Nebraska Auxiliary Driving Lights: Two Maximum, 12 to 42 Inches High

Section 60-6,225(2) is the auxiliary lighting rule. A motor vehicle may be equipped with not more than two auxiliary driving lights, mounted on the front at a height of not less than twelve inches and not more than forty-two inches above the level surface on which the vehicle stands, and every such light must meet the requirements and limitations of section 60-6,221. The mounting height limits do not apply to a vehicle equipped with a blade, plow or any other device designed for the movement of snow, which is how Nebraska accommodates plow trucks that need lights above the blade. Auxiliary driving lights must be turned off at the same time the headlights are required to be dimmed when approaching another vehicle from either the front or the rear.

That cross-reference to section 60-6,221 is the real constraint. Headlights, and by extension auxiliary driving lights, must produce a driving light sufficient to render a person clearly discernible two hundred feet ahead, and must not project a glaring or dazzling light to persons in front of them. Section 60-6,221(2) supplies a safe harbor: the lamp is deemed not glaring or dazzling if none of the main bright portion of the beam rises above a horizontal plane through the light centers parallel to the level road, and in no case higher than forty-two inches, seventy-five feet ahead of the vehicle. The Nebraska Court of Appeals in State v. Carnicle, 18 Neb. App. 761, 792 N.W.2d 893 (2010), annotated on the official statute page, held that auxiliary driving lights failing the section 60-6,221 criteria are a Class III misdemeanor under section 60-6,222, and that an officer's reasonable belief that a light is glaring or dazzling can supply probable cause for a traffic stop.

Spotlights and everything else split off. Section 60-6,225(1) requires a lighted spotlight to be aimed and used on approaching another vehicle so that no part of the beam goes to the left of the center of the highway nor more than one hundred feet ahead. Section 60-6,219(6)(c) allows only one spotlight, except for law enforcement personnel, government employees and public utility employees. Section 60-6,225(4) is the catch-all that reaches fog lamps, light bars and ground-facing accessory lighting: any device other than headlights, spotlights or auxiliary driving lights that projects a beam of more than twenty-five candlepower must be directed so that no part of the beam strikes the surface the vehicle stands on at a distance of more than fifty feet from the vehicle. The Carnicle annotation applies that subsection to fog lamps by name. Section 60-6,219(6)(f) caps side cowl or fender lights at two, each emitting amber or white light.

Colour and motion are policed separately and strictly. Section 60-6,229 makes it unlawful to drive with any red or green light visible from directly in front of the vehicle, excepting police, fire department, fire patrol vehicles and school buses. Section 60-6,230(1) bars operating any motor vehicle or equipment of any description on a Nebraska highway with any rotating or flashing light unless sections 60-6,230 to 60-6,233 permit it, and the Nebraska Supreme Court in State v. Warriner, 267 Neb. 424, 675 N.W.2d 112 (2004), read that plain language to proscribe using hazard lights while driving. Section 60-6,230(2) bars any colour other than red on the rear of a vehicle, except stop lights and directional signals, which may be red, yellow or amber. Blue and amber rotating lights are reserved by section 60-6,230(5) to Department of Transportation, local authority and public utility work vehicles, and red or red and blue to authorized emergency vehicles under section 60-6,231 and to sheriff-permitted volunteer firefighters, peace officers and physician medical directors under section 60-6,233.

Section 60-6,222 makes a violation of section 60-6,219 or 60-6,221, which covers the two-light limit, the single spotlight limit, the twenty-five candlepower aiming rule and the glare standard, a Class III misdemeanor. Section 28-106 sets that at up to three months imprisonment, a five hundred dollar fine, or both. Section 60-6,222 then adds a step most equipment statutes lack: as part of the judgment of conviction the trial judge must direct the person to produce in court, or submit to the prosecuting attorney, satisfactory proof that the light equipment has been made to conform before the person operates the vehicle again, and failing to comply is a separate additional offense that is prosecuted on its own.

Improper coloured, rotating or flashing lights are handled by section 60-6,234, also a Class III misdemeanor, and a person convicted under it must also be ordered to remove the offending light from the vehicle or equipment. Backup lights burning while the vehicle moves forward on a highway is its own Class III misdemeanor under section 60-6,228. None of these offenses is itemized in the point schedule at section 60-4,182, so they fall into subdivision (17) at one point each, and twelve points in two years brings summary revocation under section 60-4,183.