Texas Auxiliary and Underglow Lighting: Red Faces Backward, Blue Belongs to Police

The Texas approach to added lighting is a list of permissions plus a short list of prohibitions, and Section 547.004(a)(3) makes operating a vehicle equipped in a manner prohibited by Chapter 547 a misdemeanor. So the question for any light bar, rock light or underglow kit is whether it fits a permission and clears the prohibitions in Section 547.305.

The color prohibitions are the sharp ones. Under Section 547.305(b), no vehicle other than a police vehicle may operate with a lamp or device that displays a red light visible from directly in front of the center of the vehicle, so red accent lighting on a grille, bumper or front wheel well is out. Under Section 547.305(c), a vehicle may not be equipped with a red, white or blue beacon, flashing or alternating light at all unless the equipment is used as specifically authorized by the chapter or is a running lamp, headlamp, taillamp, backup lamp or turn signal lamp used as authorized by law. Blue is effectively reserved: the chapter authorizes alternating or flashing blue and amber only for an escort flag vehicle under subsection (e-3), and flashing blue lights for a vehicle described by Section 545.157(a).

Subsection (e-2) closes the argument owners usually try. A motor vehicle is equipped with a lamp or illuminating device under Section 547.305 whether the device is attached temporarily or permanently, and whether or not it is activated. A magnetic strip carried under the rocker panel and switched off is still equipment for the purposes of the section, so an unlit but installed blue underglow kit is not a defense.

Aiming and brightness get their own rule. Section 547.305(a) requires that a lamp or illuminating device other than a headlamp, spotlamp, auxiliary lamp, turn signal lamp, or emergency vehicle, tow truck or school bus warning lamp, that projects a beam brighter than 300 candlepower, be directed so that no part of the high-intensity portion of the beam strikes the roadway more than 75 feet from the vehicle. That is the provision that catches an aftermarket light bar aimed down the highway on a public road.

The permitted auxiliary lamps come with counts and heights that are easy to check. Section 547.327 allows not more than two spotlamps, aimed so that no part of the high-intensity portion of the beam strikes the windshield, window, mirror or occupant of another vehicle in use. Section 547.328 allows not more than two fog lamps, mounted on the front at a height from 12 to 30 inches, and aimed so that a lamp mounted left of center projects no part of its high-intensity beam higher than four inches below the level of the center of the lamp at 25 feet. Section 547.329 allows no more than two auxiliary passing lamps mounted on the front at a height from 24 to 42 inches, and Section 547.330 allows no more than two auxiliary driving lamps mounted on the front at a height from 16 to 42 inches. Both may be used with headlamps as specified by Section 547.333.

Decorative body lighting has its own short list. Section 547.332 permits not more than two side cowl or fender lamps emitting amber or white light without glare, not more than two running board courtesy lamps, one on each side, again amber or white without glare, and one or more backup lamps that emit amber or white light only when the vehicle is not moving forward. Rearward color is fixed by Section 547.303: a lighting device or reflector mounted on the rear must be or reflect red, and a signaling device mounted on the rear may be red, amber or yellow.

Motorcycles and mopeds are the one vehicle class for which Texas legislated underglow by name. Section 547.306 defines LED ground effect lighting equipment as light emitting diode technology attached to the underbody to illuminate the body of the machine or the ground below it, and permits it only if the lighting emits a non-flashing amber or white light and no other type of light. The section was added by Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 641 (S.B. 1918) and last amended by Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 531 (H.B. 3313), effective September 1, 2023. Because it is written for a motorcycle or moped, a car with underglow is judged by Section 547.305 instead, where amber and green are the colors that trip none of the express prohibitions and steady operation matters as much as color.

A few classes of vehicle get colors nobody else may use. A security patrol vehicle operated by a guard company described by Occupations Code Section 1702.108, or by a security officer defined by Section 1702.002, may only be equipped with green, amber or white lights under Section 547.305(e-1). Alternately flashing lighting equipment described by Section 547.701 or 547.702 is limited by Section 547.305(d) to a school bus, an authorized emergency vehicle, a marked church bus and a tow truck working a collision scene or hooking up a disabled vehicle on a roadway.

401 sets the punishment at a fine of not less than $1 or more than $200 on conviction, before court costs. 004(c) allows the court to dismiss the charge if the driver remedies the defect before the first court appearance and pays a reimbursement fee not to exceed $10, which for a bolt-on kit usually means removing it, though subsection (d) denies that route to commercial motor vehicles. 305(e-2) means an officer can write the citation on the installed hardware without waiting to see it lit.

305(b) reserves a forward-facing red lamp to police vehicles and subsection (c) reserves red, white and blue beacons and flashing or alternating lamps to the users the chapter specifically authorizes. 510, added lighting is now found on the road rather than at a yearly inspection lane.