Using Original turn signals

jfrost2 · Post by **jfrost2** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:52 am

Hi guys, I rewired my buddy to to the original turn signals on the body, and took off the DOT signals.

I was wondering if this is legal at all? I remember the signals need to be so many inches apart thats why there is the DOT signals on there.

Will this be ok? I doubt police would pull me over for this or even check how far apart they are....

I was going to wire both DOT and OEM together, but I didnt know how, and the tutorial's pictures arent working.

KRUSTYburger · Post by **KRUSTYburger** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 3:13 am

It is illegal, but like you said, I doubt most cops will even know what the regulations are let alone actually measure them. I wired my "stock" lights to be clear running lights and left the DOT blinkers on just to be legal. Used this post:

topic576.html

I think it explains how to make them blinkers OR runners, so that should help if you want double blinkers...

toddrw2251 · Post by **toddrw2251** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 3:17 am

Not legal, but the odds of any Ohio police officer knowing they are not legal is slim to none. I would actually prefer they do not, as they have many more important issues to deal with.

I know people who do not have motorcycle licenses and have been pulled over on scooters several times with no ticket. The officers either didn't know the difference between a scooter and a moped or just didn’t care. Not that I condone not having a license, just trying to uses the example as something more serious than turn signals distance that gets overlooked.

I don’t know the current legal standard distance between blinkers, but I bet it is not widely known or easy to research. Not to mention that most vintage bikes do not have turn signals.

As for me I wired my DOT approved signals and the original unused signals together so they both blink. I am willing to bet that having two sets of front turn signals is also not up to the Ohio revised code standard and worth of some sort of ticket.

jfrost2 · Post by **jfrost2** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:24 pm

I played with a kymco bike at my dealer and it has the oem and dot turn signals blink together, not sure if the dealer did this, but I'm doubting it because they'd charge to rewire it and it was still at msrp.

lobsterman · Post by **lobsterman** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:06 pm

I don’t know the current legal standard distance between blinkers, but I bet it is not widely known or easy to research.

You are no match for my Google skills! (said with accent and bad lip synch)

DOT turn signal rules for motorcycle manufacturers can be found in here:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/man ... pkg002.pdf

Here's a snip:

At or near the front - 1 amber on each side of the vertical centerline at the same height, and having a minimum horizontal separation distance (centerline of lamps) of 16 inches. Minimum edge to edge separation distance between lamp and headlamp is 4 inches. At or near the rear - 1 red or amber on each side of the vertical centerline, at the same height and having a minimum horizontal separation distance (centerline to centerline of lamps) of 9 inches. Minimum edge to edge separation distance between lamp and tail or stop lamp is 4 inches, when a single stop and tail lamp is installed on the vertical centerline and the turn signal lamps are red.

Took me about 5 minutes to find it. The quote is at the very end of the document. It doesn't clearly state that you cannot have more than two signals on the front.

Also, my understanding is that the DOT rules cover manufacturers, not what makes it road legal in various states. Different states have different laws and a good summary can be found at http://www.amadirectlink.com/legisltn/laws.asp

toddrw2251 · Post by **toddrw2251** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:45 pm

lobsterman wrote:
I don’t know the current legal standard distance between blinkers, but I bet it is not widely known or easy to research.

You are no match for my Google skills! (said with accent and bad lip synch)

To be honest I was too lazy to look.

KRUSTYburger · Post by **KRUSTYburger** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:51 pm

Yeah, I was saying that removing the DOT sigs was illegal, not having double blinkers... Double blinkers is double legal!