No Lights? – Don’t Ride Your Bike at Night Then – It’s the Law

In the Summer months you probably don’t give much thought to lighting up at night (that’s making yourself visible while riding your bike, not stopping for a cigarette) because you probably have enough light to be seen by until fairly late. However, as Summer closes and the Autumn and Winter months arrive then it is something that you need to pay close attention to if you’re not intending to change your schedule around or reduce the amount of outdoor riding you do. You need to have lights on your bike not just because its the right thing to do from a health and safety point of view but also because its the law. So if you are intent on riding at night then you have to have lights – its that simple.

But what does the law actually say? Right off the bat I can tell you that the popular flashing LED rear lights that are almost three times more visible than steady lights are illegal in the UK. At least they are at the time of writing this article – although this is under review and could change.

If you are fitting lights to your bike ready for the darker nights part of the year then there are some rules you need to stick to You must have:

• One steady, fixed white light that conforms to BS6102/3 mounted centrally or offside (closer to the middle of the road) and no higher than 1500mm from the ground. It should be visible from the front and aligned in that direction.
• One steady, fixed red light that conforms to BS6102/3 or BS3648. This should be mounted centrally or offside at the rear of your bike and should be between 350mm and 1500mm from the ground. It should be visible from the rear and aligned in that direction. 
• One reflector, coloured red that conforms to BS6102/2. This should be mounted centrally or offside at the rear of your bike and should be between 350mm and 900mm from the ground. It should be visible from the rear and aligned in that direction.
• Four reflectors, coloured amber that conform to BS6102/2. These should be fitted to each pedal so that one is clearly visible from the front and one is clearly visisble from the rear.

Note that for the pedal reflectors bit, even though step in type pedals are very popular for mountain bikers and track riders, racers etc, there is no exemption. If you don’t have pedal reflectors fitted, it is illegal to ride on the road at night.

There are a couple of exemptions from the above though if you have an older bike. If your bike is pre 1990 then the amount of light output by your front light needed to meet the required standard is much lower. Also, if your bike is pre 1985 then there is no requirement to have pedal reflectors fitted.