Is it legal??????????

[1defyag]

Does anyone know if its street legal to shave my tail lights and just use an LED bar above my rollpan for brakelights and turn signals? I live in Kentucky.

 

[Narco]

depends on KY state law. probably not as most everywhere i know requires 2 separate tail/brake lights. my buddy shaved his but then put corvette tail lights in his bumper.

 

[Z-56 Hoe]

Depends on State Laws there.

 

[MOBmentality]

From washington.. basically nationwide

RCW 46.37.100
Color of clearance lamps, side marker lamps, back-up lamps, and reflectors.
(1) Front clearance lamps and those marker lamps and reflectors mounted on the front or on the side near the front of a vehicle shall display or reflect an amber color.

(2) Rear clearance lamps and those marker lamps and reflectors mounted on the rear or on the sides near the rear of a vehicle shall display or reflect a red color.

(3) All lighting devices and reflectors mounted on the rear of any vehicle shall display or reflect a red color, except the stop lamp or other signal device, which may be red, amber, or yellow, and except that on any vehicle forty or more years old, or on any motorcycle regardless of age, the taillight may also contain a blue or purple insert of not more than one inch in diameter, and except that the light illuminating the license plate shall be white and the light emitted by a back-up lamp shall be white or amber.


Kentucky Specific

189.055 Brake lights.
A person shall not operate any vehicle required by law to be licensed upon a highway unless it is equipped with a mechanical signal device which would indicate an intention to stop or suddenly decrease speed by illuminating at least two (2) red lights on the rear of the vehicle, which are visible from the rear a distance of not less than five hundred (500) feet, unless the vehicle was originally manufactured with only one (1) such red light on the rear of the vehicle.
Effective: July 12, 2006
History: Amended 2006 Ky. Acts ch. 173, sec. 4, effective July 12, 2006. -- Created 1970 Ky. Acts ch. 9, sec. 1.


SOOOOOO according to the law.. hell running a single led bar and putting a piece of elctric tape over the middle so it looks like 2 would seem to be legal... and im sure.. with the right legal counsel would be ok in court.... as long as there was a red reflective source and a red light source visible from 300 feet (500 in some states).

And THAT is the legal answer...

The trick is not going that far...

Your led light bar is NOT a dot approved light source.. so even though you are kinda following tail light law.. you arent dot approved..

a way to avoid all the grey area is to make it look stock.. french in some caddy tails.. or some lights in the bumper.. or the vent areas.. something off of something else that IS dot approved..

but running just the light bar.. is gonna get you pulled.. and i think even if you won.. no court in america is actually going to agree that ENOUGH light to provide reflective surface AND light source to be SAFE.. can possibly be contained in that small ass crack youre wanting to do it in....

i think a neat way to do it would be to run the led bar like you want to.. and make sure it has as much RED reflective area as possible... shave the shit out of the stock taillights...

And then mount a cool taillight setup in the back window.. so the tint will hide it..

so when youre parked or driving down the road the back end has just the led bar and reflective tape.. but when you hit the brakes or turn your headlights on... POW.. legal dot lighting system

 

[1defyag]

wow

From washington.. basically nationwide

RCW 46.37.100
Color of clearance lamps, side marker lamps, back-up lamps, and reflectors.
(1) Front clearance lamps and those marker lamps and reflectors mounted on the front or on the side near the front of a vehicle shall display or reflect an amber color.

(2) Rear clearance lamps and those marker lamps and reflectors mounted on the rear or on the sides near the rear of a vehicle shall display or reflect a red color.

(3) All lighting devices and reflectors mounted on the rear of any vehicle shall display or reflect a red color, except the stop lamp or other signal device, which may be red, amber, or yellow, and except that on any vehicle forty or more years old, or on any motorcycle regardless of age, the taillight may also contain a blue or purple insert of not more than one inch in diameter, and except that the light illuminating the license plate shall be white and the light emitted by a back-up lamp shall be white or amber.


Kentucky Specific

189.055 Brake lights.
A person shall not operate any vehicle required by law to be licensed upon a highway unless it is equipped with a mechanical signal device which would indicate an intention to stop or suddenly decrease speed by illuminating at least two (2) red lights on the rear of the vehicle, which are visible from the rear a distance of not less than five hundred (500) feet, unless the vehicle was originally manufactured with only one (1) such red light on the rear of the vehicle.
Effective: July 12, 2006
History: Amended 2006 Ky. Acts ch. 173, sec. 4, effective July 12, 2006. -- Created 1970 Ky. Acts ch. 9, sec. 1.


SOOOOOO according to the law.. hell running a single led bar and putting a piece of elctric tape over the middle so it looks like 2 would seem to be legal... and im sure.. with the right legal counsel would be ok in court.... as long as there was a red reflective source and a red light source visible from 300 feet (500 in some states).

And THAT is the legal answer...

The trick is not going that far...

Your led light bar is NOT a dot approved light source.. so even though you are kinda following tail light law.. you arent dot approved..

a way to avoid all the grey area is to make it look stock.. french in some caddy tails.. or some lights in the bumper.. or the vent areas.. something off of something else that IS dot approved..

but running just the light bar.. is gonna get you pulled.. and i think even if you won.. no court in america is actually going to agree that ENOUGH light to provide reflective surface AND light source to be SAFE.. can possibly be contained in that small ass crack youre wanting to do it in....

i think a neat way to do it would be to run the led bar like you want to.. and make sure it has as much RED reflective area as possible... shave the shit out of the stock taillights...

And then mount a cool taillight setup in the back window.. so the tint will hide it..

so when youre parked or driving down the road the back end has just the led bar and reflective tape.. but when you hit the brakes or turn your headlights on... POW.. legal dot lighting system

Wow!!!!!!! thankyou both very much, didn't expect so much research to be done. If you take in to consideration the stock LED bar above the back doors. That would give me two, dosen't get much more clearer than that. I'm gonna try it before I fill em in. Maybe paint some blackouts white and just run around for a few weeks with just the led bar, and stock led brake light above the doors. See what happens before I commit.

Again thankyou.

 

[MOBmentality]

yea did you know cops cant write you a ticket for a taillight out anymore.. i mean im sure they do.. but they arent supposed to and they wont stand up in court.. because a court ruled in 2006 that 2 brakes lights was the law.. .and since your car is equipt with a 3rd brake light .. its still two.. even if ones out..

just be careful being in the right doesnt mean "wont get harrassed" and some states dont consider the 3rd brake light a brake light at all.. law or not.

 

[Narco]

^ well that would actually be for brake lights. youre required to have 2 brake lights and the 3rd deck one counts. youre also still required to have 2 tail lights. the 3rd brake/deck light doesnt stay lit all the time like a tail light so you can still be given a ticket for that and it will hold up.

 

[iwaslowr]

I drove with this setup for six years and did not get harassed(in Texas and Oklahoma). 58 inch wide 5/8 LED bar with 5 sections from one side to the other measuring: 2 inches amber(signal), 18 inches red(brake/stop), 18 inches white(reverse), 18 inches red(brake/stop), 2 inches amber(signal).

 

[1defyag]

I drove with this setup for six years and did not get harassed(in Texas and Oklahoma). 58 inch wide 5/8 LED bar with 5 sections from one side to the other measuring: 2 inches amber(signal), 18 inches red(brake/stop), 18 inches white(reverse), 18 inches red(brake/stop), 2 inches amber(signal).

Sweet!
Where did you get it, and what kind is it. The only ones I can find around here oly have red lights. Which ever way your turning will flash, but thats about it. Thats kind of the look I want. I want every thing shaved. I was gonna do without reverse lights

 

[iwaslowr]

Sweet!
Where did you get it, and what kind is it. The only ones I can find around here oly have red lights. Which ever way your turning will flash, but thats about it. Thats kind of the look I want. I want every thing shaved. I was gonna do without reverse lights

I purchased it from HiTech Products... it was about $1100.00, but without the white for reverse it would have been much cheaper. Here is their webiste: http://www.hitechledproducts.com/index.php?cPath=26_34&osCsid=b610137abb5a86f476ebcea31561fd47