Auxiliary lights in MO? Been ticketed?

Anyone been tickited for too many lights in MO? I work with someone connected to LE and she swears my lights are illegal. Statutes say "At least 2 headlights" and "no more than 3 Auxiliary lights". I have factory fogs and 2 KC lights plus my headlights. She's saying that my 2 fogs + my 2 KC lights = 4 aux lights. Curious if anyone has been pulled over or cited for too many aux lights? I don't use mine onroad, obviously. They're mostly for show.

 

I have 6 lights on my truck not including the head lights and no It's never been mentioned. when I've been pulled over.

 

In Missouri, I assume? This is a state statute.

 

no I'm in washington, the for lights are factory. My interpretation of the law is that you can only have 3 auxiliary lights and by auxiliary meaning aftermarket, you are well within the law.

Unless you're a complete dick to the officer they won't bother to write you up for
"excessive amount of lights not vehicle"

 

My father is a Kansas City cop and I asked him about this with a previous vehicle I had two headlights and 4 aux lights (6 total when all on). He said the Missouri statute said 4 lights total were allowed (2 headlights, 2 aux lights), and the Gestapo will write tickets on it (he doesnt give a rat's ....).

 

Yeah, there is a specific statute subsection that says only 4 may be lighted at one time. I don't run the fogs + the headlights + the KCs though. I may actually pull the fogs - they're useless anyway. I'd rather have my KC lights.



The funny thing is, that some cars like the Jeep Liberty come from the factory illegal. They have 4 Aux lights mounted way above the 12" to 42" height mentioned in the statute.

 

A limit on how many auxiliary lights you can have? What the hell is the point of that?

 

I don't know, but I think if you got ticketed for having one extra auxiliary light that wasn't even on, that'd about be the definition of a dick cop with a small life.

 

I know in Florida you can have two aux and your main headlights on. But there is a reason they call em off road lights.

 

I wonder what counts as "auxiliary lights." The newer german cars have LED rope lights, headlights and fog lights (so 6). Actually I think the cadi cts has the same set up too... If anyone in the St. Louis area gets a ticket for it, let me know I would love to fight it for you.

 

She is correct.

Fogs must shut off with the high beams, and the driving lights must shut off with the low beams.
Wired properly there should be no issues since you will have no more than 4 lamps at any one time.
Any lights higher than 36" must be covered when on the highway.

 

It's actually federal... FMVSS 218 is the governing document.
Some states may have more strict laws, but I haven't heard of any.
The main thing is that not all states equally enforce federal laws.

 

This is interesting because I have owned two cars (1996 Audi A4 and a 2007 BMW 335i coupe) that have violated this from the factory (I was the original owner so I know it wasn't modded). Both of those cars allowed the high beams and the fogs to be on at the same time. Both of them had separate housing for the high beam and low beam and the fogs were separate from those. Newer models of both of the cars I had do not allow for the fogs to be on with the high beams. I have always wondered why those cars did this.... I guess because they were both first production runs of a new model and something slipped under the DOT radar....

 

California allows one pair of auxillary lights designed to supplement low beams, one pair designed to supplement high beams, one pair of fogs. At no time are you allowed to have more than four lights on. Factory headlights with four bulbs on for high beam count as two lights.

My general experience with the cops around here is that they don't give a rat's ass about equipment violations. Everyone I know that's been ticketed for anything (never for lighting) got their ticket after being stopped for something else.

I do what I want as far as accessories. I don't speed, don't drive like an asshat, don't leave my brights on approaching other cars. I have never had a problem with the 5-0. At one time I drove a bright red 4x4 Toyota with 2 8inch off road lights on the bumper, auxillary reverse flood lights on the back, Hella E code headlights with 100 watt high beams, and four KC daylighter style lights on the roof. The roof lights were not covered, as they are required to be in CA. The cops and highway patrol never even looked my way.

Your setup looks pretty innocent. Don't piss the cops off and you'll be fine. They'd rather mess with the bro running a lift, no mufflers, wide tires, no mudflaps, and drop in HIDs.

 

They also came with covers for those lights. That made them legal in all but a couple of states if I recall. I know there was a state or two that you could not buy the Liberty Renegade in because of the roof bar.

 

Yeah, I drive like a sane person, and I even wave to the local deputies. I'll probably just leave them as-is. My tint's not legal either, and I'm definitely not removing that so it's not like they can't pull me over and ticket me anyway if they really want to.

 

The rope lights and such would be considered parking lights or running lights.

I remember back in the 80s, Ford/Mercury had a fully illuminated grille in the Mercury Sable (Taurus).

There's probably some detail point in the statute that specifies wattage or lumens for parking/running/clearance lights vs projected beams.
And of course, with the laws lagging modern technology, they are ultimately going to have to modify the law to either reflect projected lumens only, or wattage but specify the technology since 55 watts is not the same on Tungsten, halogen, HID, and LED.

 

Around here it depends on the city.
Some will cite you with a non-correctable for window tint, illegal lighting that you installed, etc...
Their feeling is that YOU did the modification, and in their mind, the "fixit" is for equipment failures yet to be detected.

The difference is $30 to have it signed off and a $400+ fine (and you still have to peel the tint).

My city, they'll use a mechanical as a reason to pull you over. If you play 20 questions with them and are clean, they let you go.