And if a headlight bulb is out be prepared for the possibility of a BIG fine.

I don't think that's true. You get a few days grace to rectify the problem and then have to show the car at the police station. At least that's how it was the last time I had this problem.

Personal experience of more than 300chf says anything is possible. Depends if you have a plod with a god complex or not.

Our headlight bulb blew shortly after we arrived in Switzerland and struggled to find a garage to fix it (plus panicked whenever we saw a police car while out trying to find a garage to get it fixed when the light obviously wasn't working!). Anyway took it to a local Ford garage and they changed it on the spot and for 10 CHF. Couldn't believe it, was expecting much more than that! Tried to do it ourselves but was so fiddle to get behind the light unit, the whole thing had to come out and needed special tools. So anyway recommend going to a ford dealership (Lonay near Morges anyway!).

Yea, well, if you look upon people who are only doing their job as plods and being full of complexes it probably could get difficult for you... but I doubt if it's one law for you and another for me...

You assume too much.

Question: is it just the front lights that have to be on or back lights as well? It's just we drove over to France today and saw a car with some added LED lights on at the front, but no other lights. Seems a bit odd if you want to make cars more visible that the rear lights don't need to be on too. But then again, given how small and inadequate most rear lights are I'm not really sure it would make any difference.

Any other countries doing this as law now or is Switzerland the only one to change recently? I ask because the French drivers didn't have theirs on and the border control had a sign up to remind drivers that lights were obligatory. Not that it made much difference we when came down the motorway from Vallorbe; still a lot going by without their lights on.

- Front daytime running lights: mandatory 24/7/365 -> ECE-Directive R48/R87 and 2008/89/EC
- Rear daytime running lights: mandatory in tunnels and when driving in poor visibility: in case of rain, snow, fog, stratus, smog, dust, smoke, storm, etc...

It is illegal to drive in Swiss tunnels with only your car's LED - DRL /Tagfahrlicht/FCD. You need to turn on your headlights.


AFAIK DRLs are:

- Mandatory 24/7/365: N, S, DK, ISL, FIN, NL, EST, LV, LT, RUS, PL, CZ, SK, SLO, BIH, MK, MNE, SRB, CH
- Mandatory only outside of built up areas: I, H, RO, MD
- Mandatory only in winter: BG, HR
- Mandatory only on some roads (posted signs): P
- Recommended on all roads: D, F



Breaking the law is a national sport in France

Well, I can see turning headlights on in tunnels becoming a less common occurance as people will forget if they're running on DRL's.

Funny how it's the Eastern European countries who've adopted it ahead of the Western ones. Saw mention when I was checking up that Austria actually banned daytime headlights despite the EU directive.

Yeah, I know. They were breaking the speed limit too. Mind you I do think 80kph down that motorway is a bit slower than it needs to be. The 100kph was right.

Where the hell is PT?

Tom

Google not working down your way ?

Out of Sat range.

Actually Tom is right: PT is the code for Portugal according to ISO 3166.
P on the other hand is the code for Portugal according to DSIT seen on Portuguese EU License plates.

So I should have written "P" instead of "PT".

All cars fitted with DRLS that I have seen only have these on at the front.

Most cars new enough to have DRLs also have headlights the come on automatically as dusk and in tunnels.

I saw this yesterday as we were travelling along the A3. Cars with the automatic feature just had the lights on in tunnels but they turned off again when in daylight.

Our car also has this feature but I switched it to "on all the time the engine is running" ages ago, even before the new law came out.

My question is, is it enough to just have lights on in tunnels and, obviously, in low vis conditions or doesn't the law intend cars to have their lights on all the time?

If you have functioning DLR's no, if you don't then yes they must be on all the time.

The sign at the border was short and simple: Phares allumé obligatoire.

That's my point AbFab. We have a setting for "auto" headlights on our car, but you have to turn it on for it to work. How many drivers are likely to have turned that setting off, thinking their DLR's are fine in tunnels too?

DLRs are like those "Christmas tree lights" you see on Audis just above the normal headlights, right?




EDIT: Google was my friend - answered my own question.

Here's your answer nicely detailed above:

I think you are a bit confused, just like my mom btw

We were talking about LED DRLs. If your headlights are switched on all the time, you are fine, including in tunnels.



Driving in tunnels with only LED DRLs on (such as this car) is illegal in tunnels. This car has to switch on its headlights in tunnels.

Indeed, after all you used the normal codes for N, S, D, F, I and H.

Tom