North Dakota Auxiliary Lights: Two of Each Kind, and Nothing Lit Below 16 or Above 42 Inches

Section 39-21-17 works by naming lamp types and giving each its own limits. Spot lamps are capped at two, and every lighted spot lamp must be aimed and used so that no part of the high-intensity portion will strike the windshield, any windows, a mirror, or an occupant of another vehicle in use. Fog lamps are also capped at two, must be mounted on the front at a height of not less than twelve inches, that is 30.48 centimeters, and not more than thirty inches, 76.2 centimeters, above the level surface on which the vehicle stands, and must be aimed so that with the vehicle unloaded none of the high-intensity portion to the left of the vehicle's center projects, at twenty-five feet ahead, higher than four inches below the level of the center of the lamp. Fog lamps meeting those requirements may be used together with lower headlamp beams under section 39-21-20(2).

The two remaining categories are the ones drivers usually mean by extra lights. Auxiliary passing lamps are capped at two and must be mounted on the front between twenty-four inches, 60.96 centimeters, and forty-two inches, 106.68 centimeters. Auxiliary driving lamps are capped at two, and here North Dakota writes the restriction as an operating rule rather than an installation rule: any auxiliary driving lamp mounted at a height of less than sixteen inches, 40.64 centimeters, or more than forty-two inches above the level surface on which the vehicle stands may not be lighted when the vehicle is used upon a highway. Mounting it is not the offense; switching it on while on the road is. For both categories section 39-21-20, the multiple-beam road-lighting section, applies to any combination of headlamps with those lamps.

Section 39-21-25(2) supplies the total. Where a vehicle equipped with the required headlamps also carries any auxiliary lamp, spot lamp or other front lamp projecting a beam of intensity greater than three hundred candlepower, not more than four of those lamps may be lighted at any one time when on a highway. Headlamps count toward that four, which is why a pair of driving lamps plus low beams is the practical ceiling.

Section 39-21-26 adds three rules that catch decorative and off-road installations. First, any lighted lamp or illuminating device other than headlamps, spot lamps, auxiliary lamps, flashing turn signals, emergency vehicle warning lamps and schoolbus warning lamps that projects a beam greater than three hundred candlepower must be directed so that no part of the high-intensity portion strikes the roadway more than seventy-five feet, 22.86 meters, from the vehicle. Second, no vehicle may be driven or moved on a highway with a lamp or device displaying a red or green light visible from directly in front of the center of the vehicle, unless a forward-visible red light is expressly authorized or required elsewhere in the chapter. Third, flashing lights are prohibited except on an authorized emergency vehicle, a schoolbus, snow-removal equipment, a funeral home vehicle displaying a flashing purple light only while escorting a funeral procession, and any vehicle indicating a turn or a vehicular traffic hazard requiring unusual care.

Two further constraints are easy to overlook. Section 39-21-06.1(1) allows one or more backup lamps, separately or combined with other lamps, but they may not be lighted when the vehicle is in forward motion. And section 39-21-29(1) makes it unlawful to sell or to use any headlamp, auxiliary or fog lamp, rear lamp, signal lamp or required reflector, or parts that tend to change the original design or performance, unless the type has been approved by the department. Section 39-21-29(2) requires an approved lamp to bear the trademark or name under which it was approved, legible when installed, and section 39-21-29(3) requires the lamp to be mounted, adjusted and aimed in accordance with the department's instructions. Under section 39-21-30(1) the department's standards must correlate with and, so far as practicable, conform to the current applicable standards of the Society of Automotive Engineers. Uncertified aftermarket pods therefore fail on approval even where the count and the height are right.

Section 39-21-46(1) makes it unlawful to drive, or for an owner knowingly to permit the driving of, a vehicle the actor knows is equipped in violation of chapter 39-21, so lighting offenses turn on knowledge. 1-10(2), with a further seven days for each point above eleven. 1-05(7) removes that charge from the noncriminal disposition route so it must be answered in court. 1-03 leave open both paying the statutory fee and requesting an administrative hearing.