sandy river crossings and negotiating super slipperry muddy tracks in the wet season (that red NT dirt when wet HAS to be the slipperiest medium i have ever come across, and Just like my lights, its an added safety feature (sorry i got a little off topic there).

I too am amazed at this response, if anything you Brian are the one instigating an invalid and meaningless response with very little regard or respect for others valid questions and the valid responses. We were in a situation earlier in the year when we camped at 4pm but were forced by nature to pack up and move at 8.30pm and drive on the Birdsville track at night, now I have never seen a Kangaroo on the track over the last 10 years that I have driven it but there were 2 kangaroos right in the middle of the track - my spotties gave me that extra time to slow down from 80km/h (as it was night time) to ensure we missed them, even though I have a big steel bar on the front I don't particularly care for killing wildlife. I wished that my lights were just that bit more powerful so will probably fit some HIDs to give me that extra bit of visibility.

I'll be interested in knowing the outcome Boris

Cheers

Colin

Sorry people. I stand rebuked. I did really understood that this was "Explore oz" and was a forum for the travelling - tourist type people. I did not know it was for tradesmen plying their trade by night.
There are always exceptional circumstances I do admit as far as anyone is concerned. I have held a drivers licence for over 60 years and spent many miles on country roads. I have only ever hit two roos and both times I had slowed from high speed and not killed either animal.
Cookie, sorry to again make a point, but if you cannot slow from 80 KPH in 100 metres you should have your brakes adjusted or if you were too tired to concentrate, pull up and have a sleep - you could save your own life and that of those with you.
Muntoo, there was never a suggestion that he, or anyone else for that matter was towing a caravan. I merely suggested that folks with a caravan in tow are usually arse heavy thus tilting the lights up.
Again I do apologise for mis-understanding the forum but I really thought that "Explore Oz" was slanted to nomads and people interested in seeing Australia first .

Brian Thank you for your condescending reply, gee you have hit 2 roos' well I've thankfully only hit one so what does that say... BTW I own a brand new Patrol with HF and every bit of recovery gear that my travels have exampled the need for and have it serviced regularly.

Not only do the lights let me see but lets the animals have half a chance of moving without becoming startled at having a big object coming at them. The kangaroo that I did hit was facing away into the bush and jumped backwards into my car which decimated the front end at 50km/h and didn't do much for skippy, I slowed from 110km/h which was the legal speed limit as you would remember. I was running smaller lights than I have now so really do see the value in them. I have undertaken many advanced driving courses so SIPDE is very much in my mind.

My take on the forum is it is open to all like minded people that take the time to explore oz and their experiences which they may kindly share with those of us that have only been driving for 30 years. So far as I know it is not just for retired nomads like yourself that have all the time in the short period you have left that feel the need for getting out of bed on the grumpy side, is there a pill for this - you may know.

Thankfully there are more positive people than you.

Cheer up and have a good day

Colin

S = Scan - keep a steady watch
I = Identify other cars / humans / animals and the like
P = Predict - predict what they may do
D = Decide - course of evasive action
E = Execute - in the event that what you predict happens do what you have decided

Brian,

From the About Us Article -

"ExplorOz is an Australian website that is well entrenched as a favourite for 4WDrivers, and caravanners with a sense of adventure. If you’re looking for more than what’s published in the mainstream tourism publications and want real facts on where to travel, when to go, how to prepare, and how to strike a balance between adventure and safety, then this is the website you must explore. Whether your interests are 4WDriving, Caravanning, Motorhomes, Camping, Boating, Fishing, Trail Bikes or Quad Bikes, we are here to inform, enthuse and entertain you along your adventures."

Not Nomad based at all I think, if it was then a large percentage of us would have to lie about our ages, and I don't want to be a Geratric like some on here just yet ;)

Cheers Kev

Sir Kev, like many you are selective in what you read - and may be so bold - read things things that are not there. Please tell me where have said, " geriatric"?
Many people travel and work to pay expenses as they go. Nomard is defined inter alia as a wanderer - nothing to with age.

"I have held a drivers licence for over 60 years"

Knowing that you would never break the law that puts you at over 76

Very clever Cookie. Yes I was born 26 December 1932. Until I turned 75 I held all catagories up to and including road train.
I had a string of convictions for speeding until I was 21 and then I learned not to after my licence was suspended for 3 months. None since.

Brian if you have held a heavy vehicle license including Road Train and you have only ever hit 2 roos and you didn't kill them your a better driver then me or you never drove that much.

In my 30 years of driving I have never hit a roo in a passenger vehicle either but I still rely on very good lights for night driving and just because you don't drive at night doesn't mean others can't....... most of our long haul driving is done at night.

We travelled one night from Broken Hill to Dubbo, leaving Broken Hill at 7.30pm and arriving in Dubbo about 5.30am..... if we didn't have good lights we would of not been able to avoid hitting the roos but by having good lights we made it and so did the roos.

olcoolone, by your comments I conclude that you did not kill any roos between Broken Hill and Dubbo. When you sit back and think of the vast distances in Australia and the road conditions and then recall how many road kills you see there must be a correlation. It would appear to me that some folks here indicate that the collision rate between motor vehicle road kill is far greater than the visible facts support. By their reasoning the sides of country roads would be litterally strewn with carcases. Now this is NOT a fact. Oft times you will drive just about all day (night?) without seeing a single fresh cadaver. The submission does not hold any support for an excessive number of lights on the front of a vehicle. Sorry - or is it a case of "Do not confuse me with facts. I have made up my mind!"

Thankfully most people dont take your opinion Brian and use good logic instead. Decent lighting reduces the chance of hitting roos and other potential road kill whilst maintaining a rationally comfortable speed. Significantly? Hard to say, but even if by a small amount then this would be cost effective risk management at work.

By your noted logic an excessive number of lights is anything above standard production line fit. I dont think many of us are condoning the use of 4 or more spotties but for those that choose to do so then let that be their choice. Yes it might be technically illegal but as long as they dip 'em in the usual manner then I dont have a beef with them.

I do however have an issue with those that are too lazy to adjust their lights when the rear end is weighed down.

Well Mr Brian, that looks like the end of "working holidays" for me. Looks like i'll have to become a "nomad" by day and "tradie" by night and never the two shall meet. Get off your high horse old man, you just dont like spotlights, and you hate to lose an argument. Now that you're going to tell me that i cannot and shall not combine work with play, and that i MUST segragate my outback journeys to either one of these activities and NEVER both; i no longer should consider having spotlights due to a clash of interest. Thnx Brian.

You are welcome Boris. But before you go read my posts again. "Working holidays" or just plain working around the country was covered. Did you not see that? Selective reading again like SIR Kev and the non-existant word "geriatric"?
You are right. I do not like spotlights. All they do is say, "Look at me!!!!!!" They interfer with the flow of air to the cooling system, look ugly and achieve little. If you cannot see well enough SLOW DOWN, The life you save may be your own.

You're right, spotties do tend to say"Look at me" but surely even you as a spottie-hater would not argue the FACT that they do throw more light?

Then surely, as a logical person, you would also not argue the FACT that more light enables our light sensors (eyes) to visualise the otherwise darkened space in front of a motor vehicle?

To go on (as it seems we must) you would then have to agree to the FACT that this enhanced visualisation of an otherwise poorly lit area would positively aid in the identification of obstacles earlier than otherwise would be the case?

And finally (maybe) you would surely not provide any argument to the FACT that this would provide a broader safety margin and henceforth may save the life of not only the occupants of the motor vehicle, but that of the animal that would otherwise be a good candidate for roadkill.

"Just the facts, Ma'am".

Sorry Brian, you crack me up, for an old fella you certainly have your view however disjointed but at your age well... Which pill did you take today :-)

"By their reasoning the sides of country roads would be litterally strewn with carcases. Now this is NOT a fact."

FACT: When I was a small boy, about 40 years ago, we used to travel between Adelaide and Canberra and I can assure you that the area around Mildura did have carcasses literally strewn by the roadside. My Father (RIP) who was a little older and wiser than you never hit anything but then again never had a conviction or any other serious traffic accident but again neither have I, does this make me a better driver than you - I don't know.

Why not so evident now, could it be because people slow down, well the road tolls seem to suggest otherwise, could it be that golly, those of us that elect to manage the risk, of hitting objects that appear on the road, by fitting better lighting for the purposes of long distance driving give us a better advantage over those that don't. I have seen many cars without spotlights that have obviously hit something in country towns, would driving lights have helped them who knows but I, like many of those on this excellent site, choose to spend our hard earned on being prepared.

FACT: Country Emergency vehicles use driving lights

Brian, I do respect your opinion but, I do think that likewise you need to respect others in turn instead of discounting everyone else as "you know best". Some of the best outback travel information has been from this forum and there are so many people on here that regardless of age share their opinions for the better good of the outback roads.

Mate congratulations for still having the ability to continue exploring this wonderful country at your age, I just hope that I can too when I get there.

Stay Safe and trust you have a good day - wherever you are in oz.

Cheers

Colin

Thankyou all, as mentioned several times in this thread, the forum is about opinions and respect. So by all means have an opinion, even one that differs from others, but please remember others right to their opinion and a sense of respect.

Agree

Exactly

hmmmm

Thanx Dust Devil, and yes the dialogue was /is certainly robust. I never anticipated such a response, and the informative nature of the replies have been outstanding. A HUGE thankyou to ALL that have participated so far. I now know that the seemingly simple idea of lighting is a much more complicated topic than meets the eye. Many pros and cons and inbetweens. From this i have deducted that following state guildlines concerning lighting is paramount, after which its a matter of what is best suitable regarding practicality and safety. I now have a better idea of what would best suit my needs, and will be taking into consideration all the helpful comments from all the posters here. I also hope this will of benefit to all that read this thread, and hopefully "shed some light" on the topic of auxilliary vehicle lighting. :D

And that is exactly why we slow down at night. To a speed that we HOPE will give us enough time to either avoid the animal or object or to stop before hitting it. I am sure that I read this hint today at the SA ADR site. Note that I said "HOPE".

So far since 1963 I have hit three kangaroos. One before I woke up to myself and two recently in 2009 up in the Kimberley while were still getting used to driving around in a 3T heavy 4WD.

Since then we have had to stop once. And that was yesterday on the Araluen road for the "object" in the photo. Just sitting there enjoying a scratch just around a sharp corner. And in broad daylight. Astounding. Lucky fella.

Phil

An "obstacle" on Araluen road in broad daylight even!!