⏱️ 2 min read
Moped lights: seeing and, above all, being seen
On a moped, you are small, quiet and easy to miss in a mirror. Your lights are not just there to light up the road: they are there first and foremost to make you exist in other people's eyes. Here is the required equipment and the moments when you must switch it on.
Your moped's lighting equipment
- At the front: a dipped-beam headlight (white or yellow light) that lights up the road without dazzling.
- At the rear: a red light and a red reflector (the device that bounces back the light from headlights).
- A brake light that comes on when you brake, to warn whoever is behind you.
- Indicators, if fitted as standard: they must work. Without indicators, you signal every change of direction with an arm gesture, held out horizontally.
When must you switch your lights on?
- From nightfall to daybreak: dipped-beam headlight at the front, red light at the rear — always.
- In broad daylight as soon as visibility drops below ± 200 m: driving rain, fog, falling snow → the same lights.
- The rest of the time: keep the dipped-beam headlight on permanently. On most recent mopeds it actually comes on automatically at start-up — it is your best protection against "I didn't see him".
If your moped is fitted with a main-beam headlight (the big beam), the rules are the same as for any vehicle: forbidden as soon as you are passing oncoming traffic, following another road user closely or when street lighting is sufficient — you switch back to dipped beam so as not to dazzle.
Broad daylight, but thick fog limits visibility to 150 m. Your lights?
❓ Frequently asked questions
Should I ride with my light on in broad daylight?
It is strongly recommended and, on most recent models, automatic: a two-wheeler with its dipped-beam headlight on is spotted much earlier by drivers.