LED Truck light bar

[AKCamper]

Just curious about the laws and enforcement around the country concerning LED light bars on vehicles. I installed a 17 inch LED light bar in the hood scoop of my 2017 Tacoma. It’s wired into the high beams so both the light bar and the high beams have to be activated. I only plan on using it on very dark deer infested roads. I realize that they are illegal most places except off-Road but here in Alaska nobody seems to care if they are on vehicles. I imagine California might not even allow them but I’m curious to know what people’s experience around the country are.

[RicVic]

California has lots of four wheel drive pickups and suv’s With light bars for off highway use but probably get you a ticket on the highway.

[AKCamper]

Originally Posted by RicVic

California has lots of four wheel drive pickups and suv’s With light bars for off highway use but probably get you a ticket on the highway.

Like I said I don’t plan on using it very often I am mainly concerned if any states have laws about even having it on your vehicle. I guess I could make a cover if they were illegal.

[Jim Bennett]

I most of my deer on the roadway experiences I found the bright headlights cause deer to freeze due to it causing eye dilation and they can't then see other stuff. Wouldn't adding light only make this situation worse?

[John in Santa Cruz]

if you're not using it, you're not likely to get bothered unless an LEO wants to be annoying. I think there's a cal vehicle code that says you can't have more than 2 pairs of aux lights (one pair of fogs, one pair of driving lights), and anything else has to be covered. lotta guys with the big arrays of roof top desert floods will cover them just to protect the lenses from road debris. on my older mercedes I turn the factory fogs on a lot, even in town, and have never been bothered, but they are aimed low to the road, and are yellow, I like them on to light the sides of dark narrow roads so I can see pedestrians, deer better.

[Brian B-P]

In addition to the limit on the number which John mentioned, some jurisdictions do not allow auxiliary lamps mounted higher than the headlights. There are some old rules requiring auxiliary lamps to be mounted in pairs... or one could claim the individual LEDs as lamps - there are probably an even number of them.

It is usually important to distinguish between lamps aimed low (such as fogs) and so wired to only operate with the low beams, and lamps like these which aimed higher (such as driving and pencils beams) and so wired to only operate with the high beams.

LED versus incandescent should not be important to legality.

[BC Rockcrawler]

In most provinces in Canada you can get ticketed if any light bars are not covered while on the roads. Lots of trucks and Jeeps have them uncovered and don't get bothered but there are usually a statute or two in the province's highway acts that stipulate that they must be covered. Some time ago, there was a RCMP officer on southern Vancouver Island that had this as a pet peeve and would pull over any Jeeps or trucks with off road lights on the roll bars that were not covered.

[StarvingHyena]

I am troubled by inconsiderate drivers with light bars left on at night. The best solution I ever saw was at a teardrop rally where the owner of a homebuilt teardrop installed a sheet of very shiny stainless steel over his galley rear hatch. The last thing he does before getting on the road, is to get out the stainless polish. Claims he no longer has trouble with bright lights following too close.
Tom