The illegality of LED lights explained
The National Traffic Act does not allow the display of non-factory-fitted LED lights whatsoever.
MBOMBELA – LED bars fitted on vehicles and the legality thereof recently started receiving a great deal of public attention.
This is after Wynand Labuschagne, traffic law-enforcement deputy director in the Mpumalanga Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison, issued a stern warning.
Read more: Stern warning issued: No LED lights allowed
He said that LED lights which were not factory fitted were not only illegal, but downright dangerous.
“The National Traffic Act does not allow the display of non-factory-fitted LED lights whatsoever, and this is a stern warning that the department will clamp down on motorists who have them fitted. It is strictly against the law,” Labuschagne emphasised.
According to Arrive Alive, all the lights on your vehicle have to be fitted at equal distances from an imaginary central line. To understand where this line sits, picture your vehicle from the front and draw a vertical line through the manufacturer’s badge on the grille. This line, running from the ground vertically through the roof of your vehicle, is the central line.
All your lights have to be fitted at equal distances from this line.
To remain in the clear, LED lights are to be installed at equal distances from the central line and have to be SABS approved.
If your vehicle has been fitted with LED headlights in the factory they would already comply with SABS requirements.
Arrive Alive stated that it is important to keep in mind that there is a set of SABS specifications to comply with when adding additional lights to a vehicle. The best advice would be to check with your local licensing/traffic authority to ensure that your vehicle and its lights are regarded and cleared as being roadworthy.
Spotlamps or spotlights
Spotlamps can be adjusted to enable a beam of light emitted from them to be deflected in any direction. In other words:
• It may only be used for official purposes on any ambulance, rescue, firefighting, police, or traffic-control vehicles; may be fitted to a vehicle owned by a medical practitioner or veterinarian, and used in the execution of such person’s professional duties;
• may be fitted to a breakdown vehicle or a vehicle employed in connection with the supply of electricity or other public essential services; provided that it is used solely at the scene of an accident or breakdown or for the examination of overhead telephone, telegraph or power lines.
Extra headlights (sometimes incorrectly referred to as spotlights)
As a general guide – where there are an extra set of head lamps, they are legal. If they can be adjusted, they are illegal.
These lamps are a set of fixed lamps and as long as they comply with the headlamp requirements, they should be legal. They are not spotlights. Make sure you don’t have more than six “headlights” on the front of your vehicle (including the factory-fitted ones) and don’t fit them higher than 1,4 metres off the ground. So no matter what, a set of extra head lamps on your roof rack or roll bar can get you into trouble. “It’s not good enough to simply disconnect the lights,” said Arrive Alive. If you don’t connect your light to a separate switch, it can get you into trouble.
