Thursday, July 04, 2013

Bicycle lights in Germany

At the moment if use you a bike in Germany at night you need to display lights, white at the front and red at the rear. By law these lights must be dynamo powered. If you use battery powered lights you could receive an on the spot fine of €15 from a policeman. Whether this applies to foreign tourists is not clear. The transport minister Peter Ramsauer wishes to change the law, so that battery powered lamps are legal. Reputedly this should happen this week. The ADFC the German cycling club is against a move to make battery and dynamo powered lights equal under the law, on the grounds that a dynamo is the safest source of power. This change in the law does mean that cheaper bikes in future will probably be sold without dynamos.
6 July 2013 The law has been changed and will come in to effect next year on 1 July 2014. Battery lights will need an indicator to show how much power is left in the battery when in use.

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