Brake lights, legal requirement. 26 November 2022 at 1:17PM in Motoring 17 replies 673 views

anotherbob

Is it legal to drive a car when only the brake light above the rear window is working?

venomx

I would have thought not. It's also not very safe

sevenhills

anotherbob said:

Is it legal to drive a car when only the brake light above the rear window is working?

Why would you want to? It is ok to drive it to a garage for repair, but it's still illegal.

Car_54

sevenhills said:

anotherbob said:

Is it legal to drive a car when only the brake light above the rear window is working?

Why would you want to? It is ok to drive it to a garage for repair, but it's still illegal.

No, it isn't!

daveyjp

If it was why bother fitting the others?

Iceweasel

It depends on the age of the vehicle.

Stop lamps are not required on vehicles:

• first used before 1 January 1936
• that do not have front and rear position lamps, or have such lamps permanently disconnected, painted over or masked that are only used during daylight hours and not used at times of seriously reduced visibility.

Vehicles first used on or after 1 January 1971 must have 2 stop lamps, one on each side.

Vehicles first used before 1 January 1971 may be fitted with only 1 stop lamp, which can be mounted centrally or towards the offside.

diystarter7

Hello OP

What car/make/model/year and the reason for the one light.
If and when you have updated, I may be able to assist.

@Iceweasel post is very informative  so read that but for me to give you very accurate info I will need the above.

Car_54

A pre-1971 car with only one brake light is very unlikely to have it positioned above the rear window, so I think it's reasonable to assume it's a fairly modern car fitted with three lights.

anotherbob

Thanks (in varying degrees) for the responses. I prefer the polite ones. Problem now dealt with.

sevenhills

Car_54 said:

sevenhills said:

anotherbob said:

Is it legal to drive a car when only the brake light above the rear window is working?

Why would you want to? It is ok to drive it to a garage for repair, but it's still illegal.

No, it isn't!

So when my warning lights comes on, on my dashboard.
Should I call for recovery?

Car_54

sevenhills said:

Car_54 said:

sevenhills said:

anotherbob said:

Is it legal to drive a car when only the brake light above the rear window is working?

Why would you want to? It is ok to drive it to a garage for repair, but it's still illegal.

No, it isn't!

So when my warning lights comes on, on my dashboard.
Should I call for recovery?

Depends on the warning light.