light bars on trucks question.......

[jkb87]

Picking your head here......

Heres the story.

Went to see a guy today about mounting a light bar on a bull bar to the front of the truck. He said he could do it, but wanted me to know that it was illegal. He said that DOT law said that no car or truck on the road could exceed either 6 or 8(he was not sure the number) lights past the amount of factory lights pointing toward the front direction of the truck going down the road. I know thats wordy, basically he said that no one car could have more than 6-8 lights facing toward the way the car was going down the road.

Now, here comes the interesting part.....

He said that technically a light is counted by each bulb, and that with a light bar you counted each bulb in it. Therefore, a 20 inch light bulb that has say 40 bulbs in it(just taking a shot in the dark) would be considered illegal because of now you had 40 extra bulbs facing oncoming traffic. Even if its turned off, unless it is covered, has a DOT certified stamp on the side(KC brand is the only brand that makes a led light with that stamp), or has a fog covering over the front, the its illegal.


Now, I'm not asking if you have one, cause i know several do. I'm also not asking if you see them "all over town" because i do too. Im asking if anyone has ever heard of this.

The guy at the shop does all the wiring and puts all lights in for the county sheriff department and the city police department in my town, so he talks to the guys. also claims he has gotten his info from a cop himself showing him the rule in the DOT book.

Ever heard of this? Googled the dot rules but couldn't find anything. didn't look real hard either.

Carry on.

Justin

[dukmisr2005]

I have heard that no more than two auxiliary lights may be uncovered. Don't know if that's law or not. That being said I have never had a problem or been stopped for it. I have a 15in bar on my bull bar. I don't run it at night on highways but do on two lane county roads but turn off well ahead of on coming traffic. I have a 2in level kit on front and 1in blocks in rear with a fairly heavy tool box over my rear axle and my headlights are little hi And I get flashed by oncoming traffic quite often. I will flash brights at em and it they still hi beam me I cut the bar on and they quickly dim theirs.
I Also have two small fog style lights mounted under my rear bumper that I use when backing up at night or working around back of truck at night. They come in handy too when hi beamed from behind.

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[dukmisr2005]

Most any aftermarket light you buy says off road use only.


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[MudHog]

I know there are states that have law/s on the amount of forward facing lights that can be on at one time, but that does not limit the number that can be installed.

Covers may be the ticket, but even then the lights are for "off-road" use.

[Hambone]

I wish people would think twice about installing those blinding lights on their trucks. They create a real hazard for oncoming traffic.

[ScottyLee]

so does that mean lexus ( or infinity, Can't remember) vehicles with the led strips with roughly 8-12 bulbs in each headlight are illegal? those are factory oem but would definitely have more bulb than the way that law reads.

[MudHog]

so does that mean lexus ( or infinity, Can't remember) vehicles with the led strips with roughly 8-12 bulbs in each headlight are illegal? those are factory oem but would definitely have more bulb than the way that law reads.

They are legal because they are DRL (daytime running lights). Most of those go off when the main headlamps come on.

All in all, the light bars should be off-road use only to start with. That would make them illegal to be used on public roadways. Same goes for the old KC lights and such, off-road use only.

[jkb87]

so does that mean lexus ( or infinity, Can't remember) vehicles with the led strips with roughly 8-12 bulbs in each headlight are illegal? those are factory oem but would definitely have more bulb than the way that law reads.

They are legal because they are DRL (daytime running lights). Most of those go off when the main headlamps come on.

All in all, the light bars should be off-road use only to start with. That would make them illegal to be used on public roadways. Same goes for the old KC lights and such, off-road use only.

Factory lights facing forward doesn't count against the total lights according to this guy. Also, according to this guy, it is illegal to run a light bar going down the road because it exceeds the amount of facing forward lights that can be in use on a public road.

again, just going off what he said, looking at trying to find additional info on this.

[teul2]

The answer should be in here.
http://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi ... itle-63/7/

This may be it.
http://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi ... 7/63-7-17/

[MudHog]

This may be it.
http://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi ... 7/63-7-17/

Very possible, but these would not be Auxiliary Driving Lights, nor Head Lamps. Light bars would be off-road lights. MS law does not seem to cover offroad lights like some other states do. Some state laws clearly state offroad lights must be covered when not in use.

[stang67]

You'd be a fool to use the LED bars on a public road.

[SHANE704]

just to throw in another law...no lights mounted higher than 40" off the ground can be used on the highway.

[JaMak84]

You'd be a fool to use the LED bars on a public road.

Got plenty of public roads round these parts that could pass for "off-road"

[Wingman]

just to throw in another law...no lights mounted higher than 40" off the ground can be used on the highway.

This.

We made a headlighting case once on some boys that had two spotlights mounted on their bumper, facing 45 degrees to the left and right. They'd get to the place where all the deer were known to stand on the roadside and flip those lights on and off.

I've gotten several complaints about those LED lightbars. If you're riding down a public road with them on at night, and you have guns in your vehicle, you could get in more trouble than you bargained for.

[teul2]

I think "off-road" lights would easily fall under the definition of Auxiliary Driving Lights.