Interpretation ID: aiam3833
Captain
Safety Office
Department of State Police
Commonwealth of Virginia
P.O. Box 27472
Richmond
VA 23261-7472;
Dear Captain Belsches: This is in response to your letter of April 20, 1984, asking for a interpretation of paragraph S4.6(b) of Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108 and 'a history relative to the inclusion of such function of headlamps and marker lamps.'; Paragraph S4.6(b) allows means to be provided for the automati flashing of headlamps and side marker lamps for signaling purposes, as an exception to the general rule that vehicle lamps (other than turn and hazard warning signals, and school bus warning lamps) be steady-burning in use. This confirms your understanding of the wording of the standard and its effect. It does not allow, however, modulating headlamps which do not flash on and off, but deviate between a higher intensity and a lower one.; Originally, paragraph S3.5 of the standard (see *e.g.* 49 CFR 371.21 Standard No. 108 rev. as of January 1, 1970) stated that 'normally steady-burning lamps may be capable of being flashed for signaling purposes.' On January 3, 1970, the agency proposed paragraph S4.6 (35 F.R. 106) as it exists today. It was adopted on October 31, 1970 (35 F.R. 16840). The agency observed that some commenters requested that additional lamps be permitted to flash and some requested that flashing headlamps be prohibited. It also noted that, with the exceptions set forth in S4.6(a), flashing lamps should be reserved for emergency and road maintenance-type vehicles, and that flashing lamps are otherwise prohibited in the Uniform Vehicle Code. The agency further noted that lamps could be flashed by the driver merely by turning the switch on and off, and that it could not prohibit that type of operation, but that the definition of 'Flash,' also adopted in the amendments, made clear that automatic flashers for use with steady-burning lamps other than headlamps and side marker lamps were prohibited.; This is the rulemaking history of paragraph S4.6. I hope that this wil answer your questions.; Sincerely, Frank Berndt, Chief Counsel