The bike light is a must, but how do you know which one is legal? Is it enough with the little LED light that hardly gives light any more?
Has anyone ever told you that the small lamps you tie to the handlebars really are illegal? And if so, has she or he perhaps read that in a two-year-old Lundagård article where a police officer claimed that? In reality, what holds good?
According to the road traffic regulations, a bike light is legal if it’s visible from a distance of 300 metres. Greger Nilsson, head of the Traffic Group in Lund, takes the bike to work every day and knows the capacities of the lamps.
“Nowadays another sort of lamps is produced that is much stronger and clearly visible from 300 metres, which is the minimum range”, says Greger Nilsson.
Generous treatment
Whether the lamps are legal or not doesn’t seem to make that big a difference to the traffic police in Lund, who are generous towards the cyclists.
“We have decided not to hand in reports concerning lamps that do give light. However, if the light is too dim, the cyclists will have to get off their bikes and walk home”, says Greger Nilsson.
Perhaps they are a little too generous sometimes.
“I remember a girl we stopped. I pointed out that her bicycle had no rear lamp, whereupon she told us that she surely had one. As we bent forward and I encircled the lamp with my hands, I could see a tiny read thread gleaming. The girl was given no fine but had to walk home”, says Greger Nilsson.
Improved situation
Of course the police issue fines sometimes, but students are usually those who are most understanding and nice.
“Those who are rude and protest most strongly are middle-aged men, academics who believe that they can say whatever they feel like,” says Greger Nilsson, who thinks that the situation has improved only during the recent year. Now there are not as many as before who have no light. He says that people are happy when they are able to show that they have lamps.
As to him, Greger Nilsson himself makes sure always to be properly equipped.
“I always carry an extra lamp in my pocket in case the others would break. As a cycling police officer, it would be embarrassing otherwise.”
Passed the test
But is it possible that these mini-lamps really can be seen from a distance of 300 metres? We knew they were legal, but we were curious and wanted to test if they really were visible. To do this we went to Studentinfo and bought one white and one red copy of the official lamps of the University and set off for doing our experiment.
Late at night, in the midst of a pitch black field just below Klostergården we tried the lamps. And the light was bright and vivid!
Text: Anna-Maria Holmgren
Translation: Anna Bergvall
