On Sat, 27 Oct 2001 15:49:44 +0100, SammyTheSnake
<sammy@osyd.debian.org> wrote:
> In article <3bd2b85b.a93@vimes.u-net.com>, Sarah Miller wrote:
>
> >The reflectors and lights issue is easily sorted as add ons, my coker
> >has red reflector tape at rear, white at front and F&R lights. Yes I
> >road ride, at night, in traffic. Yes I know what I’m doing, I’ve been
> >riding two wheelers in traffic for nearly 20 years.
>
> what about the rules about the angle at which the lights point? IIRC the
> rear light has to point parallel to the road and the front light has to
> be 2-5 degrees downward (or something of that order) which is pretty
> much impossible to ensure on a 1 wheeler…
The rules for pedal cycles are much less stringent than for motor
vehicles. While motor vehicles do have angles specified quite tightly, for
cycles it just says things like “forwards” and “visible from a reasonable
distance”.
Partly this is covered by the fact that cycles only need have position
lamps, not headlamps.
The place to check (if you really want) would be the Road Vehicles
Lighting Regs and the Pedal Cycle C&U Regs. RVLR can be found on teh web
at http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si1989/Uksi_19891796_en_1.htm.
PCUR aren’t on the web (they’re too old) but you could buy them at a HMSO
bookshop if you wanted.
Anyhow: RVLR, Schedule 1 Table III (lights and markings required on a
pedal cycle)
Must have: Type Requirements Exceptions Front position lamp Schedule 2:
Part I None. Rear position lamp Schedule 10: Part I None. Rear retro
reflector Schedule 18: Part I None. Pedal retro reflector Schedule 20:
Part I man. before 1st Oct 85.
I’ll just look at at front position lamp (you can check the rest
yourself), so Schedule 2: Part 1: (I’ve extracted the relevant bits):
-
Number-
(b) A pedal cycle with less than four wheels and without a sidecar: One
-
Position-
(a) Longitudinal: No requirement
(b) Lateral-
© Where one front position lamp is required to be fitted-
(d) Any other vehicle: On the centre-line or off-side of the vehicle
(e) Vertical-
(f) Maximum height above the ground-
(g) Any vehicle not covered by sub-paragraph (B), © or (D): 1500
mm or, if the structure of the vehicle makes this
impracticable, 2100 mm
(h) Minimum height above the ground No requirement
-
Angles of visibility-
(b) Any other vehicle: Visible to the front
-
Alignment: To the front
-
Markings-
© Any other vehicle manufactured or first used on or after 1st October
1990: An approval mark or a British Standard mark
(d) Any other vehicle: No requirement
-
Size of illuminated area:
No requirement
-
Colour: White or, if incorporated in a headlamp which is capable of
emitting only a yellow light, yellow
-
Wattage: No requirement
-
Intensity-
(a) A front position lamp bearing any of the markings mentioned in
paragraph 5: No requirement
(b) Any other front position lamp: Visible from a reasonable distance
-
Electrical connections: No individual requirement
-
Tell-tale: No requirement
As I noted, this is not the only place the requirements are specified, but
thius is the place the angle requirements alluded to are specified for
motor vehicles, and as you can see, while they have requirements, pedal
cycles (includinmg unicycles) don’t.
regards, Ian SMith
|\ /| Opinions expressed in this post are my own, and do
|o o| not reflect the views of Amos, my mbu puffer fish.
|/ | (His view is that snails are very tasty.)
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