Legal loophole stops action against blue headlights

C Frendo

Feb 4th 2010, 22:51

it doesn't mean that if a light is a bit bright we're using bright. we have modern cars fitted with clear lens and powerful beams. it's not something unusual that people facing me tap their bright but the voila i tap mine and understand. we are not living in the ford anglia eras you know? and as if we have good road lighting in malta. re. tuning i do have a race car and i opt for a race track maybe this stupid government would prevent at least a small percentage of accidents caused by those youngsters

C. Bezzina

Feb 4th 2010, 19:06

Sorry ta, dan mnejn sa fejn tghidu lin-nies hamalli ghax ikollom delizzju tal- karozzi? Car modifying hu popolari immens f'hafna pajjizi u ghal min hu dilettant hija way of life. Ghax tarma karozza ma jfissirx li ha toqghod ghaddej xkanat minn kullimkien. Min jaghmel hekk hazin. Nahseb hamallu min irrelevanti xi jkollu vettura jibqa hiereg mil l-istops, ma juzax indicators u jimblokka xi triq bix jinzel jaghmel qadja. U haga ohra, aw Malta aw min jaf jahdem tajjeb hafna f dan il -qasam, mhux li tghidilhom with no idea!

Max Bartolo

Feb 4th 2010, 16:50

@Jason Coleiro
I thought underlight neons were illegal too. Maybe I was wrong. Firstly, congratulations on your car. It is definitely nice to see some properly taken care of cars on our road. However, be assured that your are definitely among the minority of drivers who tune their cars as a hobby and still drive properly. Most people do it to be "cool" and these people tend to think they are so "cool" that they own the roads and can drive as they like so you can't really blame Mr. Grixti for assuming that most of them drive like hamalli, because they do.

@Blue headlights
Although they do irritate me slightly, I do think that people driving with their birghts on all the time and those new imported cars with misaligned headlights are much worse.

Slightly off topic but could anyone explain to me exactly why LED windscreen washers are illegal please?

i.cilia

Feb 4th 2010, 14:45

@jason coleiro..

as far as i know NOS is illegal in Malta,

and if you and other enthusiasts stay modding up your cars with illegal stuff then serve you right for the government to take action...

frankly, i totally disagree with modding up cars like that... a car should be sporty from the factory and not modded up locally with no idea of safety and testing..

then again, it is not my prerogative, but do not take offence when people tell you that a lot of these people are a bunch of hamalli... ever since the "too fast too furious" films have hit the cinemas, this has been on the increase...

you may not be one but, mal hazin jehel it tajjeb...

Jason Coleiro

Feb 4th 2010, 08:30

@Danny Piscopo

and i consider it one of the slowest ones, there are twin turbo glanzas with nos with 2.6 seconds. dyno test my friend at lease you get it right there, to be precise 3.2 seconds

Alan Scerri

Feb 4th 2010, 00:06

@Stanley Grixti

For gods sake all ppl need to do is use 55/60W bulbs instead of the 100W which might be a bit too bright for sensitive eyes...this can be confirmed at VRT testing stations when the car would be due.
At the rate we're going on vehicle law enforcement we'll end up 'enjoying' our sunday drives with eco friendly cars like this one (http://www.greencarsite.co.uk/econews/images/g-wiz-electric-car-reva.jpg) so ppl like you don't have to complain about looks, lights or sounds.

I agree with J.S Camilleri and J.Coleiro, to some people car mods are a hobby and a way to break off normal routines like work and family commitments......others like fishing and no law has been made about throwing bread in the sea!

Jason Coleiro

Feb 3rd 2010, 23:26

apologies to Mr. Esposito as the comments were to be sent to Mr. Stanley Grixti

Danny Piscopo

Feb 3rd 2010, 23:03

@ Jason Coleiro
0-60 in 3 secs is very impressive if that is true though.

Blue headlights are a pain. Too bright and distracting

Matthew Muscat

Feb 3rd 2010, 22:22

How about putting some light on some roads? Taking the road from Xemxija to Ghajn Tuffieha. Passed yesterday at around 8pm. God! I felt creeps!! Is that safe?

Ohh yes, safe is by removing some blue lights from the headlamp! As if it makes any difference to blue or the boring yellow! Whats the use of this? Whats next now? You have to drive with all windows up for your safety.

We've got Malta in wrong hands! Instead focusing on how to bring us up, he is focusing on silly blue lights! As a motorist lover, I'm so ashamed of this! High insurance, High licence, high fuel, no blue lights...no cars?

Justin Spiteri

Feb 3rd 2010, 21:51

What about cars which come factory-made with blue-ish xenon lights?. Not mentioning souped up glanza's and daewoo racers here, but standary cars like fiat punto (i believe) and even higher profile cars like the Mercedes E-Class. Will fiat and mercedes be outlawed in Malta?.

Jurgen Stefan Camilleri

Feb 3rd 2010, 21:08

@Stanley Grixti

Allura inti qed tghid li kull min ghandu karozza armata huwa hamallu.... Hekk tirrguna inti..? nahseb li kieku kellek karozza armata inti ma tohrogx fi triq bijha bix ma tidhirx ta HAMALLU.... ara naqra ta il mentalita ta certu nies ma nafx kif jirragunaw..Only In Malta

Jason Coleiro

Feb 3rd 2010, 19:13

To Mr. Esposito

I drive a Glanza V with super tuned engine and the whoosh sound that you call is called a dump valve for your information, it has 2 stainless exhausts bought locally for 450 euros, got underlight neons, rollbar, big turbo, pearl colour and a modest stereo. the car boasts 400bhp which can go from 0 to 100 in just 3 seconds.
But i am an almost 40 year old person with a family on the horizon, love my hobby and my car and pay my taxes and licence and insurance regularly.Never had a speed ticket or fine whatsoever and you call me hamallu? probably you are a person who drives a boring car and you are one of the kind that the words LIFE and ENJOYMENT mean nothing to you. Grow up and face reality, people need to live their lives to what they like and not to what they are told or ordered to do in their free time.This is a free country not a communist one like you want it. cheers

Karl Micallef

Feb 3rd 2010, 15:33

@ j.grech... you are completely wrong because blue headlights have nothing to do with the blue lights used on emergency vehicles and secondly, most modern cars come fitted with blue headlights from the factory, so it is just a matter of time before the majority of cars will have blue headlights. and last but not least, lights should not "dip" to the right or neither to the left, they should be aligned to a central point.

S. Grixti

Feb 3rd 2010, 07:16

@ J.Esposito :
"It is high time the authorities actually did something about:
-Noisy "sporty" silencers
-Underside Neon Tubes
-Tinted Glass
-Tuned up, read overfuelled, cars. Usually a white Glanza with a black soot aura around the silencer
-Very loud stereos
-unsilenced wastegate "whoosh" sound they so seem to like to impose on others.
and the list goes on..."

The government is very eager on raking in money from fines, so why don't they setup an SMS number (like they did for emmisions) were you can report such cars. Then the ADT or police can visit the owner and perform a spot check as these abuses have been going on for too long. There are now too many hot headed people on the road with pimp my ride cars tal hamalli !

j grech

Feb 2nd 2010, 23:41

the blue bulbs causing the problem are the ones that the young driver in malta are installing just like our young drivers in the uk did,blue bulbs are intended for emergency vehicles only ,and when a car having blue bulbs approaches the car in front it is to intimidate the driver in front and lead that driver to beleive it is an unmarked emergency vehicle and so to let it pass, the headlamps in malta are out of line on most vehicles as they should dip to the left and not to the right as they do, this headlamp alignment should be part of the V.R.T.testing as other eu countrys and if not corrected then it fails the V.R.T. all car importers should be held responsible for this as most cars they import come from countrys that drive on the right instead of the left like malta and the uk so therefor it is there job to correct it before selling the vehicle on, in the eu a vehicle must be sold as road worthy if sold by an importer or agent they are held liable if the car is sold unroadworthy and an accident occurs this includes lighting adjustments.

C Frendo

Feb 2nd 2010, 23:23

Who's got this idea to tell a mercedes owner to replace his factory fitted hid's to commom ones. now be sincere with yourself, the lights provided on our roads are really suitable for driving at night? some roads are pitch black where with common lights you only see a couple of metres in front of you. if we had better roads!! we just need more powerful lamps to see the potholes in our roads

S. Zahra

Feb 2nd 2010, 22:42

I do not have these types of lights, but if they are installed and aligned correctly i see nothing wrong.
The problem is with those who drive with the so-called Bright!

Joe Busuttil

Feb 2nd 2010, 21:01

Not fair. Ban red lights also.

J Pace

Feb 2nd 2010, 19:57

In the meantime you can always issue the contraventions in English no?? :)

These lights are blinding and immediate action should be taken to have them replaced.

a.dalli

Feb 2nd 2010, 19:44

So until the regulation is amended - I take the liberty to change mine to reflect RED.

Lorna Mifsud

Feb 2nd 2010, 18:37

It is becoming increasingly frequent that the English and Maltese versions of various laws do not tally.

Is it so difficult to draft the same version of Laws in English and Maltese?

Anthony Cachia Bantick

Feb 2nd 2010, 17:56

Whatever anyone says, even though 3rd party HIDs may be 'legal', their combination with normal headlights gives glare and quite a powerful light beam. It's important to remember that only the minority of cars have projector chambers which are the perfect enclosure for HIDs, hence why 3rd party HIDs need to be controlled and installed only in such headlights.

Overall I would pu 3rd party HID kits int he illegal basket. After all, buyers can order their car with original HID kits from the manufacturer to begin with!

Pule' Carmel

Feb 2nd 2010, 17:21

Headlights need many geometrical and other dispersive/refractive qualities. The geometrical components include, the pencil shaped lobe which is obtained through a parabolic/reflector behind the point light source. The direction of the light lobe is to be angled/dipped downwards and to the left, in the case of Malta where the low and high are designed to give a shorter and a longer illumination range, hence the dip angle is designed accordingly. Then comes the dispersion qualities. As we a know white light is dispersed and deviated as it passes through the water rain droplets to form the colours of the rainbow here, BLUE and Violet are the colours which are most violently deviated while red is the least, but unfortunately it produces little illumination. In a very humid “Foggy “day, the light from the headlight are deviated/ dispersed/refracted to produce lack of penetration. In road lighting we use yellow sodium light but in Malta one can hardly say that we have foggy days.
The law is based on scientific behaviour of light frequencies in different conditions. What one has to be careful is the Glaring and the blinding effect on oncoming traffic, and too powerful searchlights are improper for headlights.

victor vella

Feb 2nd 2010, 17:11

I place a licence fee bet that these lights would be regulated by one of thew following,
a) a new fee payable by those who install these lights.
b) depending on who is importing them.
c) will only be stopped for using them in the south of malta where the wardens give out fines without tickets

N Schembri

Feb 2nd 2010, 16:10

I completely agree with Karl Abela.

I would add that it's not fair saying that HID aftermarket bulbs create glare. The glare is only present when these bulbs are fitted in reflector type headlamps (as they're not intended for!). Should these bulbs be fitted in projector type headlamps (those incorporating a lens), there will be no glare at all. After all, all xenon HID lights are intended to be used in projector headlamps for better visibility (always using white bulbs), and it's still safe for the coming traffic.

So please take note, it's not the HID lights which are wrong, but their incorrect installation in reflector type headlights!

Ryan Sammut

Feb 2nd 2010, 15:01

HIDs are not the problem here for some of you who seem confused....It is only those who change the bulbs to blue or yellow.

Everyone knows that HIDs are legal all over Europe and 99% come with a Street Legal Certificate nowadays. Most of the new cars come with HIDs Installed. It is better if we stop this nonsense and go for those who are damaging our environment with their modded cars

Joseph E Briffa

Feb 2nd 2010, 14:44

Apart from the enforcement of L.N.24/2010 there are many other offences that Police and Wardens should be on the lookout for. Wardens should not merely concentrate on parking offences which are very low in the list of serious offences. They and traffic police should concentrate on more serious offences, like overspeeding, not observing 'give priority' signs and 'stop' signs which can be the cause of serious and even fatal accidents. But traffic police should be on the road 24/7. They should be trained along with the wardens to carry out their duties in a polite and civil manner. The Maltese are not renowned for their gentilezza and elegant manners. Compare the politeness of the Carabinieri in Italy, The Maltese traffic police and the wardens should be trained to salute and address the public in a civilised manner. Rudeness and arrogance should NOT be tolerated in the behaviour of the Police and Wardens. They should be given induction courses on behaviour when dealing with the public and they should be disciplined when they fail to give an efficient and just service to the public. Contents on websites make very interesting reading but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Kieron O'connor

Feb 2nd 2010, 14:24

Given my own driving experience in Malta and especially Gozo, I am quite glad that they are using lights at all.
The Egyptian mentality of driving at night with your lights off to save petrol lives on in Malta and especially Gozo...where I have been flashed at on numerous ocasions by drivers driving with their lights off..telling me to turn off mine too and stop blinding them!..at Night i may add!

Dennis Zammit

Feb 2nd 2010, 14:07

What about the legal anomaly regarding the front Fog Lamps. Wardens enjoy giving out traffic fines but the law just stipulates that the lighting should be adequate. There is no mention in the law that the usage of these lights especially during foggy days is against the law after all, they have been supplied with the vehicle which has the necessary permits and Police license.

A few months ago, Minister Mifsud Bonnici had answered to my radio call and mentioned that the law would be updated to remove the wardens' abuse of a wrongly interpreted motor vehicle regulation.

N Borg

Feb 2nd 2010, 14:03

Those are meant for offroading. Indeed, driving in Malta is offroading, with a few, very few exceptions

Philip Bonello

Feb 2nd 2010, 13:52

In the bad old days it was only the Governor General/President who was allowed to have a blue light up front. Now they play with loop holes.

Albert Bezzina

Feb 2nd 2010, 13:27

Glare from badly directed or undipped HID or standard headlamps can be an issue for safe driving. I have not come across true blue headlamps, but quite a few with blue sidelamps. The drivers actually switch off the headlamps to exalt the blue sidelights. The issue here is not about the color of the lights but about convention of road vehicle lighting. White with MILD hues of yellow or blue indicate the front of the vehicle; red lights indicate the rear of a road vehicle, while orange colored lights (not in all countries) are used for indicating direction changes or hazards. As far as I know blue (usually flashing) lights are an indication of an emergency vehicle which needs to be given free passage or priority (police, ambulance and fire trucks). For the latter reason as well as to avoid confusion to oncoming vehicles, lights should follow convention and blue sidelights must as a consequence be considered illegal. The problem arises were lays the point of legality between HID/LED lights having a MILD blue hue and real blue lights. Blue may be popular but I've seen a red car with RED sidelamps AT THE FRONT with headlamps off!

adrian vella

Feb 2nd 2010, 13:03

@ Charles Sammut

Sidelights are normally 5w bulbs or led's - main beam bulbs are usually rated 55 - 65w
Blue sidelights even though illegal do not affect or blind you especially if these are in found within the head light unit. Misaligned high beams whether HID's or normal halogens blind other drivers!

Joseph E Briffa

Feb 2nd 2010, 13:00

According to Carmel Callus this loophole has been plugged by L.N. 24 of 2010...So problem solved. Next move is for its enforcement. Maybe it's about time to make road- hogging a punishable offence. Although the Highway Code condemns this offence yet as far as I know it hasn't yet found its way into the statute book. So there we are having drivers ambling at 20-30 kph in a 35, 50 and even a 60kph zones. They are found in the outer lane, either glued to their steering wheel and visibly stressed, or relaxed having a chat with their passenger, or using their mob phone. It is such an egocentric behaviour to dictate the speed to other drivers in one lane roads like B'kara - San Gwann-Naxxar, or by hogging the fast lane. And the only way the nasty ones react when you flash the brights, or hoot, is either go even slower, or stop suddenly for you to ram them and pick up a quarrel and find an excuse to beat you up. When is this nasty behaviour going to be punished by hefty fines >Eur50 for a first offence, and double for a second, and so on.?

Ian Galea

Feb 2nd 2010, 11:53

I am a person that lives in Poland, I travel through most European Highways very often, one must take note that the lights so called Xenon Lights are very usefull on the highways of any bigger country, which highways are mostly very poorly lite, as soon as you leave from a city or town or village, the road has no lights at all, these are countries which include, German, Poland, France, Denmark, Norway, Czech Rep etc. HID lights are now being installed in most of the new cars especialy more costy ones. These lights are made to be used on road which are poorly lite. The difference here is that while in Malta we do not have highways and or have high standard roads, our road very luckily are lite up very very well, we have lights every 20 meters, so HID lights are actualy useless in Malta.

I would suggest that new cars have to be accepted since they have them installed from the factory, while the other cars that are already on the roads should be prohibited to have them fitted unless proper projector lenses are installed in the headlight. and then certified.

teodosio gatt

Feb 2nd 2010, 11:37

What about the redlights on the front of the car??????????????? I have seen this car so many times on the road leading to Mgarr. Hope someone takes note of this.

Julian Esposito

Feb 2nd 2010, 11:33

@Simon Cassar

Regarding fog lamps: Front fog lamps have a wide spread with short range to improve illumination very close in front and to the side of the vehicle. They should not blind anyone. I would not expect to get fined if I used them, particularly in country roads.

On the other hand the rear red fog lamps are the real menace. These really blind you if you have a vehicle in front of you using them when there's no fog, in which case I would agree with a hefty fine.

J Farrugia

Feb 2nd 2010, 11:33

@ Matthew Galea - blue lights are only for emergency vehicles and for no one else. Yes put a stop immediately to this loophole.

C Cassar

Feb 2nd 2010, 11:32

All lighting components including head light lenses, HID ballast units, bulbs etc must have the 'E' cetrification and displayed on each component. If this is not present, the components are illegal in any EU country. It's very simple for the police to check if any components are certified. What isn't so simple is to actually persuade the police to be interested in this kind of enforcement.

Howard Libauer

Feb 2nd 2010, 11:30

I don't see why anything is needed in the way of "closing loopholes". What am I missing here? If the color isn't wihite or yellow, you need special approval from Transport Malta. So? Just don't give the approval. What's the big deal?

Reg Fitzpatrick

Feb 2nd 2010, 11:15

@ Charles Sammut:
Surely blue front sidelights are legal?
Don't the Motor Transport Regulations refer specifically to the colour of Headlights only?
Can anyone confirm this??????
I hope so! My headlights are normal white but my front sidelights are blue.

Daniel Vella

Feb 2nd 2010, 11:06

As a Xenon headlamps user, i feel that they are the only solution on our bad lit roads. If there ever was a white line on the tarmac, the white light shows them - how ever fainth they are and unlike the conventional yellow halogen light. Obviously its a double edged knife. White light is very safe for the driver but if not correctly pointed, it can temporarily blind on coming drivers especially if abusively installed on the high beams. However halogen high beams too can be blinding if not correctly used. The fear here is that our authorities in the lack of proper definition will ban all sorts of xenons - which is a pity when concidering the safety they offer as what happened with the fog lamps in the past - we started off banning the non factory installed and ended up banning all fog lamps today.

R.Sciberras

Feb 2nd 2010, 11:00

As some of the bloggers said, Xenon lights which are factory made tend to be standard on particular models like BMW and Mercedes cars. These emit white light with a slight blue light (emphasis on slight). Research shows that such lights provide as much as 40% more than normal yellow lights. Where such lights are optional, these can be as much as €700 extra to buy! Guess there is quite a huge difference between factory made and amateur lights...especially due to standards and safety.

Charles Sammut

Feb 2nd 2010, 10:37

HID lights are something different to the blue lights referred to here. HIDs are legal and depending of the buld colour temperature can have a slight purplish tinge to them. Contrary to what seems to be the general impression, white HIDs are more efficient than the colder (purple) ones.

Sometimes the front sidelights are also changed to blue to appear "cool". The blue headlights concerned usually involve the fitting of 100W halogen bulbs which is way in excess of the legal limit which I believe is about 60W. They are meant for off-road use only although people might be forgiven for mistaking some of our roads as off-road.

A.Gatt

Feb 2nd 2010, 10:10

Those blue lights are a distraction !!! The worst kinds of lights are the bright white ones that blind anyone coming in the opposite direction or anyone in front of a car with the white light.

Karl Abela

Feb 2nd 2010, 10:02

It seems that the term blue headlights is being mixed up.

Many people are mixing this up with the High Intensity Xenon lights found on upmarket cars and sportscars that transmit an energy saving type of white light. These are indeed High Intensity and can blind oncoming traffic if the projecting angle is not set properly. However, they are perfectly legal because they have been approved when registered on import.

The illegal blue lights are those lights that literally have a blue light bulb and which are more appropriate in a night club or disco. They do not blind oncoming traffic, on the contrary, they offer very very poor lighting and are a serious hazard for the driver. They might be attractive to some people, but I really think that safety should come first.

lgalea

Feb 2nd 2010, 09:37

I also do not have such lights on my car and I hate them because they blind you, but the reason is not because they are blue, but because of wrong alignment when the lamps are changed. They should be made to align the headlights further down.

While on the subject, I hope that the police start taking action against those who drive with their headlights on BRIGHT blinding anyone coming from the opposite direction and they keep them like this even when the others blink their headlights.

They should also clamp on those who hog the outside lane or worse in the middle driving slowly, slowing traffic, not allowing people to overtake and getting on peoples nerves besides being a menace as slow traffic may result in an ambulance or other emergency service not reaching a casualty in time.

Julian Esposito

Feb 2nd 2010, 09:35

First of all I need to remark that it feels like 95% of those who have these installed tend to drive aggressively and tailgate other vehicles. It's probably an extension of their ego. Having one of them driving behind me does seem to disturb my driving a bit.

Nevertheless, I think the problem with headlights is not the colour of the light but rather the light pattern emmitted. Any VRT station should be able to tell if the scatter pattern would disturb other drivers. I also believe that some new car models come out of the factory like that and are EU legal. It would not be fair to put these in the same basket as the pimp-my-ride morons.

It is high time the authorities actually did something about:
-Noisy "sporty" silencers
-Underside Neon Tubes
-Tinted Glass
-Tuned up, read overfuelled, cars. Usually a white Glanza with a black soot aura around the silencer
-Very loud stereos
-unsilenced wastegate "whoosh" sound they so seem to like to impose on others.
and the list goes on...

Charles Sammut

Feb 2nd 2010, 09:23

It is not just the colour. The output of many of these bulbs is above the legal limit. They are only suitable for offroad use. On the road they dazzle oncoming drivers, something which in most EU countries is an offence punishable with a prison term because it places road users in danger. Even failing to dip main bean headlights falls in this category!

d. “Endangering” means to place other users of the road in danger by—
(1) Failing to obey traffic signs.
(2) Failing to yield the right-of-way.
(3) Failing to warn approaching traffic that a vehicle is disabled or parked on the highway.
(4) Failing to dim high-beam headlights for oncoming traffic.
(5) Traveling too fast for road conditions.
(6) Passing on hills or curves.
(7) Driving a mechanically unsafe vehicle (for example, a vehicle with faulty brakes, bald tires, poor steering, weak
lights, protruding bumpers).
(8) Driving when fatigued, ill, or under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Joseph Cauchi

Feb 2nd 2010, 09:11

My Goodness Me!

Now a controversy about the “blue” colour, or is it another excuse to fine the motorist?

The motorist has already been blood-drained out of his last drop; do we need more excuses?

Stop this madness, please!

Austin, take note!

JC.

Mark Bishop

Feb 2nd 2010, 09:08

This needs clarification. Does 'blue headlights' refer to the perceived 'blue' in true white LED headlights? If so there's a problem here minister, LED' are the future and go in line with your 'smart island' thing.

Kenneth Aquilina

Feb 2nd 2010, 08:59

What people here are talking about are HID (high intensity discharge) lights. These can have a variety of colours ranging from ice white to yellow and blue among others. I have white ones installed in my car and consider them quite an asset as these give out much more light than the normal ones and are much needed in certain roads where there is little light or none at all. Also these do not hurt your eyes like when you use the bright.

Paul Abela

Feb 2nd 2010, 08:58

If only "illegalities" on the road boiled down in having blue, yellow, white or whathave you headlights! Aren't there more pressing issues to rectify in our way of driving?

Anthony Cachia Bantick

Feb 2nd 2010, 08:54

While I agree that individuals using blue or coloured bulbs should be fined, it has to be understood that some specific cars have xenon headlights which tend to give off a powerful yet controlled and road legal white beam of light with a slight blue tint. They're called HID bulbs. Needless to say that drivers upgrading their standard lights to HID using third party kits from well known local shops, are indeed accidents waiting to happen in our streets thanks to their glare and uncontrolled powerful lights.  I'm sure most of you get blinded every now and then. 

I've had enough of car enthusiasts using these HID kits in their headlamps which are not fit to encase such a bulb. I hope VRT tests ge altered to check such items.  Obviously enough, vsf owners with such standard headlights from the car manufacturer should not be fined.    

Peter Bonnici

Feb 2nd 2010, 08:54

How about action against blacked-out windows and windscreens instead? Some cars seem to be driven by remote control.

carmel callus

Feb 2nd 2010, 08:52

The above mentioned 'legal loophole' has been removed by the publication of a new legal notice (L.N. 24 of 2010) which only allows wihite or yellow-coloured headlights.

Paul Barrett

Feb 2nd 2010, 08:43

Is any check done on visitor transport from mainland Europe regarding the direction in which headlights dip - I am sure that there are a number of cars that dip to the right rather than the left.
As for colour of lights both the rotating blue and the extremely over-bright white lights are a menace but there also seem to be a lot of vehicles where the lights are badly adjusted and even when dipped, blind other drivers.
Still I suppose even the above faults are better than the vehicles driving around with one or more lights not working at all.

john falzon

Feb 2nd 2010, 08:42

It may be of interest to note that when shopping for such replacement lights on the internet, the buyer is usually advised that the lights are not legal.

As it happens I was about to purchase a set of such lights just a couple of weeks ago but held off when I read the legality clause, even though I have long been observing such lights all over the place.

Simon Cassar

Feb 2nd 2010, 08:32

I think there is a loophole or a misunderstanding regarding the fog lamps as well. Some years ago I bought a new car and used to light on the foglamps until a warden issued a contravention (I remeber it was 26th December, a christmas present, and it was raining so the visibility wasnt good and fog lamps were approprite at that moment, altough I admit, I used to put them on all the times) BUT... till then I see a multitude of cars including the Police Alfa Romeo cars with the fog lamps on!! Are they legal or not??

R. Azzopardi

Feb 2nd 2010, 08:20

I don't have blue lights and I do not like them at all however I must admit that most of them dazzle drivers coming from the opposite direction much less than white or yellow ones. I honestly cannot see what is so wrong about them.

Anthony Cachia Bantick

Feb 2nd 2010, 08:14

While I agree that drivers using these blue lights should be fined, it is important to note that there are some car manufacturere such as highend cars or cars with xenon headlights which tend to have a white beam of light with a SLIGHT hint of blue (emphasis on the slight).

It is people whonuse coloured bulbs and illegal third party HID kits (specific packs that emulate xenon headlights but are terrible for oncoming drivers because of glare) who we have to take care of. Why should I be fined if my car has HID lights as standard?

Charles Falzon

Feb 2nd 2010, 08:12

Lets hope this sorry situation does'nt take too long to be rectified.

Michael Buttigieg

Feb 2nd 2010, 08:07

Is there a reason why blue light is considered illegal. Is it dangerous or blinding to oncoming traffic

C. Bartolo

Feb 2nd 2010, 08:06

Sorry for this guys, but why all this fuss about this blue light? what's in a colour.

Their function is that they provide safe driving to both the driver, pedestrians and also other drivers. If these are up to the required standards of quality and safety, there is nothing wrong with them.

I think we should better put some good regulations on people (and a lot of them) who instead of driving with the dipped lights drive on bight mode which should only be used where there are no street lights.

H Dempster

Feb 2nd 2010, 07:56

What a convenient loop hole for the lawyers. PLUG IT UP ONCE AND FOR ALL.

Matthew Galea

Feb 2nd 2010, 07:52

@ J. Farrugia

To start with. I do not have blue headlights in my car, however I do not think that something is illegal if there is no law about it!!...If the law is amended it is simply adopting to new circumstances.

J Farrugia

Feb 2nd 2010, 07:47

Stop this loophole so that action may be taken against such illegalities.