Wyoming Caps Front Driving Lamps at Four, Bans Red and Blue Forward, and Requires Approved Lamps

Wyoming's lamp rules sit in W.S. 31-5-910 through 31-5-932, and they start from a permissive baseline. W.S. 31-5-901(b) says nothing in the equipment act prohibits equipment required by the United States Department of Transportation, nor the use of additional parts and accessories on any vehicle not inconsistent with the act. Extra lighting is therefore lawful in principle, and the whole question is which specific provisions it runs into.

The first is a count. W.S. 31-5-927 provides that whenever a motor vehicle equipped with the head lamps this act requires is also equipped with any other driving lamps on the front, not more than a total of four of the lamps on the front of the vehicle shall be lighted at any one time when upon a highway. The section expressly excludes turn and hazard warning signal lamps from the count. Because W.S. 31-5-912(a) already requires at least two head lamps on any motor vehicle greater than fifty inches wide, a typical Wyoming pickup has exactly two lamps of headroom, and a light bar with four pods lit alongside the low beams is over the limit even before anything is said about brightness.

The second is aim and intensity. W.S. 31-5-928(a) applies during the times specified in W.S. 31-5-910, which are from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise and any other time when persons and vehicles are not clearly discernible at a thousand feet. During those times, any lighted lamp or illuminating device other than head lamps, spot lamps, auxiliary lamps, flashing turn signals, hazard warning lamps and school bus warning lamps that projects a beam greater than three hundred candlepower must be aimed so that no part of the high-intensity portion of the beam strikes the level of the roadway more than seventy-five feet from the vehicle. W.S. 31-5-911 fixes how that is measured: on a straight, level, unlighted highway, in normal atmospheric conditions, with the vehicle unloaded.

The third is colour. W.S. 31-5-928(b) prohibits driving or moving any vehicle or equipment on a highway with any lamp or device capable of displaying a red light or blue light visible from directly in front of its centre, except as required in W.S. 31-5-929 for school buses. Pointing at the rear, W.S. 31-5-917 requires all lighting devices and reflectors mounted on the rear to display or reflect red, except that a stop light or other signal device may be red or yellow, the licence plate light must be white and a backup lamp must emit white. W.S. 31-5-931(a) allows not more than two backup lamps and forbids lighting them while the vehicle is in forward motion.

The fourth is flashing. W.S. 31-5-928(c) says flashing lights are prohibited except as authorised by W.S. 31-5-915, 31-5-921, 31-5-929, 31-5-930, 31-5-931 and 31-5-928 itself. The allowances that follow are specific to occupations rather than open to drivers generally. W.S. 31-5-928(f) authorises flashing white and amber lights on vehicles of civil emergency preparedness agencies, vehicles of municipalities and public service corporations, wreckers, funeral cars, and non-bus school district vehicles used to transport children. W.S. 31-5-928(g) lets a wrecker display flashing red and blue at the scene of any emergency, which is one of very few civilian blue-light allowances in American traffic codes. W.S. 31-5-928(h) lets a public utility vehicle display one or more flashing red lights visible from five hundred feet when providing emergency services. W.S. 31-5-931(b) allows side marker lamps and lets them flash in conjunction with turn or hazard warning signals.

Spot lamps get their own section. W.S. 31-5-922 permits any motor vehicle to be equipped with not more than two spot lamps, and requires every lighted spot lamp to be aimed and used on approaching another vehicle so that no part of the high-intensity portion of the beam strikes the windshield, any window, a mirror or an occupant of another vehicle in use. Beam-switching duties in W.S. 31-5-924(a) require a driver to drop off the high beam before coming within five hundred feet of an oncoming vehicle, and to use something other than the uppermost beam within three hundred feet behind another vehicle.

Finally, the equipment itself must be approved. W.S. 31-5-932(a) makes it unlawful to sell, offer for sale or use on a vehicle any head lamp, auxiliary or fog lamp, rear lamp, signal lamp or required reflector, or any part tending to change the original design or performance, unless of a type submitted to and approved by the superintendent, defined in W.S. 31-5-102(a)(l) as the director of the Department of Transportation. Under W.S. 31-5-932(b) an approved lamp must bear the trademark or name under which it was approved so as to be legible when installed, and under W.S. 31-5-932(c) it must be mounted, adjusted and aimed in accordance with the superintendent's instructions. W.S. 31-5-940 gives the superintendent power to buy and test equipment, to notify a seller of unapproved or substandard devices, and to petition the district court for an injunction against further sale.

Wyoming has enacted no underglow, neon or accent-lighting section at all. The words underglow and neon appear nowhere in the statutes, so decorative lighting is judged by the general provisions above: the intensity and aim limit in W.S. 31-5-928(a), the forward red and blue ban in W.S. 31-5-928(b), the flashing prohibition in W.S. 31-5-928(c), the rear colour rule in W.S. 31-5-917, and the accessory allowance in W.S. 31-5-901(b).

Lighting offences are roadside offences, because Wyoming operates no periodic motor vehicle safety inspection. S. 31-5-901(a) makes it a misdemeanour for any person to drive or move, or for the owner to cause or knowingly permit to be driven or moved, any vehicle that is not equipped with such lamps and other equipment in proper condition and adjustment as required in the act, or which is equipped in any manner in violation of the act. That reaches the registered owner as well as the driver.

S. 31-5-1201(b) applies a fine of not more than $200 for a first conviction, not more than $300 for a second conviction of the same offence within one year, and not more than $500 or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both, for a third or subsequent conviction of the same offence within a year of the first. S. S. 31-5-940(c) lets him obtain a district court injunction on a prima facie showing that the device is of a type requiring approval, has not been approved, and is being sold or offered for sale.

Enforcement of the traffic act falls to the Wyoming Highway Patrol division and to other enforcement officers designated by the department, alongside county and municipal peace officers.