Blinding red light on the back of another car – is this legal?

i was driving south along the M1 Pacific Motorway in Brisbane yesterday at about 8:30pm. Around the Greenslopes / Holland Park area, there was an extremely bright red light shining from a vehicle in front. This was like the equivalent of a high beam, except pointed backwards.

As I got within 100m or so, I noticed it was coming from the back of a white hatchback. I didn't take a picture because I was driving and (stupidly) I didn't take down the numberplate. It was a square light about the size of a food buzzer you get from the pub, emitting steady, intense red light. The square was attached to the rear right bumper well below the stock brake lights, and was quite clearly not factory fitted.

The light produced was much, much brighter than normal brake lights, which I can stare directly into with no problem. This light filled my entire vision for the whole time I was within 100-200m of the car, as if I was staring into red highbeams, and it was uncomfortable to look at directly.

Surely this can't be legal. During the day it's probably fine, but at night this thing is a serious hazard. Have you ever experienced something like this?

Comments

  • +4

    Probably a rear fog light. Illegal to use in clear weather, day or night.

    Used to be a big thing with mid-90's Hyundai Excel drivers.

    • I thought rear fog lights were only used in Europe. I can understand that there would be a need for one for extremely misty and foggy conditions (think maybe the UK).

      Maybe the car was an import and the driver didn't know that the fog lights were on… possibly switched it on and left it on by mistake.

    • They still are… But you can't accidentally turn them on, and can't forget to turn them off. On Kia's too.

      • Lots of cars have them, the excel was a shocker, and it was fitted as described, single square bottom right of the bumper not near other lights.

        Modern versions can only be activated while the car is turned on, and reset when you turn the car off, bit like driving lights on the front.

        Oh, and yes, it is illegal to use them except in poor visibility conditions, just like driving lamps on the front.

  • I got to admit I'm getting tempted to put in one of those Dash cams to capture this sort of thing without risking an accident, or fine, by trying to use my phone camera. I've seen some really stupid things, including a bunch of idiot motorbikers who were using cars to create buffer zones so they could do wheel stands in the middle of a crowded 3 line highway. Would like to have had the footage, including number plates, to go to the cops with.

    • They are well worth it.

  • +1

    A car with Red and Blue lights at the front trumps a car with a Blinding Red Rear light at the rear everytime…
    http://tinyurl.com/jrsxgyq

  • +1

    Morons with rear fog lights, totally oblivious to the effect on following drivers… in Melbourne it seems to be mostly BMWs and VWs.

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