Laws regarding use and fitment of LED Driving Lights & bars

To keep it short without overwhelming you with information that may be irrelevant to you, here are the most relevant rules that will apply to most in reference to LED Driving Lights.

Any additional driving lights fitted to a vehicle must be designed and securely fitted in a way that:

• minimizes the likelihood of injury to a person making contact with the vehicle in an unfortunate event of a crash with a pedestrian;
• does not obstruct the driver’s view of the road and traffic to the front or side of the vehicle;
• the light emitted does not cause discomfort to the driver either directly or indirectly through devices for indirect vision and/or other reflecting surfaces of the vehicle; and
• must remain switched off when high beam headlights are not in operation; and
• must automatically switch off when high beam headlights are either turned off or the headlamps are dipped.
• Additional driving lights that have daytime running lights incorporated within the light, please refer to the section within this document titled DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHTS to ensure fitment is in compliance with ADR 13/00.

Number: Up to a maximum of 4 additional driving lights.

Position: At the front of the vehicle and must only be ‘front-facing’ and not higher than the front edge of the bonnet if fitted to a bull bar or nudge bar.

Fitted symmetrically (same position on both sides of the vehicle).

If installing a single additional driving light (i.e. LED light bar) it must be installed horizontally and located symmetrically about the longitudinal centerline of the vehicle.

Light Colour: White

Operation: To be used in conjunction with the vehicle's headlights.

All additional driving lights must turn off when the vehicle’s headlights are switched to low beam.

Note: Any additional driving lights fitted to the vehicle must not obstruct or interfere with the light emitted by any of the headlights, indicators, or parking lights fitted to the vehicle. An LED light bar is considered to be one driving light if all the LEDs operate together simultaneously. If an LED light bar has different parts or sections that can be switched on or off independent of other parts or sections, then each independently controlled section counts as a driving light.

Figure 1 shows the locations that additional driving lights may and may not be fitted.

 
Figure 2 shows the correct way of mounting some additional driving lights in a combination of ways; note that the vehicle's headlights, indicators, or parking lights are not obstructed.

For a more detailed description and diagrams with reference to mounting positions follow through to our blog post.

LED Driving Lights & ADR (Blog)

STEDI ADR Compliant Plug & Play SMART™ Harness

As any additional driving lights are required to be high beam triggered with an isolation switch, we offer our STEDI Universal Quick-Fit SMART Harness™ that meets all criteria for ADR. The SMART Harness™ removes any cloud of doubt when wiring up your auxiliary driving lights.