Flashing Brake Light - Legal?
Discussion
http://www.ukemergency.co.uk/information/bluelight...
according to the above site, it's illegal, red lights at the rear of the vehicle must be steady.
according to the above site, it's illegal, red lights at the rear of the vehicle must be steady.
citizen_smith said:
http://www.ukemergency.co.uk/information/bluelight...
according to the above site, it's illegal, red lights at the rear of the vehicle must be steady.
Might be worth telling Mercedes that then, 'cos I went to the launch of the "C" class at Gaydon and one of the key "safety" features of the new model was that if you stamped on the brake pedal the brake lights flashed to warn following vehicles that you were braking heavily.......and they let us all have a go so that we could demonstrate it to the car following us.according to the above site, it's illegal, red lights at the rear of the vehicle must be steady.
Brake light not emitting a steady light is listed as a 'reason for rejection' in http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_130.htm so will be interesting to see what happens when they get to that point. Unless an alteration to the regs is made in the meantime
spidermanUK said:
citizen_smith said:
http://www.ukemergency.co.uk/information/bluelight...
according to the above site, it's illegal, red lights at the rear of the vehicle must be steady.
Might be worth telling Mercedes that then, 'cos I went to the launch of the "C" class at Gaydon and one of the key "safety" features of the new model was that if you stamped on the brake pedal the brake lights flashed to warn following vehicles that you were braking heavily.......and they let us all have a go so that we could demonstrate it to the car following us.according to the above site, it's illegal, red lights at the rear of the vehicle must be steady.
bic said:
My missus's C4 flashes the hazards when you stamp on the brake.
You got me thinking, maybe it is the hazards that flash, but no, it's the brake lights, and then afterwards the hazards flashhttp://www2.mercedes-benz.co.uk/content/unitedking...
"In the event of emergency braking, flashing brake lights are activated warning traffic approaching from behind,"
spidermanUK said:
one of the key "safety" features of the new model was that if you stamped on the brake pedal the brake lights flashed to warn following vehicles that you were braking heavily.......
Flashing your brake lights is a standard advance driving technique to be used to increase the chance of the car behind realising what is happening in front of them. Theory is it is more "noticable" than steady red.bluepolarbear said:
spidermanUK said:
one of the key "safety" features of the new model was that if you stamped on the brake pedal the brake lights flashed to warn following vehicles that you were braking heavily.......
Flashing your brake lights is a standard advance driving technique to be used to increase the chance of the car behind realising what is happening in front of them. Theory is it is more "noticable" than steady red.Volvo system flashes brake lights at 5cycles per sec above a certain speed under heavy braking. It seems to be if the ABS system detects a certain amount of slippage, it's before full on ABS operation according to my experiments.
Once the speed falls below a certain value the brake lights stop and hazrds light up. These continue until either cancelled manually or off brakes and accelerator pressed.
These do not meet UK specific regs but the vehicles are EU type approved thus completely legal to be sold and used on UK roads. EU law overrules UK law. In this respect, and in many other automotove C&U issues, UK statutory instruments have not kept up with vehicle technology. As one example how long were flashing LED lights being used on cycles before the law was changed to make them legal? Everyone agreed that they make cyclists more noticeable at night.
OEM flashers only flash if you brake hard causing lots of forward inertia (i.e in an emergency stop/brake situation), which is how they can pass the MOT in this country.
This device has no inertia sensor. It will fail the MOT and annoy anybody sat in a traffic jam behind you.
I'm sure that won't stop Barry fitting one to his Saxo though
This device has no inertia sensor. It will fail the MOT and annoy anybody sat in a traffic jam behind you.
I'm sure that won't stop Barry fitting one to his Saxo though
Edited by Hyperion on Tuesday 24th March 11:20
Finlandia said:
spidermanUK said:
citizen_smith said:
http://www.ukemergency.co.uk/information/bluelight...
according to the above site, it's illegal, red lights at the rear of the vehicle must be steady.
Might be worth telling Mercedes that then, 'cos I went to the launch of the "C" class at Gaydon and one of the key "safety" features of the new model was that if you stamped on the brake pedal the brake lights flashed to warn following vehicles that you were braking heavily.......and they let us all have a go so that we could demonstrate it to the car following us.according to the above site, it's illegal, red lights at the rear of the vehicle must be steady.
Ganglandboss said:
Finlandia said:
spidermanUK said:
citizen_smith said:
http://www.ukemergency.co.uk/information/bluelight...
according to the above site, it's illegal, red lights at the rear of the vehicle must be steady.
Might be worth telling Mercedes that then, 'cos I went to the launch of the "C" class at Gaydon and one of the key "safety" features of the new model was that if you stamped on the brake pedal the brake lights flashed to warn following vehicles that you were braking heavily.......and they let us all have a go so that we could demonstrate it to the car following us.according to the above site, it's illegal, red lights at the rear of the vehicle must be steady.
In the 80's when the first high mounted extra brake lights hit the market, they were illegal to use in Finland, because they distracted the drivers behind!?
Just because a law exists, doesn't mean it's a good law
What about cyclists who ride along with there back lights flashing? Personally I find it distracting and that it makes it harder to accurately gauge their speed and distance. Is that illegal as well? If so why are they sold so freely with no warning?
Apologies for O/T but it is an irrational annoyance of mine!
Apologies for O/T but it is an irrational annoyance of mine!
Davey111 said:
What about cyclists who ride along with there back lights flashing? Personally I find it distracting and that it makes it harder to accurately gauge their speed and distance. Is that illegal as well? If so why are they sold so freely with no warning?
Apologies for O/T but it is an irrational annoyance of mine!
I'm sure no bugger reads my posts. :grump:Apologies for O/T but it is an irrational annoyance of mine!
This was modified in RVLR 2005 SI 2005: No 2559
basically before October 2005 they were illegal if attached to the cycle, but if worn by the rider they were OK.
The above legislation made them legal.
Personally it's more of an issue concerning cyclists with no lights at all than those with flashing lights imho. Some of the lights on sale do not meet BS/EU regulations btw.
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