Towbar buzzer

It's post 1972 as are all things killjoy such as not being able to have musical airhorns etc.

The message from "Greg" contains these words:

The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989

11 (b) The vehicle shall be equipped with an operational tell-tale for front and rear indicators (including any rear indicator on the rearmost of any trailers drawn by the vehicle).

Elsewhere an "Operational tell-tale" is defined as "A warning device readily visible or audible to the driver and showing whether a device that has been switched on is operating correctly or not."

So - visible is OK.

I can't find any newer regulations that cover this.

Thanks very much for the pointer Guy, I've got the document and had a look through it. Now I'm not a lawyer but I think the author has made two rather silly cockups, firstly the options A or B have two totally different meanings and secondly there is no clause saying that this does not apply to older vehicles!.

Option A is just to be able to see the front indicator, which does nothing more than remind you that the indicator is still switched on. Option B requires indication of the correct operation of every indicator on the vehicle and trailer, I strongly suspect that option B should have been worded "circuit closed tell-tale" and was simply intended as an alternative for vehicles where you can't see the front indicator. There's little sense in requiring a bulb failure detector on indicators but not on brake lights or side/tail lights, plenty of people forget to indicate with no consequences but if both tail lights are out at night you stand a very good chance of being rammed!.

The trouble is, these trailer buzzers only provide operational tell-tale for the trailer, the fast-flash feature of the vehicle flasher relay which is supposed to do it for the vehicle indicators is defeated when a trailer adds a third bulb the circuit so they are not complying with the law.

The other point is the lack of a clause exempting older vehicles, the other additional requirements all have such a clause but this one has missed it out, surely a mistake as it made any vehicle on the road at the time without such operational tell-tale illegal over night which simply isn't the way vehicle law has been written.

My guess is that I can simply leave the wiring as it was in 1972 and there's no possibility of one of those random check points the plod seem to find time for ever taking it any further as such a cocked up law is not enforceable.

Greg

Ok, for a start if you are talking about option a's and option b's it would help if you quoted what you are referring to, so people might have a clue what you are talking about! So, for the record......

1. Tell-tale-

(a) One or more indicators on each side of a vehicle to which indicators are fitted shall be so designed and fitted that the driver when in his seat can readily be aware when it is in operation; or

(b) The vehicle shall be equipped with an operational tell-tale for front and rear indicators (including any rear indicator on the rearmost of any trailers drawn by the vehicle).

The wording of the law is quite clear, if you can see the indicators operating, such as on some older vehicles, then you do not need to have a tell-tale, either for the vehicle or the trailer, as you are complying with part a. However, if you cannot see the indicators operating, then you must comply with part b fully, and have a tell-tale for both the vehicle and the trailer.

That is not a problem with the way the law is written, it is a faulty installation by whoever wired the trailer socket up.

Some vehicle laws are written such that they do not apply retrospectively, this one however isn't.

The law is perfectly enforceable, however I suspect that no one would bother.

As I understand it you require only either and audible or visible tell-tale. Towbar fitters use the buzzer because it's easier; they fit them at the back near to the towbar wiring so that it needs no extra wire routed back through the vehicle. It's also quite difficult on modern cars to find a place to mount such a light easily.

I recall in the late 80s that some of the cars I had, a Metro being one, had a towing indicator light incorporated into the dash design, which would automatically work if the manufacturer's own wiring kit was used. I didn't go to that expense, but did manage to make the dash light operate anyway by modifying the wiring.

I dislike the buzzer not simply because it can be annoying, but quite the opposite - in a MPV like ours with a load of luggage in the boot and a family of 6 in the car, you can't hear the damned thing at all!

The message from Chris Bolus contains these words:

Of course, on proper cars like the Montego you could just put in the right relay and the right bulb in the dash and presto! a warning light on the dash appears.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Guy King saying something like:

The problem is easily addressed by nipping down to the local orphanage and hiring a small boy for the day/week. Small boys sits on roofrack armed with a hammer and bangs on the roof when the indicators work on the trailer.

I think that is absolutely disgusting!

In this age of equal opportunities why should a small girl not be given the job!

Chris