Beam benders etc

[4cls]

Read a lot of reviews about beam benders for headlights when in france, some reviewers are caustic about the function of these. On the BMW motorcycle we used black adhesive tap, no probs. We are of to France for May in the M/Home, so are beam benders nessesary if you are not going to travel at night? do we still have to have yellow head-lights? no good if daytime travelling.

[David Dwight]

If you are not going to travel at night then possibly not. We have headlamp protectrers fitted all the time so its only a matter of minutes to fit the masks to them. But if you do travel at night surely it would only be a matter of curtesy not to have your lihgts shining into oncoming vehicles. Yellow headlight were used by the French during the War it was form of recognition for the resitance, so has never been a legal requirement.

 

[Muswell]

I think the requirement is not to dazzle, not to have beam deflectors. So if you never turn your lights on you should be OK. I prefer to be able to drive at night if necessary so fit the deflectors. I read that the adhesive can damage the plastic of the headlamp and, also, I find that you can only use them once. So I bought some clip on lamp protectors and the beam deflectors are permanently stuck to these.

 

I also prefer to have nothing the police can pick me up on

[sshortcircuit]

It is not just at night as they would be required in poor visibility.. Not worth the hassle if stopped by police if not fitted. I have used duct tape in the past. I also have proper units that I have removed and then put back on with no problems. Your own choice.

[Tony Jones]

Many continental tunnels also require headlights, so day /night is irrelevant. French law is quite clear, and allows no defence along the lines of "I'm not going to drive at night." Show some respect to your motorhome-friendly hosts and get those lights masked or deflected.

[Derek Uzzell]

There are many earlier forum threads relating to masks/beam-converters being fitted to the UK-standard headlamps of UK motorhomes visiting the Continent. I've chosen this one as it covers a number of points raised here:

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Eurolite-headlight-deflectors-fitting-help-/16935/

 

My understanding is that, whatever country you drive in, your vehicle's headlamps should not dazzle other motorists. I'm not aware of any specific regulations as to how 'non-dazzling' should be achieved but, if your UK-specification motorhome's headlamps are set up for good nighttime visibility while driving in the UK (ie. they dip left and the dipped-beam image has a UK nearside 'kick-up'), they will dazzle oncoming drivers on the Continent.

[kelly58]

Strange how all the foriegn HGV's and other vehicles using the UK roads do not bother with any form of beam benders ,  as is the norm in Europe its a case of " do as we say not do as we do " and like good little Brits we bow down and comply. Like Hi-Vis vests when was the last time you see any French Police wearing one ?

[Curtisden]

W hile traveling last year just north of Cahors we were stopped in a small rural village by armed french police. They asked clearly for our papers in english and also insurance. While this was being checked a second officer checked the Tax, the tyres and then the lights which had Black Tape on. I am in no doubt they would have done something if we had not had them covered.The whole time a third police oficer stood some 25 meters in front of us on the road edge with a huge shotgun. When i asked the inspector what he was for. he replied in perfect english, To stop you if you don't.!!!!!

Re the EU truck Drivers they can change their lights with a switch inside the cab in some trucks. I have never been dazzled by a EU truck that i can remember.

 

[mirage]

I have posted this before but I will do it again regardless of adverse replies I NEVER fitted beam benders to an X250 and have NEVER been flashed by on coming traffic in tunnels with dip lights on. As an earlier post said the requirement is not to dazzle, I did get flashed straight away in a previous JTD and fitted beam benders, they soon let you know if dazzling! It would be interesting to know if anyone has actually been pulled over,ticked off, or fined for not fitting beam benders by police.

[myshell]

A couple of years ago whilst returning home I called at Cite de Europe to stock up on the usual, (wine,

wine & more wine) the local police where out in force on the car park checking vehicles tax discs, tyres and headlights etc. the driver of the car parked next to me was remonstrating with the police as they where giving him an on the spot fine for not having beam deflectors fitted, he said he had only come over for a one day shopping trip and would be returning home by ferry / tunnel that evening therefore he would not be driving in the dark, he even showed the police his return tickets with the dates and times printed on them, all to no avail, he still had to pay the fine.

 

regards

Phil

[sshortcircuit]

mirage - 2013-03-23 8:08 PM

 

I have posted this before but I will do it again regardless of adverse replies I NEVER fitted beam benders to an X250 and have NEVER been flashed by on coming traffic in tunnels with dip lights on. As an earlier post said the requirement is not to dazzle, I did get flashed straight away in a previous JTD and fitted beam benders, they soon let you know if dazzling! It would be interesting to know if anyone has actually been pulled over,ticked off, or fined for not fitting beam benders by police.

 

Do you really think Mr Plod will be interested in your findings of never being flashed? As Myshell has experienced this will not be the case so good luck. :-D

[Barryd999]

I bought mine off ebay five years ago and they are still fitted. Cost about £3.

 

I am somewhat bemused as to why French plod would be checking UK tax discs though. Why on earth would the French be bothered if your van is taxed for use on the UK roads?

 

I frequently run out of tax while abroad. I tax it online so its kept legal in the uk but often end up running around Europe with an out of date disk on display. Surely thats not illegal outside of the UK.

[Mike B.]

Barryd999 - 2013-03-23 10:56 PM

 

I bought mine off ebay five years ago and they are still fitted. Cost about £3.

 

I am somewhat bemused as to why French plod would be checking UK tax discs though. Why on earth would the French be bothered if your van is taxed for use on the UK roads?

 

I frequently run out of tax while abroad. I tax it online so its kept legal in the uk but often end up running around Europe with an out of date disk on display. Surely thats not illegal outside of the UK.

 

I think you'll find it is. To drive legally on a road in the EU your vehicle must be 100% legal in your home country. As it states on the tax disc form you must display the disc in your vehicle and failure to do so can incur a fine of £200.+

Consequently if you are not displaying it (albeit the vehicle is taxed) you are not complying with the legal requirement of the UK and with the EU reciprocal agreements you could technically be liable to a fine. Not convinced they would do anything with the amount of paperwork required but you never know!

 

Mike

[Derek Uzzell]

myshell - 2013-03-23 9:22 PM

 

A couple of years ago whilst returning home I called at Cite de Europe to stock up on the usual, (wine,

wine & more wine) the local police where out in force on the car park checking vehicles tax discs, tyres and headlights etc. the driver of the car parked next to me was remonstrating with the police as they where giving him an on the spot fine for not having beam deflectors fitted, he said he had only come over for a one day shopping trip and would be returning home by ferry / tunnel that evening therefore he would not be driving in the dark, he even showed the police his return tickets with the dates and times printed on them, all to no avail, he still had to pay the fine.

 

regards

Phil

 

No EU country that has 'right-hand traffic' will have a law demanding that visiting motorists from countries with 'left-hand traffic' (ie, the UK and Ireland) must have additions (masks/beam-deflectors) to their vehicle's headlamps to prevent them dazzling.

 

A few UK motorists will be driving vehicles (LHD or RHD) with right-dipping headlamps designed for right-hand traffic, while others will have vehicles where the likely-to-dazzle 'kick-up' part of the dipped-beam image can be suppressed easily by moving a lever in the headlamp. In either instance, fitting masks/beam-converters to such lights would be superfluous. However, It's likely that the headlamps of most UK/Irish visiters' vehicles will need masks/beam-converters to modify the dipped-beam image to minimise the risk of it dazzling when driving in right-hand traffic.

 

French police have the right to inspect a motorist's documentation and to check his/her vehicle for roadworthiness. Like Barry, I would have thought French police have no authority to prosecute a UK tourist whose vehicle is not UK-taxed, though they might well wish to check that the information on the tax-disk matches the vehicle as, if it didn't, it might indicate the vehicle had been stolen. Who knows? Perhaps they do it in the hope that the tax is out of date and they can wag a finger at the tourist in a suitably admonitory Gallic manner - if I were a French policeman I'd think that would an amusing way to pass the time!

 

Even if a tourist's vehicle has 'right-hand traffic' headlamps, or its headlamps have been mechanically tweaked to remove their dipped-beam kick-up, this won't be immediately obvious just by looking at its headlights. So I assume the French police at Cité Europe were actually checking the beam image of tourists' headlamps and confirming that it conformed with French regulations or didn't. It would be interesting to know exactly which French regulation is invoked for this sort of headlamp-related offence.

 

When I was in France last year I met three British motorcyclists in Mayenne, one of which was riding a 1980s MZ 250cc bike. This had what seemed to be a whole roll of insulation-tape stuck on its headlamp and the owner asked me if the 'mask' was correctly positioned. I looked at the headlight and guessed that it produced a 'flat' dipped beam, so didn't need a mask. I suggested to the owner this might be the case, but he replied that, although he had no intention of riding in the dark, he preferred to be seen to be making an effort to conform with Continental law even if it might not be strictly necessary. This seemed a very reasonable attitude to take - better for the police to think you are law-abiding than to think you may not be. Having been told by the MZ owner that he'd bought the bike for £100 a couple of weeks before and was quite surprised he'd had no problems with it to date, I asked "Are you going far?" thinking that, with such an old bike, he'd be just be toodling around northern France for a while. "Down the west coast, of France, Spain, Portugal and finally Morocco." "There's optimism", I thought.

[Curtisden]

Barryd999 - 2013-03-23 10:56 PM

 

I bought mine off ebay five years ago and they are still fitted. Cost about £3.

 

I am somewhat bemused as to why French plod would be checking UK tax discs though. Why on earth would the French be bothered if your van is taxed for use on the UK roads?

 

I frequently run out of tax while abroad. I tax it online so its kept legal in the uk but often end up running around Europe with an out of date disk on display. Surely thats not illegal outside of the UK.

 

Reason he would look is the same as why he would ask for your insurance. It is the law. We are members of the great EU now and now the parking and speeding fines you pick up sometimes? follow you home these days. If you pay them or not is your problem.

 

Re Not displaying a Up to date Tax disk on entering say Dover would mean if you were stopped a fine. Why because its the UK C & EX you pass through and there job is to pick up unpaid or due Tax.How do i know. My Daughter is one of the crew who stop you in the tunnel and having just asked her she tells me while not top of the list if you get stopped they will start looking for other infringements.

 

Why do some people feel its right to not follow the rules like everbody else?

[locoman]

If your Tax Disc is out of date, and the vehicle is on the Public Highway, UK or EU, your Insurance is Invalid,

 

Worth thinking about !! :-S

[Nethernut]

the majority of continental vehicles have headlights which dip straight down not to the side as UK ones do, that is why they don't need to fit beam benders. In fact when we lived in Germany our car's lights were checked each year to ensure that they dipped down enough, i think it was part of the TUV test.

 

 

 

kelly58 - 2013-03-23 8:39 AM

 

Strange how all the foriegn HGV's and other vehicles using the UK roads do not bother with any form of beam benders ,  as is the norm in Europe its a case of " do as we say not do as we do " and like good little Brits we bow down and comply. Like Hi-Vis vests when was the last time you see any French Police wearing one ?

[Derek Uzzell]

Commonsense should tell one that every country will use its own laws within its ‘national boundaries’ and not the laws of another country. UK law (not French or German) will apply to the UK, French law (not UK or German) to France, German law (not French or UK) to Germany, etc. etc.

 

Forum members will be aware that French motoring regulations require drivers to carry a high-visibility ‘vest’ and warning-triangle within their vehicles. This is a French regulation, but not a UK one.

 

Any motorist (whatever their nationality) driving in France without a triangle/vest risks prosecution under French law. However, in the UK, no motorist (whatever their nationality) risks prosecution for not carrying a triangle/vest because UK motoring law does not include this requirement.

 

French motorists do not need to carry a vest/triangle in their vehicles while driving them in the UK, though they will be required to do so when they re-enter France.

 

It would be illogical to believe that a UK traffic policeman might stop French motorists, demand to see a triangle/vest and seek to prosecute them if they were found to be not carrying items that are demanded of motorists under French law while driving in France, but are NOT not demanded of motorists under UK law while driving in the UK.

 

Similarly, it would be illogical to believe that a French traffic policeman might stop UK motorists, check to see that their vehicle’s VED disk is correct and seek to prosecute them if it were not. The UK’s VED system is nothing like France’s and, although there are UK regulations demanding that UK-registered vehicles comply with the UK VED system, there will be no equivalent French regulations.

 

It will be an offence under UK law to drive a UK-registered vehicle in the UK when the vehicle is incorrectly VED-ed, but driving that same vehicle outside the UK will not be an offence under the non-UK countries' laws. Obviously (as Curtisden seems to be saying), when an incorrectly VED-ed UK-registered vehicle re-enters the UK, there will then be an offence under UK law and UK authorities can prosecute the driver.

 

locoman - 2013-03-24 6:16 PM

 

If your Tax Disc is out of date, and the vehicle is on the Public Highway, UK or EU, your Insurance is Invalid,

 

Worth thinking about !! :-S

 

I’ve seen this stated as fact repeatedly on on-line forums. It’s always said with no evidence to back up the argument and, if one thinks about it, it’s irrational. It’s reasonable to suggest that not complying with UK regulations regarding the MOT-test might invalidate (or impact adversely on) a vehicle insurance policy on the basis that the owner of the vehicle could be considered to be not taking proper care of it maintenance-wise, but why should incorrect VED impact on a policy?

 

I offer this fairly well-focused 2009 discussion on the issue:

 

http://tinyurl.com/c7wtb5n

 

As with the people posting to that thread, there is no mention in my vehicle insurance policies of the need for my vehicles to be VED-ed or MOT-ed. An insurance policy is a legal contract and, if the insurance provider wishes to make a correct VED a prerequisite for a policy to remain valid, or to exclude from the policy vehicles that are incorrectly VED-ed, this will need to be stated clearly within a policy’s terms and conditions.

 

If your policy includes any such requirements, I’d be interested to learn how they are phrased.

 

Nethernut - 2013-03-24 8:17 PM

 

the majority of continental vehicles have headlights which dip straight down not to the side as UK ones do, that is why they don't need to fit beam benders...

 

This is another thing regularly said on on-line motoring forums (and sometimes by motoring journalists who should know better). It’s been discussed several times before here and it’s not correct.

 

The headlamps factory-fitted to RHD vehicles destined to be marketed in the UK or Ireland (where there is ‘left-hand traffic’) will have an asymmetrical dipped beam pattern angled leftwards. Conversely, the headlamps factory-fitted to LHD vehicles destined to be marketed in Continental Europe (where there is ‘right-hand traffic’) will have an asymmetrical dipped beam pattern angled rightwards.

 

This is a 2007 forum thread that bears on the subject:

 

http://tinyurl.com/bod4f6e

 

(I note with some admiration that, six years ago, my patience seems to have been inexhaustible ;-) )

[colin]

Some years back whilst on holiday in Alonosis, I noticed that there was quite a few british reg cars, I also noticed many of these had tax discs years out of date, odd as I thought you had to reregister after some time/12 months?\ anyway several months later I read the greek authorities where cracking down on this and any vehicle not correctly taxed and mot'ed would be subject to fines and/or siezure.

p.s. It is my understanding /maybe wrong\ that any vehicle must meet the legal requirements of the country it is registered in even whilst in another country else it does not meet the cross border refs, but I've never researched this.

[Derek Uzzell]

colin - 2013-03-25 9:24 AM

 

...p.s. It is my understanding /maybe wrong\ that any vehicle must meet the legal requirements of the country it is registered in even whilst in another country else it does not meet the cross border refs, but I've never researched this.

 

Now's your opportunity. ;-)

[Curtisden]

""It will be an offence under UK law to drive a UK-registered vehicle in the UK when the vehicle is incorrectly VED-ed, but driving that same vehicle outside the UK will not be an offence under the non-UK countries' laws. Obviously (as Curtisden seems to be saying), when an incorrectly VED-ed UK-registered vehicle re-enters the UK, there will then be an offence under UK law and UK authorities can prosecute the driver. ""

 

Just to expand on my post re the above. Not only is my daughter a customs officer but her other half is a Kent police officer.

It seems they will all ways check VED for date as it is an indicator to the basic legality of the truck car which may lead on to other matters.

[Curtisden]

""As with the people posting to that thread, there is no mention in my vehicle insurance policies of the need for my vehicles to be VED-ed or MOT-ed. An insurance policy is a legal contract and, if the insurance provider wishes to make a correct VED a prerequisite for a policy to remain valid, or to exclude from the policy vehicles that are incorrectly VED-ed, this will need to be stated clearly within a policy’s terms and conditions. ""

 

No but it is a crime in both France and the UK to drive on the road without both.

[Tony Jones]

Let's just look at this insurance/VED thing logically.

 

Insurance is the FIRST legal requirement. You can drive a vehicle without tax in some circumstances (eg to a pre-booked MoT), but never without insurance. And in order to GET a tax disc, you have to produce valid insurance (and MoT if applicable).

 

So if a vehicle has "none of the above," you FIRST have to insure it, THEN get an MoT, and only then can you tax it. If insurance depended on tax, the whole process would become impossible, and no-one could have a legal vehicle!

[Curtisden]

Tony Jones - 2013-03-25 11:45 AM

 

Let's just look at this insurance/VED thing logically.

 

Insurance is the FIRST legal requirement. You can drive a vehicle without tax in some circumstances (eg to a pre-booked MoT), but never without insurance. And in order to GET a tax disc, you have to produce valid insurance (and MoT if applicable).

 

So if a vehicle has "none of the above," you FIRST have to insure it, THEN get an MoT, and only then can you tax it. If insurance depended on tax, the whole process would become impossible, and no-one could have a legal vehicle!

 

 

OK so as you drive off the Frerry clutching the pre arranged appointment at Halford's Dover for the out of date MOT to be renewed you may be covered. But in all other situations you are not. But in this country and i expect France Maybe? to have a MH on the highway even Parked needs Tax. Without Tax on the highway its a criminal act to drive or park.There are no other exceptions. Forget the insurance company. Its the criminal law that matters here.

[blackfingers]

Derek Uzzell - 2013-03-24 9:17 AM

 

 

When I was in France last year I met three British motorcyclists in Mayenne, one of which was riding a 1980s MZ 250cc bike...

.... I asked "Are you going far?" thinking that, with such an old bike, he'd be just be toodling around northern France for a while. "Down the west coast, of France, Spain, Portugal and finally Morocco." "There's optimism", I thought.

 

Oh, Derek - such little faith in 'old' machinery!

 

In the pic a 1951 Vincent Comet, in Plataria, Greece in 2010. 1,850 miles to get there, plus much the same miles to return, plus a bit of touring in Greece itself. No 'backup' needed - who would want it?

MZs and Vins go on for ever...

 

IanL.