Transport department to crack down on ‘illegal modification’ of vehicle lights

The department’s director-general, Chanthira Burutpat, said this week that her department had received several complaints from road users about their vision being disturbed by vehicles that had modified their headlights/tail lights and/or had installed additional lamps to produce brighter beams.
“There are also reported cases of vehicle users modifying their lights into different colours other than those specified by the law, which are all illegal,” she added.
“The Department of Land Transport worries about the safety of all road users and would like to ask vehicle owners to refrain from modifying their lights, which could affect the vision of other road users and eventually cause accidents.”
Chanthira said that she also has ordered DLT’s provincial branches as well as private car inspection centres to strictly follow the DLT regulations on vehicle lights. “Any vehicles that don’t comply with the regulations will be considered as failing the inspection until the owners fix the issues,” she said.
“We have also collaborated with the police by dispatching inspection staff to police checkpoints nationwide to perform random checks,” she said. “Vehicles that violate the regulations will be issued tickets immediately.”
According to Chanthira, the DLT’s regulations specify that all vehicles must install a maximum of two front lamps providing lower angle beams, and a maximum of two front lamps providing far-reaching beams. The lamp lights must be white or light yellow and installed at the same level both left and right, at least 40cm above the road level but not exceeding 135cm.
Indicator lights must be bright yellow and capable of blinking; they must be installed in pairs at the front and 2-4 lights at the back. Brake lights must be red and not blinking, installed in pairs or 4 lights at the back. The light illuminating the licence plate must be white and must help make the plate readable in the dark.