Interior lights at night

[LIPPSS]

Is it illegal to drive with interior lights on at night in the state of Oregon

[Tim_T-Bonham.net]

Don’t know about Oregon specifically, but a Minnesota cop friend told me this:

1. it will certainly attract the attention of any cop who sees you, and they will likely stop you to investigate it.

2. interior lights at night would cause reflections, diminished night vision, and so would reduce your vision of the road. So a cop could write you a ticket for some generic violation like “unsafe driving conditions”. But probably you’d just get a warning for this, unless you’d been a dick to the cop who stopped you – then you’d get an actual ticket.

[Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker]

I asked this question before, and
a) The consensus was that it attracts cops’ attention because many drivers with interior lights on are drunk
b) I asked our highway department, and they said there was no law against it.

However “b” does not rule out “a” above.

[Blakeyrat]

@t-bonham@scc.net

2. interior lights at night would cause reflections, diminished night vision, and so would reduce your vision of the road. So a cop could write you a ticket for some generic violation like “unsafe driving conditions”. But probably you’d just get a warning for this, unless you’d been a dick to the cop who stopped you – then you’d get an actual ticket.

I agree with your point 1, but I think point 2 is solved. At least every car I’ve driven build since about 2002-ish hasn’t had any reflection problems when the dome light is on at night. It seems like auto designers are keeping that in mind and placing the lighting in better positions than in older cars. (I admit “diminished night vision” might still be a factor though.)

[Fubaya]

I replaced my interior lights with red bulbs so they wouldn’t muck with my night vision (not that an oncoming car doesn’t ruin it anyway). It’s a lot more pleasant when parking and opening the door than a normal bright interior light. If you don’t have tinted windows though, I imagine a red light might attract a cop’s attention more.

[Alley_Dweller]

@Fubaya

I replaced my interior lights with red bulbs so they wouldn’t muck with my night vision (not that an oncoming car doesn’t ruin it anyway). It’s a lot more pleasant when parking and opening the door than a normal bright interior light. If you don’t have tinted windows though, I imagine a red light might attract a cop’s attention more.

Texas Transportation Code. Section 547.305

(b) Except as expressly authorized by law, a person may not operate or move equipment or a vehicle, other than a police vehicle, with a lamp or device that displays a red light visible from directly in front of the center of the equipment or vehicle.

I’m sure other states have similar laws.

[Fubaya]

Yep, that’s so it isn’t confused as a police car. Tinted windows make it a non-issue from all sides except the front, and in the front you can’t see the actual light on the ceiling from very many vehicles. The red output is dimmer than normal and doesn’t light up objects inside with a noticeably different color when viewed from the outside. Unless a cop is squatting on the road and looking up at your vehicle’s ceiling, no one would know it’s red, and even then it’s obviously not being used to impersonate a cop so he’d have to be pretty pissed to write you a ticket for it (maybe because you caught him squatting on the road?).

[Blakeyrat]

@Alley_Dweller

Texas Transportation Code. Section 547.305
I’m sure other states have similar laws.

In Washington, it’s blue, not red. I had a friend who was cited because he put blue covers on his blinkers, because he thought they looked cool.