Is motorcycle accent lighting legal?

Is it legal to ride with accent lighting?

Riders ask us this before they buy, and the answers online are usually either a wall of statute numbers or a flat no. Neither is much use when you are standing next to your bike deciding what to do.

Here is our honest answer, from selling these kits to riders around the world.

The short version

In our experience, riders do not run into problems with accent lighting anywhere, as long as they keep to two things.

1. Keep it steady, not flashing. Steady light is what accent lighting is for. Flashing, strobing and pulsing are how emergency vehicles are recognised, and that is what actually draws attention on a public road. Colour is far less of an issue than most people expect, as long as it is not blinking at anyone. Save the flashing modes for a show or a static shoot.

2. Bright enough to be seen, not bright enough to dazzle. Accent lighting is meant to show the shape of your bike, not to light the road. If a light is throwing enough glare to bother an oncoming driver, it is too bright, whatever colour it is. This is the rule most people never think about and it is the one that actually matters for everyone's safety.

Keep to those two and, in our experience, you will not have trouble.

Why this is not the same question as underglow

Most of what is written about lighting rules is written about underglow, meaning light pointed at the ground beneath a vehicle. That is a different product with a different history, and it is what most of the specific restrictions were written for.

NYTRON is contour lighting. The strips trace the lines of your bodywork. They are not aimed at the road, they are not driving lights, and they are not there to throw a pool of colour under the bike. So a lot of what riders read about underglow is answering a question about something else.

It exists so you are seen

The reason we build this is simple. A motorcycle at night is a small dark shape with one headlight, and drivers routinely fail to judge where it is or how fast it is moving. Lighting that traces the outline of the bike gives them an actual shape to see.

Ridden sensibly, steady and at a sensible brightness, accent lighting makes you easier to see after dark. That is the whole point of it.

Before you ride

This is our experience, not legal advice. Lighting rules differ from one country to the next, and within some countries from one state or region to the next. They also change. Please check the rules where you actually ride before you rely on anything on this page. NYTRON cannot accept responsibility for how a kit is used or for any penalty that results from it.

If you are unsure, your local licensing or transport authority is the place to ask, and a quick call is usually enough to get a clear answer.

Questions

If something here is unclear, email support@nytronlights.com and a real person will answer as soon as we can.