Auxilliary lighting installation

[danfromvan]

Falco, from the BC Transporation Act:

"highway" means a public street, road, trail, lane, bridge, trestle, tunnel, ferry landing, ferry approach, any other public way or any other land or improvement that becomes or has become a highway by any of the following:

(a) deposit of a subdivision, reference or explanatory plan in a land title office under section 107 of the Land Title Act;
(b) a public expenditure to which section 42 applies;
(c) a common law dedication made by the government or any other person;
(d) declaration, by notice in the Gazette, made before December 24, 1987;
(e) in the case of a road, colouring, outlining or designating the road on a record in such a way that section 13 or 57 of the Land Act applies to that road;
(f) an order under section 56 (2) of this Act;
(g) any other prescribed means

Clear as mud!

[loki]

The law allows the operator of a motor vehicle to use the fog lights without the headlights when appropriate in both BC and Alberta, however in both provinces it is illegal for the vehicle to be wired in a way which allows it (go figure!)

I think you could do it though if the lights had covers on them like offroad lights, but not sure. Conflicting laws are great, it a lot of places it's actually illegal to parallel park, most places say you can't enter a parallel parking spot forwards but there is almost always a law that also states that it is illegal to reverse on a roadway (this was the case in London Ontario anyway)

[FalcoColumbarius]

There is no law stating what colour fog lights should be, though yellow does work better. (but position is more important than colour, not just height above road surface, but also how far away from the driver's eyes they are)
For mounting location, the law states they must be equal height or lower than the headlights, but not more than 30cm lower. (once again though, the lower the better)

Don't know about Alberta but as far as BC is concerned:

4.11 (1) A motor vehicle may be equipped with 2 fog lamps, mounted on the front of the vehicle below the headlamps, that are capable of displaying only white or amber light.

The law allows the operator of a motor vehicle to use the fog lights without the headlights when appropriate in both BC and Alberta, however in both provinces it is illegal for the vehicle to be wired in a way which allows it (go figure!)

Again, not sure about Alberta but this is what the BC MVA has to say:
4.11(3) The fog lamp wiring and switch must permit simultaneous operation of the parking lamps, tail lamps, licence plate lamp and, if required, clearance lamps.

Falco, from the BC Transporation Act:
"highway" means a public street, road, trail, lane, bridge, trestle, tunnel, ferry landing, ferry approach, any other public way or any other land or improvement that becomes or has become a highway by any of the following:.....
.....Clear as mud!

I suspected as much. Thanks Dan & Green1. The Queens Printer link I quoted defines all sorts of things but "Highway". Here's one:

"golf cart" means a motor vehicle originally designed and manufactured to carry golfers and their equipment;

Does this mean that Gregg is illegal?

Falco.

[Green1]

There is no law stating what colour fog lights should be, though yellow does work better. (but position is more important than colour, not just height above road surface, but also how far away from the driver's eyes they are)
For mounting location, the law states they must be equal height or lower than the headlights, but not more than 30cm lower. (once again though, the lower the better)

Don't know about Alberta but as far as BC is concerned:

4.11 (1) A motor vehicle may be equipped with 2 fog lamps, mounted on the front of the vehicle below the headlamps, that are capable of displaying only white or amber light.

sorry, I should have specified, I meant that both white and yellow are acceptable. The law does state that you can't have just any colour of lights facing forward.

The law allows the operator of a motor vehicle to use the fog lights without the headlights when appropriate in both BC and Alberta, however in both provinces it is illegal for the vehicle to be wired in a way which allows it (go figure!)

Again, not sure about Alberta but this is what the BC MVA has to say:
4.11(3) The fog lamp wiring and switch must permit simultaneous operation of the parking lamps, tail lamps, licence plate lamp and, if required, clearance lamps.

I suspect if you check the BC inspection manual you will find a different answer. And the law does state that vehicles must comply with the inspection manual at all times (not just during the inspection itself)

[mararmeisto]

I suspect if you check the BC inspection manual you will find a different answer. And the law does state that vehicles must comply with the inspection manual at all times (not just during the inspection itself)

This also extends/applies to why the officer is writing you a ticket for a broken/burned-out taillight: the fact that it WAS intact at one time and therefore compliant with the law does not excuse the time when it's broken/burned-out.

[Erebus]

(a) from 1/2 hour after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunrise,

I've never understood why this isn't from BEFORE sunset to AFTER sunrise.

A half hour after sunset it can be pretty dark. I suppose that's when the "insufficient light" section applies. But still. Wish the cops would nail people driving at night with only DRLs. Of course I'd also wish the manufacturers would put in a simple warning circuit that basically says, "it's dark, your engine is running, but you don't have your headlights on." I don't want automatic headlights, but I would not object to warnings.

[loki]

(a) from 1/2 hour after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunrise,

I've never understood why this isn't from BEFORE sunset to AFTER sunrise.

I always thought it was

[FalcoColumbarius]

I can tell you why (I think it is):

Multiple beam headlamps

4.06(5) A person who drives or operates a motor vehicle must not illuminate the upper beam of a headlamp if another motor vehicle is within a distance of 150 m from that vehicle, unless the driver has overtaken and passed the other vehicle, so that the high intensity portion of the beam does not strike or reflect into the eye of the other driver.[en. B.C. Reg. 476/98, s. 2.]

There is, or was a major concern about distracting or even blinding another driver. As the sunset is when the sun actually drops behind the horizon, the sky is still very light for another forty odd minutes ~ so you don't need to "strike or reflect into the eye of the other driver". I find this interesting as a lot of DRL systems are wired to the high beams (or upper beams) ~ so here is another paradox in legislation. In 4.08, regarding Daytime Running Lamps they are talking about another set of lamps that must be within a certain proximity of the ground but they don't actually mention the headlamps themselves.

Falco.

[mararmeisto]

I can tell you why (I think it is):

Multiple beam headlamps

4.06(5) A person who drives or operates a motor vehicle must not illuminate the upper beam of a headlamp if another motor vehicle is within a distance of 150 m from that vehicle, unless the driver has overtaken and passed the other vehicle, so that the high intensity portion of the beam does not strike or reflect into the eye of the other driver.[en. B.C. Reg. 476/98, s. 2.]

There is, or was a major concern about distracting or even blinding another driver. As the sunset is when the sun actually drops behind the horizon, the sky is still very light for another forty odd minutes ~ so you don't need to "strike or reflect into the eye of the other driver". I find this interesting as a lot of DRL systems are wired to the high beams (or upper beams) ~ so here is another paradox in legislation. In 4.08, regarding Daytime Running Lamps they are talking about another set of lamps that must be within a certain proximity of the ground but they don't actually mention the headlamps themselves.

Falco.

Ah yes, but when high beams are used as DRL they are at a reduced output, so not as bright.

[FalcoColumbarius]

So I'm told, but I don't think that's always the case. Even the ones burning at a reduced output are still in high beam shells/lenses, reflecting the reduced beam toward the the oncoming driver....