Amber fog lights illegal?

Trust me, I had a CaliRaised "all driving pattern" dual row 30" LED bar and replaced it with a single row Diode Dynamics "all driving pattern" 30" bar. Absolutely no comparison. The DD bar has a much tighter and therefor more useful pattern. As for distance, the DD bar also blows the CR bar away. The CR bar now sits in the basement waiting for a future garage sale.

 

Sorry i hadnt reported back.. ive been snowboarding the past 5 days. But im from oklahoma, it was 5 in the morning and raining.. Hence why they were on. They are Diode dynamics Max Fog lights.. The ticket is written as "improper equipment, Yellow headlights". just called about it and its 140 bucks!

 

No statute number was given, he just kept saying you cant have any forward facing lights other than white. The only statutes ive found only address colors like red and blue.

 

Reading the statute that was posted on the first page, it appears that you aren't supposed to use ONLY your fog lights, they should be used in conjunction with either low or high beam headlights. Our Tacomas are even wired this way -- if you turn off your headlights, your fogs go off as well. They also need to be mounted at the same height or lower than your headlights. Nothing about color, but if you only had fog lights on and it appeared you were using them as headlights, yellow would not be an approved color.

 

Fight it. They are betting you won't. Request the statute that says you cannot have forward facing "selective yellow" lighting. I'm willing to bet they come up with a blank. I would bet that they're bright enough (because I have a set) to piss an officer off and he wrote you up for whatever he thought he could get away with.

Several things wrong here. 1) They are not "headlights." Technically they are "auxiliary lighting / fog lights." Second, they are "selective yellow - which is not the same as "yellow." Third, there is no law against running "yellow lights."

Edit: Just saw Tenbeers post. If you were only running your fogs (no headlights), they may have you.

 

Post a picture with the lights on and maybe the ticket

 

Yellow headlights are illegal. Selective yellow fogs are not. But fogs needs to be run in with your headlights.

 

well yeah, they are wired into factory harness, so they dont come on without the headlights on.

 

So, please recap and point if/where I'm wrong about what you posted.

-You were driving in the rain at 5AM.
-You were using your foglights.
-Your lowbeams were on with the fogs.
-You were cited for having yellow headlights (which, we assume your actual headlights are not).
-The trooper incorrectly stated no "forward facing" lights could be any other color than white (ask him about amber turn signals, bring up Table 1-A in CFR49 571.108 which explicitly allows yellow/selective yellow daytime running lights)
-The trooper cited your foglamps as headlights, which they are not.

So, fight it in court. Bring in a copy of the foglamp codes that I cited, the color restrictions for red and blue lights that you have found, pictures of your foglamps and lowbeams on together, a picture of the markings on the lens of your fogs, and the federal references for J583 under the commercial vehicle code. Bring in a screenshot of the DD site where they reference the SAE J583 standard for your fog lamp.

Discuss the lack of any notable or referencable standards for fog lamps on non-commercial vehicles under the state codes, especially the lack of a color requirement.

Make a point that the federally-legal selective yellow is not red or blue.

Make a point that your fog lamps are in fact, built to SAE fog lamp standards, they are not intended or able to function as auxiliary lowbeams.

The ticket should be tossed on the improper citation alone, but you want to be able to "document dump" on the trooper in the presence of the court.

 

My fogs will stay on IF the headlights are off but the parking lights are on. 2017 Limited with stock wiring. I didn't realize this fact until I installed my (white) SS3 Pro's a couple of weeks ago.

 

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It has been a looooooong time since I have been behind a badge and am sure much has changed but I have never heard of a citation written without the appropriate code being cited on the ticket. A warning, yea they can make stuff up. I have been reading the code and there is nothing I can find that says yellow fogs are illegal, headlights yes they have to be white. BUT, there is 47-12-217-D1 that says you can't have them on if there is over a half mile of visibility. A fog light also has to be under the headlight according to the code.

I'm with those that say fight it if your headlights were on (I can turn fogs on with just parking lights on in my F150) and they are mounted below the bumper and aimed correctly.

 

I believe every Ford, GM and Dodge is like that too. Headlights have to be on for fogs to work on our 2 hondas though.

 

Ss3 max are waaaay brighter than stock halogen headlights. If you didn't aim them way down I could see a cop thinking they were your headlights or not be able to see your headlights at all

 

Very interesting that 47-12-217-D2 says you can use fog lights at your discretion with high or low beam headlights. But if you can use them per D1 with less than 1/2 mile of visibility I'm pretty sure you won't also be running your high beams.

 

Are you sure about that, DES2009 posted his 2017 can have the fogs on with just the parking lights?

 

no he’s not sure, I can also confirm my fog lights work in the park light position. I can also confirm that every single 3rd gen in my area drives in that position during day light hours.

 

Sounds like the trooper was full of

If it were me I'd pay an attorney and have them get it thrown out in court. The trooper has obviously made errors and failed to properly cite said traffic violation. I'd also request reimbursement for legal costs, time missed from work, and for my gas/ mileage to the courthouse. Then I'd file a complaint against said officer with whatever department they're affiliated with.


Edit: I'd also ask the attorney if your civil rights were violated with the illegal stop and citation and if you have any legal standing or if there is legal precedent for collecting damages.

 

Something definitely seems missing in this story, no offense to the OP. Maybe, just maybe he didn't actually have his headlights on since he doesn't seem to know he can have the fogs on with parks. Then he'd have yellow headlights. With body cams on officers and everyone with a cell phone camera being a douche bag officer is really risky. I just keep thinking about a stop I made. What was going to be a warning turned into tickets, vehicle impound and him going to jail over a mouth that was writing checks he couldn't cash. The OP is probably a great guy and my story is totally off base but something is missing.

 

If your headlights were on, id fight it. Especially as OP states that the infraction is "improper equipment, Yellow Headlights" as they are not headlights.

 

Not that it really matters per se since he didn't write the statute/law#

Excellent point re the signals etc as well. IIRC the officer would speak first in court. If he doesn't mention a statute# I would first ask "what statute are you referencing?" and if he mentions a number ask why it isn't written on the ticket. Let him prove your guilt versus you proving your innocence.

IDK if the OP mentioned his year of truck. My 2010 would originally have been wired so headlights must be on to use factory fogs. Mine didn't have fogs nor was it prewired so I did it myself and ran it so I can use them with the parking or headlights. So sounds like it is dependent on the year of his rig.