Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Guys here is a story for you!

So, driving on my way to the local mall,i get stopped by the "ouens met die blou ligte".
They check all the normals,licence,lights etc.
All is good,not so.I get handed a fine for R500 bucks cause my stop and taillights dont work and only one reverse light works.
So immediately i strip my "moer" and start arguing.
I lost the arguement and want to know if our Patrollies with the dummy lights are then legal on the road,as i was told it is not by the SPEEDCOP.
How difficult is it to have these wired to a working condition?

Weskus Groete

They came from the factory with these dummy lights as do many a car even Prado and Pajero

They can go play with their toes in my opion , i would love to get a fine like this and see them in court , ill get Nissan SA and the Road worthy centre that passed the roadworhty on my vehicle involved and cost them money for wrongfully handing me a fine and dragging me to court

If all else fails ill take Nissan and the dealer that sold me the vehicle to task if this is found to be unroadworhty which its not and we all know it , tonnes of the cars on the market have only one reverse light and tonnes of SUVs have dummy lights , i might be wrong here but have been told in the past by them that if its on your car it must work as far as lighrs are concerned , but in this case these are purelly cosmetic lenses fitted by the factory and the vehicle passes roadworthy this way so it cannot be legal to issue a fine in this manner

Thanks Grootseun,i feel the same about this issue and am definetely going to fight this one.

Hi Coltenator

Keep us posted on this thread.
For R500 you should be able to go to the small claims court. It is much easier and cheaper than the "real" court.
We did it previously to get out excess back from a lady who drove into SWAMBO's car and later refused to admit it.

Sad,


*&^%$##@#%^& traffic police. The dummy lights are fitted as different country's have different regulations.

Why did they also not fine you because the reverse light only work when you put gearbox in reverse - a Nissan 1400 owner was fined for that!

I suggest that you replace your tail lights with a classic one. It will improve the appearance of your ride and at the same time you can get rid of your old tail lights.

As far as I know we are about only country to have the lights in the bumper, when I travel in other countries I do not see this. This is because of the ZA regulations on the angular view of the tail lights - which is not visible at certain angles due to tire on back door (thats why pajero and others are same). THis is quite ridiculous in my view as the only light not visible would be the opposing indicator light when looking from an angle on opposite side (tail and brake lights visible anyway). So, if you disconnect the bumper lights and wire the dummy lights, then you will be illegal vis ZA regulations.

I plan to fit my dummies with lights anyway as it looks good - just struggling to find the fittings - midas centurion did not have.

Happened to me as well and I explained the exact same story to the official who agreed with my reasoning. I even went as far as showing him that the holes where the bulbs are supposed to be are closed so lights were not meant to be there...needless to say he let me go even though I think even he doubted his decision.

Reminds of the newspaper article that did it's rounds a few years ago where a guy (I think it was in Hammanskraal somewhere) was stopped by a cop who gave him a fine for his Datsun 1400 bakkie's reverse light coming on when the car was put in reverse. WTF??

If they do give you a fine though rather take them on in court because these days they sommer shoot you if you argue.

Langman wrote:Reminds of the newspaper article that did it's rounds a few years ago where a guy (I think it was in Hammanskraal somewhere) was stopped by a cop who gave him a fine for his Datsun 1400 bakkie's reverse light coming on when the car was put in reverse. WTF??

Sorry Herrie, het nou eers mooi gelees toe sien ek jy het ook van die storie gepraat voor ek hierdie post gemaak het.