Thread: Defect Notice for Roof Rack Lights

OK, so this subject has been done to death but I thought I'd share my recent experience.

Three years ago I put four HID spotlights up on Monty's roofrack. Monty is a 2008 Defender 110 Wagon. The lights are 2 wide and 2 spots, to be precise; they're absolutely brilliant for driving in the bush at night and when Daniel (Mulgo) installed them he put them on a separate circuit, linked to the high beam.
That is to say, they can only work when the high beam is on, but even then they require a separate switch to activate them.




Last weekend I was pulled over by a Sergeant Breaden of the Northern somethingorother Highway chaps in Richmond, an hour North-West of Sydney. He gave me a ticking off for not having visible reflectors on the rear of the vehicle (oops, fair enough, they are hidden by the Rijidij bar I put on) and for having 'driving lights on the roof rack'.

A defect notice was summarily issued and for some reason he ticked the 'Full inspection required' box on the form. Thank you Sergeant. He gave me only 7 days to rectify it and get the paperwork done by the RMS or my rego would be cancelled. I remarked that I'd be lucky to get anyone where I live (Central Coast) who could do a full inspection within a week, so busy are the mechanics around here, but he cared not a jot.

After numerous phone calls, a couple of hours on hold, promised callbacks that weren't kept and conversations with remarkably unqualified staff at the RMS, I managed to speak with a chap in the Vehicle and Registrations Team who was something of an expert, to find out what the definition is of 'Driving lights' vs 'Work lights', as I was advised by a friend in the 4x4 business to call them that instead.

This chap at the RMS advised me that if I want to classify the lights as 'Work lights' and not 'Driving lights' in order to keep them on the roof rack, 'the switch to turn them on needs to be somewhere that the driver cannot reach in the normal driving position'; this ensures they cannot come on while driving.

Fair enough, I'll move the switch to the glove box and I'll re-install the lights up top. Too easy.

What occurred to me though, was that this particular officer didn't ask me anything about my lights, he pulled me over, took my licence, went to his car (which had roof lights itself of course) and came back with a form all filled out.
I've spoken with a few people who have been pulled over and had defect notices not just in the same area, but from the same person! He's got something against 4x4s apparently, or has clearly never had to drive in the bush at night.

I don't want to sound too whingey, but I think he could have handled it better. A whole lot better, in fact. A simple conversation would have probably been sufficient to get me to rectify the issue and a bit of trust is all that was required.

Anyway, it's a warning to all travelling in Windsor/ Richmond NSW that if you have a light bar or lights that are not right at the front of the vehicle, you may well get a defect notice and very little time in which to fix it.

If you, or anyone else, thinks there's an attitude problem them take him on in writing. It's a simple process but won't fix the problem.

Either the things are legal or they ain't. I'm rebuilding my Disco and it will have lights on the rack, so if the RMS is telling you they need to be operated by a switch inaccessible from the driver seat, then okie doke. RMS man can't give recommendations and not back them up.

The police can only do what the law/ADR's allow, otherwise you have a civil claim and can start choosing the colour of your new yacht.