MC Lighting & Mudguards . Vin Numbers

TESTING TIMES

Roadworthiness Section, Road Safety, VicRoads

May 1997 ♦ Issue 4

Motorcycle Lighting 

ADR 19/01 required all new motorcycles made from 1 March 1992 to be equipped with two “conspicuity” lamps showing white light to the front (often called daytime running lamps) which must come on whenever the engine is started. The ADR allowed that if the low beam headlamp(s) was “hard wired” so that it was always on whenever the engine was running this would be deemed to comply. This 

“hard wiring” was adopted by virtually all manufacturers. 

ADR 19/02 which was recently introduced no longer requires “conspicuity” lamps. As the Standards for Registration allow any vehicle to be 

modified to meet a later ADR, motorcycles which were made with conspicuity lamps or a “hard wired” headlamp may have the “hard wiring” disconnected or the conspicuity lamps disconnected or removed. 

What does all this really mean to you when checking the roadworthiness of motorcycle lighting? Quite simply - there is now no longer any legal requirement for daytime running lights on motorcycles no matter when they were made. 

Motor Cycle rear mudguards 

The rear wheel coverage by the mudguard is measured with a riders weight on the bike seat. The mudguard must come down at least as far as a line angled up at 45 degrees from the horizontal, starting from the centre of the rear axle and pointing backwards. 

Who is the rider? What weight is a rider deemed to be? Can I get some "Fat-ass" to sit on the bike for the test?

Identifying vehicles 

If a vehicle is presented to you which does not have a VIN or chassis number, then it will need a number issued by VicRoads. The problem is how do you issue a roadworthy certificate to a vehicle you can't identify (especially as VicRoads usually won't issue numbers until the vehicle is presented for registration). Well this way might help:- 

1. Get permission from the owner to stamp an ID number on the vehicle. 

2. Select a location near where the original number should have been but do not stamp anything in the original spot. 

3. Stamp in your EX number followed by the serial number of the roadworthy certificate you are writing for the vehicle. 

E.g. If your licence number is 1234 and the certificate serial number is 567891 you can create a unique ID number 1234567891 which you can relate to your documents and identify the vehicle you inspected. 

When the vehicle is presented to VicRoads the office staff will also know that they have the vehicle the Roadworthiness Certificate relates to so they can register it and issue a special replacement number.