The vague Joint Administrative Order (JAO) No. 2014-01 issued by the Land Transportation Office regarding the apprehension of vehicles equipped with wang-wang, LED lights and other modifications brings into question issues on safety and nighttime visibility.
The LTO memo supposedly stemmed from the abuse of motorists who use powerful LED lamps to show off or to simply bully others on the road.
While some may agree to this memo, other sectors of the automotive industry counter that it is politically motivated and meant to fatten someone else's election campaign kitty. The contrarians further say that the memo simply disregarded the benefits and safety aspects of the Light Emitting Diode technology which is now a standard in modern day cars.
A technology once limited to luxury cars, LEDs are fast becoming a must-have for better nighttime illumination. According to a report by the American Automobile Association (AAA), “Halogen headlights "found in over 80 percent of vehicles on the road today, may fail to safely illuminate unlit roadways at speeds as low as 40 mph.”
Most LED lamps and light bars are popular with off-road enthusiasts because they emit a much stronger beam which is crucial when driving off the beaten path. “It provides us with better visibility when trailing or during mercy missions in calamity stricken areas where there are no electricity. Besides, our LEDs are not flashers or blinking lights,” says Alfonso Makabayan, an avid off-road enthusiast and a club president of an off-road group up North.
“That joint administrative order has been dormant for a long time because of poor implementation and very vague standards set for compliance. I am not against safety; but we don’t know what they mean by ‘modification’, is installing a car tint a violation… because that is a modification since car manufacturers do not supply car tints? Can traffic enforcers penalize me,” says Robby Consunji, off-road magazine editor. He goes on to say that to pin the blame on LED lamps is erroneous because LED lights are not unsafe. “It goes wrong when it is used or installed in the wrong way or it is a fake one, then that is a nuisance,” adds Consunji.
Under that much-dreaded memo, vehicles apprehended will have their lighting systems confiscated and the owner/driver must pay a fine of P5,000. The memo has provoked an estimated 1,400 motorcycle riders from different organizations who converged at the Eton Centris t in protest.
On the Facebook page of Riders Anti-Crime and Emergency Response (RACER), the group cited the double standard style of apprehension and the abuse being practiced by apprehending officers.
LED lamps are allowed by law as long as they are in accordance with Republic Act 4136, Article IV, section 34 which is in force since 1964.
The ruling says that the LTO allows the use of lighting accessories. It has a provision on “Headlights. – Every motor vehicle of more than one meter of projected width, while in use on any public highway shall bear two headlights, one on each side, with white or yellowish light visible from the front, which, not later than one-half hour after sunset and until at least one-half four before sunrise and whenever weather conditions so require, shall both be lighted.”
Additional lamps and light may be carried, but no red lights shall be visible forward or ahead of the vehicle. Trucks, buses, trailers, and other similar vehicles must carry, while in use on any public highway during night-time, colored riding lights on each of the four corners not more than ten centimeters from the top.
All motor vehicles shall be equipped with devices for varying the intensity of light, and the driver must dim the headlights or tilt the beams downward whenever the vehicle is being operated on well-lighted streets within the limits of cities, municipalities, and thickly populated barrios or districts, or whenever such vehicle meets another vehicle on any public highway”
For decades, sealed-beam and halogen lights worked reasonably well, but they were always hot, inefficient, and cast what we would consider today a weak and sickly yellowish beam into the intermediate distance. On the downside, the light they cast is slightly yellowish in color, so it doesn’t cast as far down the road given the bulb’s brightness and power consumption.
“It’s becoming ubiquitous,” said Ralph Gilles, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles North America senior vice president of product design. “Everybody is slowly but surely shifting to LEDs.”LED lights are smaller, the strips are bendable and they use less energy than traditional halogen bulbs and is cool to the touch. For example, two LEDs can be formed and fitted to project a smooth line for daytime running lights, complimentary LED fog lamps or in groups to illuminate large areas such as taillights.
Most cars use scores of LED lights on the dashboards and control indicators so the things are everywhere already, and they have massive potential for car lighting. For the same reasons they’re used in computer and TV screens and household lighting as well. LEDs are compact, extremely energy efficient, and can be turned on and off almost instantly.