Deprivation of rights for xenon in 2020 is a rather likely prospect if this xenon is installed on a car that is not intended for this. If xenon headlights were not installed from the factory, then in order to install it, the car must be equipped with automatic headlight level correction, headlight washers, and the headlights themselves must be marked specifically for the possibility of installing xenon. Otherwise, 90 percent of your rights may be revoked.
But, most importantly, the operating mode of lighting devices with xenon also complies with the Basic Provisions. The fact is that these provisions do not regulate the operating mode itself. However, the closest regulatory act to the traffic rules, which gives an understanding of what the operating mode is, is the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union, which tells us that the operating mode of lighting devices can be constant or flashing. That is, the mode of operation of the headlights is not their type, but the order in which they operate for an external observer: they either shine equally constantly or blink. For example, a fuel tanker has an orange flashing light on the roof.
Thus, both the operating mode and the color of xenon lights do not violate the law. Therefore, it is illegal to deprive a person of rights for xenon under Part 3 of Article 12.5.
How to avoid penalties for xenon?
To avoid deprivation of rights for installing xenon, there is no need to look for any loopholes for 2020. We explained above that the maximum that can be provided for illegally installed xenon is a fine of rubles.
Your job is to correctly explain all this to the judge hearing the case. The trouble here is that district judges who impose deprivation for xenon in the first instance when considering cases based on the protocols of traffic police officers, most often do not even want to listen to the person involved. Alas, but, most likely, you will have to appeal the decision of such judges to higher courts.
If, nevertheless, they are subject to deprivation, then how can they be reclassified to a fine?
So, 12.5.3 provides for a fine or deprivation of rights for xenon. How can we even understand what we will get from this when attracting?
Mitigating circumstances that increase the likelihood of a fine include:
- the driver’s repentance and admission of guilt, a promise to remove the xenon or dismantled xenon at the time of the court hearing;
- confession (if you yourself stopped and admitted to the inspector that you had illegally installed xenon);
- description of all the circumstances of the case;
- driving a car with xenon by a pregnant woman or a woman with a small child.
Aggravating circumstances that increase the likelihood of deprivation include:
- failure to comply with a request to stop the offense;
- if you have repeatedly come across xenon;
- if at the time of detection of xenon you were drunk or refused a medical examination;
- This is not in the article, but in judicial practice the judge’s attention is drawn to this - the presence of any traffic police fines.
Can I install xenon and not lose my license?
We have already said above that to install xenon, if it is not supplied standard, the car must meet certain requirements: have headlight washers and automatic headlight angle correction, as well as appropriate markings.
If your car is equipped with the first two parts, then it is also easy to understand whether the headlight markings allow you to install xenon. You just need to find the markings on the headlights and isolate the abbreviations given in the table below.
| Marking | Description | Is it possible to install xenon? |
|---|---|---|
| DC/DR | This headlight is equipped with separate lamps for low and high beam. Both lamps can be xenon | Yes |
| DCR | Similar to the previous point, only one lamp is used for low and high beam, and it can also be xenon | Yes |
| HR or DC | In such a headlight, only a low beam lamp is provided for installing xenon. There are two of them in total - it is prohibited to install xenon in the main beam. | Only to the nearest |
| HR/HC | This marking is applied to cars of Japanese and European brands. So, if you have such a marking and you have a Japanese car, then you can install xenon in such a headlight. But if it’s European, it’s impossible. | Conditionally yes |
Cancellation (termination) of registration for xenon
In recent years, the traffic police has been practicing such a form of punishment as deregistration of a car for non-compliance with its technical regulations. Most often, the practice of deregistration can be found for installing LPG (converting a car to gas), a firewall, and the like - the main thing for this is that the car has been converted. Installing xenon, if xenon is not provided by the manufacturer, is a re-equipment of the car, since a component is installed on it that does not meet the safety level tested for this car model.
Consequently, car registration can be canceled for xenon. How does this happen? Most often, you simply receive a notification by mail from the traffic police stating that the registration of your car has been terminated due to the installation of xenon. Before this, of course, you should have been caught with xenon (and, most likely, more than once). Also with the notice you will receive a requirement to present the car for inspection at the traffic police - just as if you brought the car in for inspection when purchasing it for registration.
If you do not do this, then when your documents are searched through the database by the traffic police officer who once stopped you and sees the termination of registration, for the first time he will issue a fine of 500 rubles under Part 1 of Article 12.1 of the Administrative Code. The second time you will face a fine of 5,000 rubles or deprivation of your license for 1-3 months. At the same time, the (pink plastic) license plate number will also be confiscated from you.
Alas, cancellation of registration is essentially, although absurd, quite legal. This right is given by paragraph 50 of Order No. 399 " About the procedure for registering vehicles".
Xenon is the common name for gas-discharge lamps in which an electric arc glows in a bulb filled with gas - xenon. This source produces bright white light, close to daylight.
Xenon lamps do not have a filament like halogen lamps. An electric arc occurs between two electrodes. To ignite the arc, it is necessary to generate high-voltage (up to 25,000 V) voltage pulses. Therefore, to “ignite” such a lamp, a special control unit is used, which increases the voltage when the headlights with xenon lamps are turned on. After the lamp is lit, a nominal voltage of up to 80 V is sufficient to maintain the discharge.
Which headlights can xenon be installed in?
On February 20, 2010, the Road Safety Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia gave an explanation “On the use of xenon headlights” ().
Currently, the following officially approved types of headlights are installed on vehicles:
C - low beam, R - high beam, CR - dual-mode (low and high beam) light with incandescent lamps (UNECE Rules No. 112, GOST R 41.112-2005);
HC - low beam, HR - high beam, HCR - dual-mode light with halogen incandescent lamps (UNECE Rules N 112, GOST R 41.112-2005);
DC - low beam, DR - high beam, DCR - dual-mode light with gas-discharge light sources (UNECE Rules N 98, GOST R 41.98-99).
An appropriate marking indicating the type of headlamp (exterior light fixture) and the approval mark (consisting of a circle containing the letter “E” followed by the number of the country which has granted the approval and the approval number) is affixed to the headlamp lens and on the headlamp housing, if the lens can be separated from it.
Gas-discharge light sources, the category marking of which, indicated on the base, begins with the letter "D", in accordance with the requirements of UNECE Regulation No. 99 and GOST R 41.99-99 "Uniform provisions concerning the official approval of gas-discharge light sources for use in officially approved gas-discharge optical elements of motor vehicles" are intended for use only in headlights of DC, DR, DCR types.
Therefore, xenon lamps can only be installed in headlights marked DR, DC, DCR. If you have installed gas-discharge lamps in a headlight marked HR, NS, HCR, then you will not be able to persuade a traffic police officer to issue a warning or a fine if he detects a violation.
Why was the installation of xenon banned?
The above document provides explanations from the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Research and Experimental Institute of Automotive Electronics and Electrical Equipment", according to which the use of light sources in external lighting devices that do not correspond to the type of the given lighting device violates the conditions for ensuring road safety due to a number of physical factors (dimensions of the spark discharge, wavelength, scattering angle of reflected radiation) and technical (class of reflective surface of the reflector, presence on the vehicle of an automatic light beam corrector and headlight washer) factors.
Thus, the use of gas-discharge light sources in headlights intended for use with incandescent lamps, including halogen ones, should be qualified as a discrepancy in the operating mode of external lighting devices (a set of technical characteristics of headlights corresponding to a particular light distribution that ensures road safety depending on road situation and weather conditions) to the requirements of the vehicle design.
The fine for xenon
There is no direct ban in the administrative code on xenon lamps in conventional headlights. Driving a vehicle with such headlights is qualified by traffic police officers under Part 3 of Article 12.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation:
Driving a vehicle on the front of which are installed lighting devices with red lights or red reflective devices, as well as lighting devices, the color of the lights and the operating mode of which do not correspond requirements of the Basic Provisions on the admission of vehicles to operation and the duties of officials to ensure road safety, -
entails deprivation of the right to drive vehicles for a period of 6 months. up to 1 year with confiscation of the specified instruments and devices.
What requirements of the main provisions are discussed in the law?
Appendix No. 3 to the Traffic Rules contains a list of malfunctions and conditions when operating a vehicle is prohibited. These include cases where the number, type, color, location and operating mode of external lighting devices do not meet the requirements of the vehicle design. And also: when the headlights use lenses and lamps that do not correspond to the type of the given lighting device.
Thus, in order to bring the driver to administrative responsibility, it is enough to remove the ignition unit with a xenon lamp installed in your headlight and confirm the marking on the headlight, which indicates that only a halogen lamp can be installed in it.
Magistrates' courts consider such cases; there is sufficient practice on such materials. The result is the same: deprivation of the right to drive. No fines are imposed as an alternative form of punishment.
Are they deprived of rights for diodes?
Not everything is clear with diode lamps. We were able to find the following examples of court decisions when drivers lost their right to drive because of LED lamps:
However, these are decisions from 2017. It was not possible to find similar solutions for 2018. In addition, it turned out that new cars of 2018 leaving car dealerships with factory “LED light” on the headlights have the “halogen” marking HR, HC, HCR.
Later it turned out that for installing diode lamps, drivers are charged under Part 1 of Article 12.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, qualifying the actions of drivers as driving a car in the presence of malfunctions in which the operation of the vehicle is prohibited.
Examples of court decisions on xenon
In conclusion, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the decisions of the courts, which recognized the fact of an administrative violation among drivers who used xenon in halogen headlights and ordered the deprivation of the right to drive a vehicle.
10672 0
Today, the problem of installing xenon lamps in headlights is very relevant, because many consider them better than halogen ones. Let's look at whether this is true and whether deprivation of rights and a fine for xenon are provided for in 2017.
Features of xenon installation
Before we clarify what kind of fine can be issued for xenon in 2017, let’s look at why drivers choose these types of lamps. Xenon shines brighter and illuminates the road better, you can’t argue with this fact.
But it is worth remembering that headlights are designed for a specific type of lamp. Reflective elements are installed in them in order to maximize the lighting efficiency of a particular type of lamp. Therefore, if you insert xenon ones into a headlight designed for halogen illuminators, you should not expect improvements in visibility.
Since the headlight elements are not designed for this illuminator, it will not be possible to improve illumination with its help, but rather will have the opposite effect. This is due to the very serious distinctive features of different types of light bulbs.
What is the punishment - deprivation of rights or a fine for xenon in 2017 So, in unsuitable headlights, xenon will shine much brighter, but the distance of the beam is small, i.e. good visibility will only be close to the car. It is also worth remembering that unadjusted illuminators will cause trouble for other road users, blinding them in the dark. This also applies to the installation of xenon in fog lights, for which there is no fine, but it threatens with more serious punishment.
Deprivation of rights and fine for xenon in 2017
The traffic rules and relevant regulations do not provide for a fine for xenon from January 1, 2016. No changes were made in 2017. However, in part 3 of Art. 12.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses describes situations in which it is impossible to drive a vehicle. These are various types of malfunctions and other conditions that create problems for other road users, interfere with the driver’s visibility, and can lead to an accident.
Regarding lighting, here are the following points for which the driver faces not a fine, but deprivation of his license for xenon:
- The headlights and their operating mode do not meet the manufacturer's standards. If you change the lamps to a different type of lighting, this is a violation, because the manufacturer adjusted the headlights for a specific type.
- The adjustment is not up to standard.
- Diffusers and illuminators are not correct type.
- Installing red lamps in the headlights.
- Installation of devices that do not comply with the rules for authorization to drive a vehicle.
Thus, deprivation of rights for xenon in 2017 threatens anyone who replaced the illuminators with ones not specified by the manufacturer of their car. The term of imprisonment is assigned in the range of 6-12 months. This rule also applies to fog lights.
When the rights are not taken away
The driver does not face deprivation of his license for xenon if the car is initially sold with it. In this case, the manufacturer makes adjustments in such a way that the reflectors and other elements of the headlight help improve the quality of lighting and do not cause inconvenience to other drivers.
If your car is equipped with halogen lamps, and the manufacturer has already begun producing new models with xenon, you can upgrade your vehicle. You should contact your manufacturer's authorized representatives to ensure that the headlights are adjusted or replaced in accordance with your manufacturer's standards. In such a situation, there is no longer any need to fear deprivation of rights and a fine, because the illuminators will correspond to the required type.
Thus, we have made it clear that there is no penalty for xenon in 2017. But if you replace the lamps with others that do not correspond to the type of headlights, then the inspector has the right to punish the driver with deprivation of his license for up to a year.
Video: How to avoid deprivation of rights for xenon?
There is no fine for using xenon, but the driver faces a more serious penalty. How to avoid losing your driver's license for xenon, watch the video.
Article content:
Only those light bulbs that are provided for by the design of the vehicle are allowed to be installed in the headlights of the vehicle. And such cases are closely monitored by traffic police officers. Many car owners who installed xenon themselves often ask how the fine for it in 2017 is provided for by law, which regulates road safety. It’s worth saying right away that unadjusted xenon headlights are quite blinding to oncoming drivers. And this is where emergency situations arise.
There is no direct ban on xenon in 2017
Of course, no one has yet seen a direct ban on freelance xenon, but for this they can still be deprived of their rights. In addition, these clarifications were published back in 2010 and have not changed since then. And this fact, of course, will be of interest to drivers who are interested in fines in 2017. It is necessary to immediately write that for this violation, if the headlights are detected by a traffic police officer, a protocol will be created under Article 12.5 part 3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. According to the protocol, the driver is deprived of his license, and the period is from six months to a year in such cases as:
— if the operating mode and color of LED devices does not comply with the rules for admission to vehicle operation;
- if the headlights that are installed are red or reflective devices of the same color.
If you look at the list of malfunctions of lighting devices, according to which the operation of the machine is prohibited, then the use of the vehicle is not permitted in the following cases:
— if the type of headlights and operating mode do not correspond to the design and were not provided for by the vehicle manufacturer;
- if the lamps and lenses do not match the type of lighting device;
— if the headlight adjustment does not comply with GOST.
What about fog lights?
You can also write about the ban on xenon in fog lights. The same requirements apply to them as to headlights. In other words, if the installation of xenon is not provided for by the design, then the punishment for this administrative violation will be exactly the same - deprivation of rights.
Only in fog lights there is not always a fine for xenon, exactly the same as in the situation with headlights. Everything here will depend on the type of lamps that the manufacturer has provided. This also includes matching the markings of headlights and light bulbs. Markings for xenon lamps can be as follows:
— DR – for high beam;
— DC – xenon lamps can be used for low beam;
— DCR – gas-discharge sources are used in both modes of headlight operation.
If you see letters in the marking, for example, HCR, then the headlights include the installation of exclusively halogen lamps, but in this case it is prohibited to use xenon lamps. Simple markings C, CR, R mean that only incandescent lamps can be used.
Exceptions to the rules
There are times when, when buying a car, it is not equipped with xenon headlights. Only now, the manufacturer is already producing this model with xenon. If you also want to install xenon lamps in these headlights, and you think that you will not get a fine in 2017, then it is better to buy new special headlights. They should not be equipped with an automatic light beam corrector or washer. That's right, you will never accidentally get caught by a traffic police officer. However, only the technical supervision inspector, who is at a stationary post, has the right to determine the presence of xenon lamps in the headlights of the car.
In conclusion I would like to say
Of course, it is very convenient when you are driving on a highway at night, and the road in front of you is as bright as day. And this is where xenon lamps help us. However, as mentioned above, the traffic police banned such lamps. And then they did the right thing. If such a road makes us feel good, then imagine how the driver feels who is rushing towards us when the xenon is literally blinding. And even in fog lights, xenon can cause great harm. The difference between night time and fog is that in the first case you can see the road, but in the fog you don’t see much.
No need to worry in advance. Today, most car manufacturers already integrate such lamps into PTFs. Only they are configured to illuminate only the road and nothing more. So these lamps will not blind drivers on their way to a meeting. They are safe for them.
If you do not have such lamps, but your headlights provide them, then you can safely install them. Just be sure to check the permit in advance. As you can see, if you follow simple rules, you will not only not be deprived of your license for six months, but you will also be able to avoid causing fatal accidents. But there are enough of them on our roads even without xenon. So it’s high time for all drivers to think and take responsibility for their actions.
Video: xenon - news, is it allowed in PTF or not
