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LEDs - Legal while moving?


Josh1234

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First off, bring on the flames, motherfuckers!

I think some states used to have (or still do) laws saying you can have any red/blue lights shining on the vehicle while in motion, because it'd impersonate a popo.

What are the rules in Ohio for riding with blue LEDs, anyone know?

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Most states, cities, and counties follow Federal DOT. Which allows limited numbers of white auxiliary lights in the front. And red is limited to the back and maybe rear side lights. Yellow markers just about anywhere. So stretched to the limit, a vehicle could be taken off the road for federal DOT alterations.

But, ORC http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4513.17 only prohibits flashing or rotating lights of red, blue, white or various combinations thereof.

But still, blue or red lighting while moving, is pretty much an open invitation for a "give it to them anyway" ticket.

Edited by ReconRat
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Wow.. I've been unplugged for way too long. I had no idea places like this existed. :lol:

There used to be a couple in Columbus. Don't know if they are still around. Some are rather private, by invitation only. I just did a quick search and found 40 advertised places in Ohio. I think the notorious ones are all in Las Vegas.

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Most states, cities, and counties follow Federal DOT. Which allows limited numbers of white auxiliary lights in the front. And red is limited to the back and maybe rear side lights. Yellow markers just about anywhere. So stretched to the limit, a vehicle could be taken off the road for federal DOT alterations.

But, ORC http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4513.17 only prohibits flashing or rotating lights of red, blue, white or various combinations thereof.

But still, blue or red lighting while moving, or is an open invitation for a "give it to them anyway" ticket.

Perfect, thanks! Guess I'll just use 'em outside the club to attract the honeys :dunno:

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Perfect, thanks! Guess I'll just use 'em outside the club to attract the honeys :dunno:
Nothing illegal about standard LEDs....

no wheel LEDs and stay away from anything flashing or pulsing

Don't forget that small towns could have specific laws that prohibit whatever they want. Just need to know that before finding out the hard way.

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blue lights are asking for trouble period.

I put christmas lights on the luggage rack of my mom's van when I was in high school, and got a fix-it ticket for it (basically).

there are lot of things you can HAVE, but cannot actually use. I can buy a crown-vic and make it look a LOT like a police car. Lights, crash bars, black/white paint job, etc. and not be breakign the law.

...until I turn on the blues. Then I'm impersonating an officer. You also can't write "POLICE" anywhere on it.

I think LEDs are dumb, but I can see how they'd be potentially useful for night time visibility. stick to ambers unless you want LEO's up your butt.

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you can get away with LED's on a bike much easier than on a cage for one simple reason. Use the old "these make me more visible so dumbass drivers don't run me over because they didn't see me" It worked for me when I was riding my friends Buell with LEDs one night

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  • 1 year later...

Back when i was considering LEDs on my 650 i decided to go to the local LEOs Sidney City Police shift Supervisor, Shelby County Sherrif Rich Wade(my cousin), and Piqua post State Trooper Shift supervisor. I asked all three the same question and even showed them the LEDs on my dads Valkyrie. They all three stated that they can no recall any state code that says accent lighting was illegal. They did say that if i went with red, I was not allowed to have the light source facing forward and under no circumstances are they allowed to flash in a strobe like fashion. I also inquried as to color restrictions and The police and sherrif stated they did not know of any color restriction, the Trooper said there wasnt one, but he advised against using blue since that is the color all the state trooper cars are going with, and if a LEO wanted to be a dick they could issue a ticket for it. They all did agree that with anything that if a LEO wanted they could pull me over because they didnt like what they saw and tell me to turn them off.

In the end i have ridden many times with them on solid, and with them on in a fading in and out fashion and have had many cops roll by me and comment on how good they looked. Not once have i been pulled over and told to turn them off.

EDIT: I would reccommend turning them off whenever you cross into another state as i have been told on other forums they are illegal for use while moving in Kentucky and in Michigan. I reccommend checking local laws first.

Edited by Gunner75
final thought
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Back when i was considering LEDs on my 650 i decided to go to the local LEOs Sidney City Police shift Supervisor, Shelby County Sherrif Rich Wade(my cousin), and Piqua post State Trooper Shift supervisor. I asked all three the same question and even showed them the LEDs on my dads Valkyrie. They all three stated that they can no recall any state code that says accent lighting was illegal. They did say that if i went with red, I was not allowed to have the light source facing forward and under no circumstances are they allowed to flash in a strobe like fashion. I also inquried as to color restrictions and The police and sherrif stated they did not know of any color restriction, the Trooper said there wasnt one, but he advised against using blue since that is the color all the state trooper cars are going with, and if a LEO wanted to be a dick they could issue a ticket for it. They all did agree that with anything that if a LEO wanted they could pull me over because they didnt like what they saw and tell me to turn them off.

In the end i have ridden many times with them on solid, and with them on in a fading in and out fashion and have had many cops roll by me and comment on how good they looked. Not once have i been pulled over and told to turn them off.

EDIT: I would reccommend turning them off whenever you cross into another state as i have been told on other forums they are illegal for use while moving in Kentucky and in Michigan. I reccommend checking local laws first.

Good info, thanks! I just put red LED's on my 650 a few weeks ago and was wondering if I would catch any heat from the police...so far it is all good though. Really, as long as they are not flashing or blinding people, I don't see why they would be illegal anyway. I just used them hidden in my side vents and tucked up in the fairings shining down on the wheels, nothing too crazy. IMO, if they are done correctly, they look pretty cool but can look gaudy if overdone.

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When I bought my old fzr it was red and had red accent lighting. After I had it painted blue I put blue lights on it. I ride home from work at midnight every night and liked the fact they made me more visible. I have rode past countless local cops, staties and sheriffs in both configurations and even got pulled over by a sheriff for speeding and never once heard a thing about my lights...and I got off with a warning for speeding...it could be that every cop I rode by/past was the coolest, motorcycle-lovingest cop ever, or it could be they don't give a shit around here. Now if you're in a dinky shit town with really bored cops you may have issues.

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Back when i was considering LEDs on my 650 i decided to go to the local LEOs Sidney City Police shift Supervisor, Shelby County Sherrif Rich Wade(my cousin), and Piqua post State Trooper Shift supervisor. I asked all three the same question and even showed them the LEDs on my dads Valkyrie. They all three stated that they can no recall any state code that says accent lighting was illegal. They did say that if i went with red, I was not allowed to have the light source facing forward and under no circumstances are they allowed to flash in a strobe like fashion. I also inquried as to color restrictions and The police and sherrif stated they did not know of any color restriction, the Trooper said there wasnt one, but he advised against using blue since that is the color all the state trooper cars are going with, and if a LEO wanted to be a dick they could issue a ticket for it. They all did agree that with anything that if a LEO wanted they could pull me over because they didnt like what they saw and tell me to turn them off.

In the end i have ridden many times with them on solid, and with them on in a fading in and out fashion and have had many cops roll by me and comment on how good they looked. Not once have i been pulled over and told to turn them off.

EDIT: I would reccommend turning them off whenever you cross into another state as i have been told on other forums they are illegal for use while moving in Kentucky and in Michigan. I reccommend checking local laws first.

I understand you're doing your due diligence. You can ask 50 cops and they may all same the same thing, however if the one you didn't gives you a ticket, legal or not, those statements by the cops aren't going to do fuck-all for your defense. Just pointing that out that unless you've got ironclad precedent from a previous court decision saying that those lights on your bike in that color and mounted that way are legal, you're still opening yourself for possible harassment by some local yokel who's been having a bad month, or some podunk town with a obscure ordinance from WWII.

I only say this because others may take your name-dropping of cop supervisors as legal gospel, and it's not.

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The cop is only one part of the equation as far as tickets go. Yeah, a cop can be a prick and arrest you for impersonating an officer because you have blue lights on your bike, that doesn't mean the prossecutor is going to charge you, or that a judge will convict you. And honestly, I don't see that charge sticking at all. Maybe there's some other ticket the cop could write, a bullshit equipment violation....the offense has to exist for him to write the ticket. If orc states you can't have flashing or spinning lights, he can't write you up on that. Maybe some obscure local ordinance, if there us one. I'd say go for it, the most a cop is going to do is ask you to turn them off unless he's got a hard-on for you because you blew past him on one wheel at $1.40 with his topless daughter riding pilion.

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See the name drop was to just verify validity do my statement. Most people know him since hes been a shelby county sherrif for 35+ years. That was all. and in my post youll see where the state trooper i spoke with from piqua told me its all up to the cop that stops me if he wants to drop me a ticket or not that its totally up to him. 9 times out of 10 when i ride at night my leds are on solid verses fading in and out. Considering my step dads goldwing has over 1000 blue LEDs that are on when his starts up and he rides its wing to work daily and has since he got it in 2008. Hes never been stopped other then for one of the sherriffs to admire his wing.

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All depends on the cops and laws. Back in high school my friends and I all had neons on our cars. A town cop in Indiana pulled all of us over in town and started naming off all the tickets he could give for them. Even showed me the statute for green only being for EMS vehicles. I even got pulled over once for having amber running lights in my off road lights on my Jeep by an Ohio Trooper. Told me I couldn't run them cuz Ohio has a law about no more than 5 forward facing headlights. All depends on if they wanna be a prick.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

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