Whats the situation regarding LED lights?
The Road Traffic Act states that for use at night, a bicycle must be fitted with front and rear lights that conform to the appropriate British Standard (which isn’t exactly held in high esteem by many people!) or a suitable European equivalent. There’s a general conflict of opinion as to whether LED lights, particularly those with only a `flashing’ mode, conform to the British Standard, being as an LED isn’t a `steady’ source in the same way that an incandescent bulb is. Despite that, many LED lights are built to Dutch or German standards, so should technically be legal in the UK – more information can be found in the February/March issue of the CTC magazine. All that said, LED lights are widely used because they’re available fairly cheaply, are very visible and can go for a long time before the batteries need changing. There have been no reports of anybody being prosecuted for using LED lights on their bikes. Despite the quasi-legality of LED lights, having solely LED lights on your b
