Check your Stop lights - Or else !! Why read on

[TER2BO]

My wife was driving our Ford Territory when she was pulled over by the Highway Patrol in Melb.on 1st Feb.
One of the 3 rear stop lights was not working.
Short story - no please fix it - just a Yellow unroadworty sticker and notice to fix it within 7 days or else .
Did the job in about 45sec.(Territories and Falcon wagons seem to blow bulbs on a regular basis). (Are any bulbs made to last these days???)
But now you have to take the car to Vic Roads to have it inspected and the 'unroadworthy' taken off.
Went there today waited 45mins to be served -then they tell me its $45.10 for them to tell whether or not the brake lights are working.
This new charge just happened to start from the (you guessed it) 1st Feb.
To say I was unhappy and it was a complete waste of everyones time plus the added expenses of travel and loss of income is an understatment.
Heaven forbid if they start to make you have a roadworthy as well- another $200 minimum.
So suggest you check your lights regularly and change those Festoon bulbs on your trailer/caravan for something more robust.

[Ducati888]

Put LED bulbs in.

[Yellow_Festiva]

I have said for ages that there should be a list of 'offences' that should be a warning first.

And that is one of them. It's an honest mistake and can happen at any time.

How proud this copper must be, going home saying 'I made a difference today'....

Sorry to hear, that would have ruined my day for such a petty thing.

Yep, ready to be flamed about driver safety being the priority and how people should maintain their car correctly... take your best shots... Those that have never sinned be first in the line.

[JC]

Originally Posted by TER2BO

My wife was driving our Ford Territory when she was pulled over by the Highway Patrol in Melb.on 1st Feb.
One of the 3 rear stop lights was not working.
Short story - no please fix it - just a Yellow unroadworty sticker and notice to fix it within 7 days or else .
Did the job in about 45sec.(Territories and Falcon wagons seem to blow bulbs on a regular basis). (Are any bulbs made to last these days???)
But now you have to take the car to Vic Roads to have it inspected and the 'unroadworthy' taken off.
Went there today waited 45mins to be served -then they tell me its $45.10 for them to tell whether or not the brake lights are working.
This new charge just happened to start from the (you guessed it) 1st Feb.
To say I was unhappy and it was a complete waste of everyones time plus the added expenses of travel and loss of income is an understatment.
Heaven forbid if they start to make you have a roadworthy as well- another $200 minimum.
So suggest you check your lights regularly and change those Festoon bulbs on your trailer/caravan for something more robust.

My in-laws merc has a dash warning come one if any light is blown (I think it even tells you which one is gone). That's in a 2003 model car - wouldn't be too hard for Ford, Holden etc to do the same thing in these "modern" cars.

I was behind an idiot last night who has one tail light working, but the red lens was broken, so that was next to useless - the intact red lenses did not work at all. To top it off, said moron didn't use indicators on any of the 3 corners I was behind him for.

[JC]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

I have said for ages that there should be a list of 'offences' that should be a warning first.

And that is one of them. It's an honest mistake and can happen at any time.

How proud this copper must be, going home saying 'I made a difference today'....

Sorry to hear, that would have ruined my day for such a petty thing.

Yep, ready to be flamed about driver safety being the priority and how people should maintain their car correctly... take your best shots... Those that have never sinned be first in the line.

Nascar drivers tend to go OK with painted on tail lights, so they are not really required to drive safely, as it were. Having said that, most people don't concentrate enough to notice tail lights that do work, so when they don't, it makes the situation only marginally less safe.properly

[whitelion65]

Thanks JC,
I was going to ask if the terri warns of a blown globe.
One tail-light in my Berlina wagon always plays up. Give it a thump and it comes on again. But the indicators go at double time if a bulb is out!

[.:4:.]

Wow, I got a trailer blue slip for $44.10 in nsw. About 12 years ago I copped a defect for " shiny front tyres" whatever that means and my mechanic cleared it for $17 as the tyres were new.. totally irrelevant now but what's the world coming to... $45 to make you spend pocket change on bulbs, thats rediculous. I'm sure a warning would have made you change the bulb

[Yellow_Festiva]

Shiny front tyres??? You are kidding, right????

[commodorenutt]

Originally Posted by JC

My in-laws merc has a dash warning come one if any light is blown (I think it even tells you which one is gone). That's in a 2003 model car - wouldn't be too hard for Ford, Holden etc to do the same thing in these "modern" cars.

The WB Caprice in 1980 had it... and the control module that monitored the bulbs was desiigned so well, that if it failed, you could unplug it, rotate the plug 180 degrees, and it bypassed the module.

After that 5 year run in the WB, Holden released it again in 1993 - this time in the VR Calais, Statesman & Caprice - all tail lights & brake lights are covered by the blown bulb light on the dash.

[Ross 1]

My daughters 93 Merc has that system, very handy, as she wouldn't check anything that isn't displayed on the dash, oil, water etc... Same with my wife' newer Merc, scroll through the dash and it tells you everything that's needed or faulty.

[Yellow_Festiva]

You would think that it should be a mandatory safety item for all new cars much like warning chimes for belts and ice on the road....

What are we talking, some extra wires and a control module?? A few extra dollars on the production line, if that.

[rancidpunx]

I believe most cars have a feature for letting you know about blown bulbs. When indicating the lights flash double time and the dash lights/tick is also double time. Not sure about Falcons, never had a blown bulb.

[nuthin' fancy]

I always let other drivers know if their rear lights are out.

I've often thought that checking of lights could be done with mirrors at drive-throughs.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by TER2BO

Heaven forbid if they start to make you have a roadworthy as well- another $200 minimum.

If you get a major defect its back for a RWC to clear it and its up to their discretion if they want to ground the car on the spot.

But here is to complaining about police actually doing their job, next time make sure your car is in a roadworthy condition, including all lights functioning

[snopony]

I always check when I'm reverse parking, theres usually a shop window that I can see the reflection if one is out as I park. Although not a lot of places reverse in now as I understand from another thread a few months back.

[Blue Shadow]

Common sense needs to used, the car has 3 stop lights, surley safety is not compremised as 2 are srill working. The HP must be hard up for numbers to ping you on that, they do have discresion but this cop dosn't see the mum and dad paying a mortgage and putting food in the table for the kids. What a grub, the cops have changed so much since I was in, (NSW). They are not taught to be a buman these days.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by rancidpunx

I believe most cars have a feature for letting you know about blown bulbs. When indicating the lights flash double time and the dash lights/tick is also double time. Not sure about Falcons, never had a blown bulb.

Yep, indicators have this function but not brake lights.

I look at the red glow to see if it is even left and right when I reverse against a wall. How many people make a point of doing that? Not sure. If you drive alone and park on the street and mostly drive in the day time you may not know for ages that you have a light out. Especially now that new cars don't get inspected for 5 years now.

[baboon]

Thanks for the heads up TER2BO, will check ours soon.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Shiny front tyres??? You are kidding, right????

It was just after they banned high performance cars for p platers...I got my p's before the ban so I was exempt. I guess the cop needed a reason to pull over a wb ute with an engineering plate for the 96 clubsport efi 5l with p plates on it... he went for me over the car that was doing 80 to overtake me... who knows...

[Itsme]

Sounds like the copper would make a good Nazi, fancy a canary for a stop light.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by rancidpunx

I believe most cars have a feature for letting you know about blown bulbs. When indicating the lights flash double time and the dash lights/tick is also double time. Not sure about Falcons, never had a blown bulb.

I believe that's due to the bi metal strip in the flasher relay reacting to lower load. Electronic units that you need for low energy globes like leds won't do it, which is why if you throw in led indicators with a resistor they flash the same. You see countless motorbikes with led indicators that flash in double time but thats because the bi metal strip is running a lower load, therefore not creating enough heat to bend up and break contact for long enough

[nstg8a]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

If you get a major defect its back for a RWC to clear it and its up to their discretion if they want to ground the car on the spot.

But here is to complaining about police actually doing their job, next time make sure your car is in a roadworthy condition, including all lights functioning

Bit rough damo, who knows the brake lit could have blown the last time they hit the brakes before the cop saw them...


While I'm all for cops bringing stuff like this to the drivers attention I really don't think it's worth a defect. Unless of course the driver is a complete teabag and deserves it....

[olfella]

Well my take on it is that it does not take a great deal to check your lights - and if that removes an excuse to have me pulled over then I will keep checking - usually in my garage with the door down - you can see them reflect off it.

[Bearman]

That's just the way it is now, ambush motorists for the prettiest of things and seek to apply the maximum penalty with no discretion or even a sympathetic hearing.

Welcome to the new normal.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by nstg8a

Bit rough damo, who knows the brake lit could have blown the last time they hit the brakes before the cop saw them...


While I'm all for cops bringing stuff like this to the drivers attention I really don't think it's worth a defect. Unless of course the driver is a complete teabag and deserves it....

I agree to an extent. With all the number plate recognising software they have these days they should be able to pull you up on a discrepancy and if another cop car gets the plate with the same fault after say 48 hours defect you then. It wouldn't count for bald tyres, un engineered mods or things like uninclosed airboxs etc, but for disposables like headlight bulbs, stoplights or number plate bulbs it would be reasonable. The grey area would be brake switches

[cs123]

That is poor policing. I had a blown stop lamp on my car over Christmas. The copper told me it was blown. I said thanks. He said have a nice day. It was like I was living in the 60s.

I would write a letter to your local MP and perhaps do the social media thing and post it on your state's Police FB page.

[tonys6550]

Yep, good advice.

Once upon a time, ages gone by, you sometimes checked air pressure in your tyres, engine oil level, coolant level, power steering fluid level, brake fluid level, all lights worked and were in good order, windscreen was clean and not cracked, especially in CVA, windscreen washer bottle was full....................oh who am I kidding, let's just misplace blame for the neglect of our own vehicles.

The policeman that defected the vehicle for said tail light has discretion to issue a warning instead and most would if it was a pleasant encounter, let's face it a bulb can go any time, but obviously for unknown mitigating circumstances he/she has defected the vehicle.

[FG50T]

Originally Posted by olfella

Well my take on it is that it does not take a great deal to check your lights - and if that removes an excuse to have me pulled over then I will keep checking - usually in my garage with the door down - you can see them reflect off it.

You could check them every morning but think how many times you brake a day. Every time is an oppurtunity to blow.

I would defect a car that had no brake lights working however, the same to cars with brake lights stuck on.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by cs123

That is poor policing. I had a blown stop lamp on my car over Christmas. The copper told me it was blown. I said thanks. He said have a nice day. It was like I was living in the 60s.

I would write a letter to your local MP and perhaps do the social media thing and post it on your state's Police FB page.

Thats a case of bring polite, and 90% of the time the cops appreciate that. I guarentee that they cop argumentative people most the time. After the "hoon" legislation got passed in nsw got pulled up again for intentional loss of traction. Again in the 5l ute, however now it had a locker in the diff and it was chirping in slow traffic turning on a green arrow into a side street. The officer asked to look around the car, pulled the cover off the back, which was empty, checked what was under the bonnet, then chewed my ear off about the 186 powered hj ute he had when he was young for half an hour and let me off. 5 years later I was polite enough to drive away from .063, but that was an older cop and im not doing that again..

[ratter]

Originally Posted by Ducati888

Put LED bulbs in.

I have seen several weird electrical and running issues from the use of LED's