Bicycle Austin forum

spyglass

Member

Registered: 2010-01-30

Posts: 1

Legal Bike Lights

Do the Austin police require that I have a bike light mounted on my bike at night or can I just wear a headlamp and some kind of red light on the back?

Thanks.

Trying to figure out what's legal. I don't want to be put in jail with the texters and the dive bar smokers.

dougmc

Administrator

Registered: 2008-06-01

Posts: 623

Re: Legal Bike Lights

Sec. 551.104. Safety Equipment.
(a) A person may not operate a bicycle unless the bicycle is equipped with a brake capable of making a braked wheel skid on dry, level, clean pavement.
(b) A person may not operate a bicycle at nighttime unless the bicycle is equipped with:
(1) a lamp on the front of the bicycle that emits a white light visible from a distance of at least 500 feet in front of the bicycle; and
(2) on the rear of the bicycle:
    (A) a red reflector that is:
        (i) of a type approved by the department; and
        (ii) visible when directly in front of lawful upper beams of motor vehicle headlamps from all distances from 50 to 300 feet to the rear of the bicycle; or
    (B) a lamp that emits a red light visible from a distance of 500 feet to the rear of the bicycle.

... now, it says that the bike must be equipped with a light, not the rider, but if a bike is equipped with a rider and the rider is equipped with lights, one could easily argue that that satisfies the law.  In any event, I've never heard of anybody being given a ticket for no bike light when the light was on their person rather than the bike itself, and in the unlikely event that a cop did give such a ticket, my guess is that the judge would throw it out quickly when it was contested.

MichaelBluejay

Webmaster

From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,455

Website

Re: Legal Bike Lights

I agree with dougmc's answer.  The law isn't explicit, but I think most judges would throw it out, if it even went to trial.  It's more likely that the prosecutor would dismiss it before it even went to trial.

Let me remind all readers that Bicycle Austin covers all state and local biking laws.  There's a link on the top of every page on the website, and here's a short:  http://BicycleAustin.info/laws

CharlesDuffy

Member

Registered: 2009-07-03

Posts: 56

Re: Legal Bike Lights

My approach -- put a good (to-see-by) light on the helmet, and a cheap to-be-seen-by light on the handlebars. That way you're visible even when you're looking to the side, and there's no question about legality; also, it means you can set the to-be-seen-by light to blinky mode, saving battery and (perhaps) increasing the attention draw. I also double-up on the back (a Flashbak and a Superflash) -- had a taillight die on me once far from home after dark, and don't intend to repeat the experience.

However, this is certainly well beyond what's required to avoid prosecution. The Flashbak's inventor asked the Travis County AG's office if they would prosecute a case regarding use of a yellow rather than red tail light, and "they said that the intent of the law is that the cyclist be seen" and that they would not prosecute. I expect that in practice a similar level of common sense would be taken into account with respect to the headlight as well.

Last edited by CharlesDuffy (2010-01-31 13:39:24)