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Flashing lights on the roof


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With the exception a very few LR owners I really cannot see the point of these beacons. I, rightly or wrongly, see them as some lame attempt at a status symbol. They often make me smile to myself.

I don't believe for one minute that the vast majority of the beacons on LR's are actually there for a legitimate purpose.

Each to their own I suppose, but not for me!

I guess there are two camps here really:

1) People with a good reason to have lights fitted, usually for off-road/non-public use anyway and with their heads screwed on

2) The sort of vapid muppets who think they're cool (usually accompanied by acres of chequer plate, hundreds of foglights and a rope wrapped round the front bumper)

People in group 1 would be unlikely to be using the lights "in public" anyway unless there was a very good reason, when they would likely be more an extension of the statutory hazard warning lights.

People in group 2 are muppets anyway.

Agree with the above especially the "I've done the Camel Trophy, me" rope around the bumper :lol:

I used to use a mag mount orange light for tow rope recoveries of broken vehicles at work when I used my own vehicle for this, started that after some bellend coming towards me overtook a line of parked cars in a fit of importance and made me do an emergency stop with somebody attached to the back of my vehicle on a 10 foot tow rope. Trying to gauge how fast the vehicle behind me could stop with no vacuum brake assistance and whether he was going to stuff my back end in if I jammed on the brakes a bit harder wasn't fun.

Now there is a company vehicle to do the job so can just keep going and watch their underwear change colour :)

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I used to have one fitted mainly because I was at events and shows where it was useful and legitimate. It was bolted to the roof but plugged into a cig lighter socket when required thus satisfying the law on the road. I did also use it on the road when recovering and towing but that was much less often.

I still have a mag mount amber beacon but now have little use for it so it might go on Ebay soon.

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I have to say I can see why some people on the scene would have them - if you find yourself either at the side of the road or towing stricken vehicles with any sort of regularity, business or not, flashing lights are a decent enough idea from a safety point of view (anyone who's towed anything will know just how blind/idiotic other road users are to your situation). This is mainly as an enhancement of the standard application for hazard warning lights though so I'd imagine unlikely to attract the wrath of the law. If you've got a beacon it means you can use your indicators to indicate, which IMHO is a nicer situation for everyone.

Having done a job working in a hole by the side of a 50mph lane I was glad for the beacon on the company van and indeed the high-viz jacket, anything that encourages the sheeple to drive around you or even slow down slightly is welcome when your head is a couple of feet from their tyres :o official company guidelines were that you should not use the beacon AND the hazards at once to avoid confusing people, although common practice was to use anything and everything to make yourself as visible as possible (this includes the gas stove for the kettle during the initial setting up phase :lol: )

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I have a couple of alternating red led strobe flashers fitted to the inside of my rear windows that I control with a little switch under the dash (they are about the size of a small pack of playing cards). I fitted them because I live up a farm track on a very fast stretch of road that is the only overtaking point for a few miles in either direction. It is not unusual for someone to try to overtake you or a couple of cars or a truck behind you while you are getting ready to take a slow right, or you have something slow in front of you where your indication may be taken as a sign of overtaking. In fact my wife has had to abort a turn on more than one occasion because a logging truck is coming up on her so fast she was worried it wouldn't stop in time - something any of you who live in a rural setting like that will recognise.

They are also useful when blocking the road while moving sheep, the road is blocked or you have to stop for whatever legitimate reason in a less than ideal location.

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To continue this theme a little, like many landy owners, I will always try and stop if I see another Landy in distress, (unless its on the hard shoulder of the motorway and I have my family with me).

If these circumstances were reversed, Id be only too happy to see someone from the forum (with or without amber beacons) come to my assistance.

If at the scene of an incident, the majority of police officers might well be pleased to get assistance to move a stranded vehicle to the hard shoulder (with amber flashy things on the roof)...

I dont have a problem with them being fitted or wired up, as I assume most of the landy drivers are sensible, unlike the gent on the A2 near Canterbury I recently saw chained to the front of a heavily loaded almost jackniifed artic on a hill (going up) tyring to 'help'... slight over estimation of his defenders capabilities.

Hey ho....

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I recently saw chained to the front of a heavily loaded almost jackniifed artic on a hill (going up) tyring to 'help'... slight over estimation of his defenders capabilities.

Hey ho....

Ill tell you what though, my blacksmith has rescued a few stuck artics around these parts with his old 110 truck with a 300tdi fitted (it looks like something out of mad max) - hes quite famous for it!

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I have a detachable orange thingy, on my ex-mil. It serves many purposes.

1) oscillates/wobbles about at speed.

2) increases drag/fuel consumption.

3) gets clipped by branches down lanes.

I mainly keep it in the back unless I know in advance it is needed, or forget to remove it, mainly though when I do want to use it there isn't an opportunity to jump out and fit it. It is wired with a cigar plug though so it is "not connected to the vehicle wiring"

good points though.

I have used it in the past at vehicle shows when moving through crowds at 1-2 mph.

Also for driving on training areas/private airfields (I do have right of access BTW).

To make safer a breakdown on an unlit A road in Wales. :(

The other time I arrived late at night at an RTA on the A44 out Knighton way where there were injuries and only one police officer on scene. I offered to help out as I was told the next arriving unit was 50 miles away. I asked the officer if he wanted me to use the beacon on my landy, he agreed and I obliged. It was effective as my landy was able to shine the orangy light over the bendy hedgerows, whereas you couldn't see the blue police lights on the panda, around the corner, until you were nearly there :o

I think in these sort of times the best money you can spend is on decent quality warm hi vis jacket (winter breakdowns) and a couple of tabbards for summer.

Not as bothered if the truck gets hit instead of me.

Just my tuppence.

Pete

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Bit concerned now as in my Land Rover 'bag' there is a full set of Gortex DPM gear.. only for use at times of heavy rain or English invaders of course.

I was also getting concerned like you TimR. I can often be seen wearing DPM (of various nationalities) just because it is cheap, hard wearing and doesn't show the Mud so easily and of course just in case I feel the urge to invade Scotland ;) . I have also been seen waiting outside Car Boot sales for my other half :( .

I don't however have a beacon on my Landy Roof (although there is a hole where one may have been fitted by a previous owner), does that mean there is some hope for me?

Colin.

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With the exception a very few LR owners I really cannot see the point of these beacons. I, rightly or wrongly, see them as some lame attempt at a status symbol. They often make me smile to myself.

I don't believe for one minute that the vast majority of the beacons on LR's are actually there for a legitimate purpose.

Each to their own I suppose, but not for me!

With you on this one Charles. I get to experience first hand the complete lack of concern an orange beacon has thanks to overuse. 02.00 on the A303 this morning being a good example!

Simply don't see the point if you don't need them; like DPM, hi-viz, defender window grills, roof lights, winches, aggressive tyres, roll cages, sill bars etc etc

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Funnily enough I have just had to use my red flashers this morning as I got ready to pull a car out of a ditch... and the way the snow is coming down I wont be surprised if I have to use that again for the same purpose later..

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hazard warning lights should only be used in an emergency. ie im broken down.

a flashing amber revolving light means more things. it warns people but it also forces road users to change there driving style. hence they are restricted to certain professions because only authorized people have the right to change traffic flow or speed.

calum

OK, The reason I ask is - does this only relate to ROTATING beacons - or Xenon flashing ones too? Is there a distinction between perhaps single and double flash? If a flashing Xenon light counts, what about a flashing LED or a regular incandescent bulb?

While originally there were only rotating beacons, now the are many inbetween solutions where at one end of that scale - they are just regular hazard warning lights.

There are occasions, particularly towing, where indicating to other drivers that there is a potential hazard is important - but so is being able to indicate. I know you are not supposed to use hazard lights while towing even though many people do - but I wondered if there was a half way house where you can indicate a hazard independently of your indicators/haz lights - legally?

Si

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There are occasions, particularly towing, where indicating to other drivers that there is a potential hazard is important - but so is being able to indicate. I know you are not supposed to use hazard lights while towing even though many people do - but I wondered if there was a half way house where you can indicate a hazard independently of your indicators/haz lights - legally?

Si

This is the reason why a friend of mine uses a yellow rotating beacon on his Ferret armoured cars (he has 2) and Saracen APC. They don't stay on constantly but do go on in built up areas, complex junctions, round abouts etc. Although both will do more than 25mph they are quite slow and driver visibility isn't great (the Ferrets need a single person up top who can help the driver, the Saracen needs 2) which does constitute a hazard. The military police at Longmoor can confirm this as one of the Ferrets was responsible for writing off a Discovery a few years ago :ph34r: . Although the police have spoken to him a few times (normally to check everything's OK when there's a break down) they've never had an issue with the lights.

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Well Nic - you certainly have started a good discussion - and I admit, that I have wanted to fit amber beacons to my 90 truck cab - and without any irony - i agree with FF-only for vapid muppet reasons - to look more authoritative - shameless? perhaps

I have seen off road marshals with them and thats where the desire started - since thee posts and Calum's points i am more thoughtful about whether they are such a good idea.

Anyway

A story - a friend in my local LR club went out in the last lot of snow and spent sunday night all night pulling folk out of ditches in leafy surrey - he also got given a load of cash - to have a drink by grateful drivers

I can guarantee that his insurer or the rescued drivers' - would not have supported this action and that he also contravened statutory legislation

so he did them a service and drove some old ladies home too - but do we as a community condone or condemn this ?

if we were a true lobby group e.g. like Ramblers ass. we might decide to focus our attention on reasonable freedoms - not cavalier but not the kinds of law making now that confines - amber beacons are not worth fighting for but does this forum think there are things that are worth it?

Chrisp (who bought old green Nic's doors off him )

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OK, The reason I ask is - does this only relate to ROTATING beacons - or Xenon flashing ones too? Is there a distinction between perhaps single and double flash? If a flashing Xenon light counts, what about a flashing LED or a regular incandescent bulb?

Yes, no and no.

I think all the answers are here.

Once sees lots of vans, trucks and cars around airports all fitted with flashing amber beacons which are mandatory when air side but apparently illegal on the road. Including on police cars.

Chris

Edited: Ooops, I stand (auto)corrected, there is the following exception:

(n) yellow light from a warning beacon fitted to a vehicle for use at airports;[/url]
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This is a great discussion. Unfortunately I also wear DPM a lot but anything else and the rabbits can see me coming a mile off so I hope I can be excused? :blush:

I have a couple of alternating red led strobe flashers fitted to the inside of my rear windows that I control with a little switch

AFAIK and I could well be wrong. Flashing red to the rear are for emergency services only and are even more of a no no than orange amber lights, but I have no citations or links to back up my wild statement. (I did though come across a really good Emergency Services Lighting forum a while back and when I get home I will see if I have it bookmarked.)

Although, living in a rural area and experiencing the "I'm far too important to give way to you even though you have priority as I work in London and have a nice house and car" attitude on a daily basis, I must admit that anything that keeps you and your family alive is welcome on the roads these days. :angry:

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AFAIK and I could well be wrong. Flashing red to the rear are for emergency services only and are even more of a no no than orange amber lights, but I have no citations or links to back up my wild statement.

Blue and green definitely, but red I'm not sure about. HATOs (Highways Agency Traffic Officers) use them, and I don't think they are designated emergency services. Also, I believe the AA and RAC are using them now as well.

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For those of us with defender hard tops, there is no reason why we could not fit a high level set of repeating lights on the rear of our vehicles, and stay within the law, even better if they are LED as this is nice and bright

Just as we see loads of drivers going too fast in foggy conditions (but its OK as they have their fog lights on) having any flashing lights (even blue ones) does not stop you from being rear ended (oooher missus) or otherwise crashed into when your at the side of the road helping out another driver.

Having flashy things on the roof, wont make your insurance company pay out if they determine you are giving roadside asistance (and getting paid for it (obviously a couple of quid as a drink is different))... and see my thread ib helping out earlier in this topic.

. I know you are not supposed to use hazard lights while towing even though many people do - but I wondered if there was a half way house where you can indicate a hazard independently of your indicators/haz lights - legally?

Si

In answer to X-eng's questions:

Q1

Lamps to show a steady light

13.—(1) Save as provided in paragraph (2), no vehicle shall be fitted with a lamp which automatically emits a flashing light.

Q2

Also you may use your hazards when on the move in only one circumstance, and that is to warn drivers behind you of a hazard in front (might even be only on motorways) - this is from memory, I could look it up but its been a long day already and more to come.. The answer is no, (see above)

SO... is there a conclusion?, for 99% of the time we help out we might be in the hero bracket, and in the 1% of the time when things go wrong we are held up and ... well you know the answer...

If you wish to stop and assist at the scene of an accident (and it would be a very sad day when members of the public stopped doing this) please position your vehice so it wont become involved, dont assume that other drivers will see you (even if you have flashy things on the roof), dont put yourself in danger and become another casualty, alwys wear high vis when out of your vehicle, and dont take unecessary chances.

Anyone who has read this topic seems to understand that flashy/rotating thingys on the roof (or anyother part of their vehicle other than indicators) would be illegal if their vehicle does not fall into the set category of allowed vehicles (and has sufficient insurance to back that up), and if they get a ticket then they cannot say they have not been made aware of the fact.

BTW I dont have any DPM left (left it behind when I finished in the Queen's service), and do have a huge great box in the back of my car(s) containing all sorts of day and night things one might need at the side of the road when helping out other motorists (not just Landy owners). ...

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Blue and green definitely, but red I'm not sure about. HATOs (Highways Agency Traffic Officers) use them, and I don't think they are designated emergency services. Also, I believe the AA and RAC are using them now as well.

rear red flashing lights are ONLY for EMERGENCY VEHICLES or vehicles employed by the registered government recovery agencies. Highways Agency officers have them fitted on there vehicles for use when ONLY assisting the emergency services or the position of a broken down car poses potentially lethal consequences to passing motorists. a person with red flashing lights anywhere on there vehicle could be done for impersonating an officer of the law, regardless of there being no blue flashing lights on the car.

ironically, a collegue of mine pulled over a NED in his car today with a full blue light bar on his roof. (the type you see on the old astra panda cars) but because it wasn't attached to the cars electrics, he couldn't do anything about it. he couldn't even confiscate it. however, he put an intelligence report on the car so if anybody whilst on patrol see's it being activated, he will be arrested.

i find that people who attach unnecessary lights on there cars, wither they be blue or orange, have serious authority issues. if they want to ride around with lights on there cars legally, join a service.

take this fool for example:

the idiot posted it on youtube! and got caught!

PLEASE DONT EVER BE THIS STUPID! :lol:

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