I've got a suggestion: colour of exterior lights and reflectors. Lots of kids replace amber bulbs with blue, red ones with clear, red lenses with clear, amber reflectors with green, bulbs with LEDs, etc. I get a lot of heartbreaking letters from parents, "My kid just got a ticket...are blue parking lights really illegal?!"
People of all ages certainly seem to have an attraction to lights! Bigger, brighter, more and in a rainbow of colours that the manufacturer doesn't provide catch our eye.
There are also many businesses out there that are more than happy to sell us lights for our vehicles, legal or not.
If you think about it for a moment, lights play a more important role than just helping us see where we are going. If you look at a lit vehicle which is properly equipped in the dark, you know which way it is pointing and which side you are viewing.
These clues help us drive safely. Change the standard colours and you remove the clues, which could cause serious confusion, also known as a collision.
The current trend seems to be neon, HID and LED. Neon is illegal to display at any time, HID replacements for incandescent bulbs without also changing to the matching the lens assembly is illegal, and LEDS designed to plug in and replace incandescent bulbs are illegal as well.
The "check local laws and ordinances" marked on the packaging can sometimes be difficult to find without a magnifying glass, and don't expect the merchant to call it to your attention.
Before you spend your hard earned cash on lights for your vehicle, take a moment to check with your local police if you are not absolutely sure that what you are buying is legal and the way you plan to install it is proper as well.
There's no sense wasting the time and money with something you will ultimately have to remove.
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