Legal ?

[TommyH]

Hi guys, is it against the law to have blue tinted sidelights on your car ?? im pretty sure i read it somewhere, maybe a dream :duh:

[Dan_Harris]

not illegal to fit, but illegal to drive on the road. As you aren't allowed blue forward facing lights am pretty sure you can have most other colours just not blue at the front :)

[Mike_B]

not illegal to fit, but illegal to drive on the road. As you aren't allowed blue forward facing lights am pretty sure you can have most other colours just not blue at the front :)

You sure? I thought you could have blue, as long as they were small, but the one colour you *must not have* is red.

Could be wrong, though!

[TommyH]

not illegal to fit, but illegal to drive on the road. As you aren't allowed blue forward facing lights am pretty sure you can have most other colours just not blue at the front :)

You sure? I thought you could have blue, as long as they were small, but the one colour you *must not have* is red.

Could be wrong, though!

Now im really confused :duh:

[redz_UK]

not illegal to fit, but illegal to drive on the road. As you aren't allowed blue forward facing lights am pretty sure you can have most other colours just not blue at the front :)

You sure? I thought you could have blue, as long as they were small, but the one colour you *must not have* is red.

Could be wrong, though!

no external blue lights are legal on any vehicle except emergency services.

red is legal at rear else you wouldnt have brake/fog lights but not front..

[TommyH]

not illegal to fit, but illegal to drive on the road. As you aren't allowed blue forward facing lights am pretty sure you can have most other colours just not blue at the front :)

You sure? I thought you could have blue, as long as they were small, but the one colour you *must not have* is red.

Could be wrong, though!

no external blue lights are legal on any vehicle except emergency services.

red is legal at rear else you wouldnt have brake/fog lights but not front..

Thanks for that Redz, do you know of any really bright side lights that show up during the day, Much Appreciated, Tommy

[DJ Wozza]

red, yellow or white (reverse) @ rear

yellow @ sides

white or yellow @ front

(to my knowledge anyway)

As stated above, emergency services are the only ones that can only use blue on a public road.

[Dan_Harris]

i know there is some law on colours allowed that the front and back just couldn't remember which is which :P

[84Stoney]

no external blue lights are legal on any vehicle except emergency services.

red is legal at rear else you wouldnt have brake/fog lights but not front..

Redz is correct.

This thread may be of interest on the sidelights. I have these though not yet fitted.

As far as blue headlights and HIDs go, it seems colour temp of 6000k is fine, and 8000k is borderline (may attract unwanted attention from police and MOT man).

I wander what the police would think to me driving around with my BLUE interior lights on. They dont like you to have blue lights, only they are allowed them!

[TommyH]

Many thanks guys, i'll try out some different ones til im happy :D

[crazy-dee]

interior you can have any light you want - as long as colours such as blue and green are not visable to a driver thought your rear window and front screen , so when your driving it looks like an emergency services.

illigal colours to use at the front are

blue

green and

red.

[WylieCoyote]

Blue sidelights are illegal and will fail the MOT. Not sure about interior lights.

[bigdave-is200]

I think only white is legal for side lights full stop anything else is a no go

As for me i have green ones but carry white if i ever get pulled i will just cry i didnt know officer sorry

and interior i know a guy who got pulled for blue alot i am changing pretty much all of my lights to green will let you know how many times i get pulled

Cheers BIGDAVE

[gib]

The guidance is as follows:

No vehicle shall be fitted with a lamp or retro reflective material which is capable of showing a red light to the front.

and

No vehicle shall be fitted with a lamp or retro reflective material which is capable of showing any light to the rear, other than a red light

In respect of blue light, the only form of blue light which is not permitted is that which flashes or rotates, other than for use by emergency vehicles.

It is not necessarily true that you cannot display for example blue tinted sidelights (or bright white Xenon style ones which give a hint of blue tint). However if you used lights which it was felt dazzled oncoming drivers and they were deemed to be unsafe, then that is a different matter. But it is nothing to do with their colour. You should not have you vehicle lit up like a christmas tree.

In my local area, some taxi firms use blue and white lights (not rotating or flashing) on the roof of their vehicles to highlight the taxi firm tel no. Indeed many use green lights. In fact black cabs use yellow lights on their roof. This is not illegal and the Road Traffic Act makes no exception for them.

Just stick to the orginal parts and you will be fine.

[SUPERCOUPE]

This thred reminds me of my old college mate Ricky, who got fed up of getting pulled every other night in his chrismas tree lit Escort which had every type of L.E.D, neon & strobe light going.

He adapted his under car neon kit to white at the front, red at the back, & wired the sides to flash orange with the indicators! If I remember right, he got done for distracting other road users! :D

[ormi]

Blue sidelights are illegal and will fail the MOT. Not sure about interior lights.

this is were people get confused....mot law says both front side lights must be the same colour so if you came in to my work with your lex and had two blue side lights i cant fail it i can only advise and pass.but if you had one blue and one green then i could fail you.(i'm a mot tester) but the police are spoil sports with any blue light showing on your car and will give you a 21 day ticket or poss a fine if your cocky.just asked the wife(shes a trafic officer)depending on the mood of the officer, being seen with a blue interior light is just as bad as having blue sidelight bulbs or flashing blue strobs and you could get done!!!

hope this helps.

[WylieCoyote]

Blue sidelights are illegal and will fail the MOT. Not sure about interior lights.

this is were people get confused....mot law says both front side lights must be the same colour so if you came in to my work with your lex and had two blue side lights i cant fail it i can only advise and pass.but if you had one blue and one green then i could fail you.(i'm a mot tester) but the police are spoil sports with any blue light showing on your car and will give you a 21 day ticket or poss a fine if your cocky.just asked the wife(shes a trafic officer)depending on the mood of the officer, being seen with a blue interior light is just as bad as having blue sidelight bulbs or flashing blue strobs and you could get done!!!

hope this helps.

When I took my car for its last MOT - I had some of the sidelight bulbs that look blue but glow much whiter than normal bulbs and the dealer told me they'd failed the car on those as they're illegal and I needed to replace them.

[gib]

Blue sidelights are illegal and will fail the MOT. Not sure about interior lights.

this is were people get confused....mot law says both front side lights must be the same colour so if you came in to my work with your lex and had two blue side lights i cant fail it i can only advise and pass.but if you had one blue and one green then i could fail you.(i'm a mot tester) but the police are spoil sports with any blue light showing on your car and will give you a 21 day ticket or poss a fine if your cocky.just asked the wife(shes a trafic officer)depending on the mood of the officer, being seen with a blue interior light is just as bad as having blue sidelight bulbs or flashing blue strobs and you could get done!!!

hope this helps.

When I took my car for its last MOT - I had some of the sidelight bulbs that look blue but glow much whiter than normal bulbs and the dealer told me they'd failed the car on those as they're illegal and I needed to replace them.

They are not illegal from a colour perspective - the only reason I can see them being failed during an MOT is if they are not EU approved and as such perhaps 'not safe'.

However the colour of them is immaterial, provided they are not red to the front of the vehicle.

[ormi]

Blue sidelights are illegal and will fail the MOT. Not sure about interior lights.

this is were people get confused....mot law says both front side lights must be the same colour so if you came in to my work with your lex and had two blue side lights i cant fail it i can only advise and pass.but if you had one blue and one green then i could fail you.(i'm a mot tester) but the police are spoil sports with any blue light showing on your car and will give you a 21 day ticket or poss a fine if your cocky.just asked the wife(shes a trafic officer)depending on the mood of the officer, being seen with a blue interior light is just as bad as having blue sidelight bulbs or flashing blue strobs and you could get done!!!

hope this helps.

When I took my car for its last MOT - I had some of the sidelight bulbs that look blue but glow much whiter than normal bulbs and the dealer told me they'd failed the car on those as they're illegal and I needed to replace them.

i know its a bit late now but you could have asked were it says in the manual about blue bulbs!!!i've just became a mot tester so the book is still fresh in my mind i even went to my work to check all it says is the side lights must both be the same colour!!!so the boy was just bein picky and prob jealous you own a lexus :winky:

[84Stoney]

No vehicle shall be fitted with a lamp or retro reflective material which is capable of showing any light to the rear, other than a red light

Better remove my reversing and indicator bulbs then.

[gib]

I used to have blue reversing lights. But when the car was put into reverse, they showed white.

Besides, reversing lights are not part of the MOT testing procedure, so you're ok.

Remember no red to the front, red only to the rear (exceptions include amber indicators and white number plate lights).