Lighting regs and Brexit

[ed_b]

The CUK article on lighting regs mentions the EU equivalence clause for continental standards, and recommends the German K~numbered lights if no BS available.

https://www.cyclinguk.org/lighting-regulations

Anyone know if this is still valid clause after our Declaration of Independence?

[deeferdonk]

Appears so according to the latest version of The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations on legislation .gov.uk

[F41Equivalent standards
3A.—(1) Nothing in these Regulations shall render unlawful any act or omission which would have been lawful were—

(a)there to be substituted for any reference to a British Standard in these Regulations a reference to a corresponding standard, and

(b)regulation 3(6) to apply in relation to that corresponding standard and the markings relating to that corresponding standard as it applies to a British Standard.

(2) For the purposes of this regulation, “corresponding standard”, in relation to a relevant British Standard Specification, means—

(a)a standard or code of practice of a national standards body or equivalent body of any State within the European Economic Area;

(b)any international standard recognised for use as a standard by any State within the European Economic Area;

(c)a technical specification or code of practice which, whether mandatory or not, is recognised for use as a standard by a public authority of any State within the European Economic Area,

where the standard, code of practice, international standard or technical specification provides, in relation to lamps, retro reflectors and rear markings, a level of safety equivalent to that provided by that British Standard Specification and contains a requirement as respects the marking of such parts equivalent to that provided by that instrument.]

[Sweep]

Must admit, am intrigued as to why you are asking OP.
Ride with what you want that meets your needs and is safe.
Anyone going to stop you?

[AndyK]

Must admit, am intrigued as to why you are asking OP.
Ride with what you want that meets your needs and is safe.
Anyone going to stop you?

That's answered pretty well in the Cycling UK article that the OP linked to.

[Barrowman]

Retired Police Officer here. We used to consider it a bonus if a cyclist had any lights in the dark.

[rjb]

Retired Police Officer here. We used to consider it a bonus if a cyclist had any lights in the dark.

When flashing led rear lights came on the market I fitted one and after less than a week's use I was pulled over by a panda car. I was expecting a reprimand but to my surprise he thought they were brilliant and was only interested in where he could obtain one too.

[ed_b]

Must admit, am intrigued as to why you are asking OP.
Ride with what you want that meets your needs and is safe.
Anyone going to stop you?

That's answered pretty well in the Cycling UK article that the OP linked to.

And for those pressed for time: in a collision, a driver’s insurer could wriggle out of paying for your lifelong care needs because you didn’t have legal lights

[ed_b]

Appears so according to the latest version of The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations on legislation .gov.uk

Just as long as there’s no blanket amendment somewhere saying “all references to EU law are null and void” !

Except I think the Great Repeal Act (or whatever red-meat title May gave it) said exactly the opposite ?

[rareposter]

And for those pressed for time: in a collision, a driver’s insurer could wriggle out of paying for your lifelong care needs because you didn’t have legal lights

Has that EVER actually happened?! Genuine question. Same as the supposed stuff about pedal reflectors - since no clipless pedals have them, that's a lot of people that are technically "illegal" but I've never once heard it used as an argument.
"Well m'lud, my client is entirely innocent of driving into the victim since, although they had two rear lights, one front, a hi vis vest and a helmet, there were no pedal reflectors on the victim's bicycle thus rendering it instantly illegal for use on the highway; how could my honest upstanding client have possibly been expected to see the victim without that 5cm bit of orange plastic?!"

Also, never mind lights, it should be the law for articles online to state when they were actually written.
That one linked to admittedly says (at the very end) "originally written in 2013 with subsequent updates" but doesn't say when those updates were. The article mentions a legal update in 2023 so I assume that it was updated around that time but that's 2 years ago...

It'd also be incredibly rare for any police officer to know the arcane and technical stuff around bike lights anyway - as mentioned above, generally people are impressed if you have any lights at all!

[Sweep]

Must admit, am intrigued as to why you are asking OP.
Ride with what you want that meets your needs and is safe.
Anyone going to stop you?

That's answered pretty well in the Cycling UK article that the OP linked to.

And for those pressed for time: in a collision, a driver’s insurer could wriggle out of paying for your lifelong care needs because you didn’t have legal lights

Do you have any links to reports of cases where that has happened?

(on subthread, I was a couple of years ago congratulated on my lighting, particularly rear - i maybe had 3 or 4 rears on the go - by a London bobbie on the beat -by the by in case anyone hasn't seen such a thing in years, it was a posh area of london I was cycling through)

[gaz]

.

[AndyK]

It's really not difficult to buy Shimano SPDs (I can't speak for other clipless brands) with reflectors if you want them, most people choose not to, whether from ignorance of RVLR or not.

Only if you settle for single-sided SPDs (i.e. ones with SPD cleat on one side, flat on the other). If you want double-sided SPDs with securely-embedded reflectors at both ends, it's pretty much impossible - as was discussed here a year ago. (There is one Taiwanese company making them - Scada - but nobody seems to import them. )

Early model Time Atac pedals used to come with attachable reflectors on plastic arms which sometimes lasted as long as two, even three days before one of the arms snapped off.

It's a shame because pedal reflectors really are very effective on dark roads and you don't even have to remember to recharge them.

[drossall]

The broad approach at Brexit was to adopt European rules into UK law, and start from there. I somehow can't see cycling-lighting rules being very high up the list to change? Bit pointless anyway as most rules need suitable products to be available. Who is going to make lights specific to the UK? Unless they were to require two sets of lights or something that could be done with standard products.

[marquis26]

Must admit, am intrigued as to why you are asking OP.
Ride with what you want that meets your needs and is safe.
Anyone going to stop you?

That's answered pretty well in the Cycling UK article that the OP linked to.

And for those pressed for time: in a collision, a driver’s insurer could wriggle out of paying for your lifelong care needs because you didn’t have legal lights

Which is what I’d come here to ask: my handlebars have maybe a couple of inches each side of the stem on which to mount a headlight (before they start rising). That close to the stem, does it really matter if the light is mounted nearside or offside? Thoughts from the room? Thanks

[gaz]

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