Introduction
The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has, in recent times, been issuing fines of $10,000 to motorists found using fog lights under conditions not deemed to constitute “fog or difficult conditions.” This enforcement, however well-intentioned, has produced a glaring inequity on our roads: newer vehicles are permitted—indeed, mandated by emerging regulation—to use Daytime Running Lights (DRLs) to increase their visibility at all times, while owners of older vehicles who rely on factory-installed fog lights to achieve the same safety objective are punished. This is not merely inconsistent policy—it is fundamentally unfair, and it is costing ordinary Jamaicans money for doing nothing more than trying to be safe.
This argument calls on the JCF and the relevant government ministries to immediately suspend the ticketing of motorists for the use of factory-installed fog lights and to introduce a more rational, equitable, and safety-centred framework for vehicle lighting regulation in Jamaica.
A. The Safety Gap Between Old and New Vehicles
The premise behind requiring DRLs on newer vehicles is simple and well-established: visibility saves lives. Studies have shown that vehicles equipped with DRLs can experience up to 7% fewer collisions, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has documented meaningful reductions in crashes attributable to daytime running lights. The logic is undeniable—a vehicle that can be seen is a vehicle less likely to be hit.
Governments around the world have embraced this principle. Finland mandated DRLs as far back as 1972, Sweden followed in 1977, and the United Kingdom made them legally required in 2011. Jamaica’s own movement toward requiring DRLs on new vehicles reflects this global consensus.
However, this progressive policy has inadvertently created a two-tier road system. Newer vehicles enjoy round-the-clock, automatic, legally endorsed visibility enhancement via DRLs. Older vehicles—which constitute a significant proportion of Jamaica’s vehicle fleet—have no such factory feature. Many of them, however, were manufactured with factory-installed fog lights.
When owners of these older vehicles activate their fog lights to improve their visibility to other road users, they are ticketed $10,000 for the privilege. This is unjust. The owner of a 2005 vehicle is not less deserving of safety than the owner of a 2025 vehicle. They are not less entitled to be seen on the road. The law, as currently enforced, implicitly tells older vehicle owners: your safety does not matter.
B. Factory-Installed Fog Lights Meet Stringent International Safety Standards
A critical element of this argument is that factory-installed fog lights are not rogue or dangerous lighting. They are precision-engineered components that meet some of the most rigorous safety standards in the world.
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Regulation No. 19 establishes uniform provisions governing the approval of front fog lamps for motor vehicles, specifically addressing design, performance, and safety requirements to ensure the safety of both the driver and other road users. Fog lights that comply with ECE R19 must meet strict photometric requirements, demonstrate durability, and resist vibration—particularly important for vehicles operating on rough road surfaces.
These are not cheap aftermarket additions. They are components tested, certified, and installed by vehicle manufacturers to exacting global standards.
Under ECE Regulation 48, which governs the installation and use of vehicle lighting, front fog lamps must be positioned no higher than the low beam headlamps, at a minimum height of 250 mm from the ground, and must meet controlled visibility angles—ensuring that the beam does not blind oncoming drivers but instead illuminates the road at low, useful angles.
In other words, factory fog lights are, by design and regulation, not a hazard to other motorists. They are calibrated to cast light downward and wide, not into the eyes of oncoming drivers. The suggestion that using them in clear conditions is inherently dangerous is not supported by the engineering standards they are built to meet.
C. Functional Equivalence
DRLs are low-intensity, front-facing lights that turn on automatically with the engine to make vehicles more noticeable during the day. They do not illuminate the road ahead—their sole purpose is to make the vehicle more visible to other road users. This is precisely the same objective that fog light users on older vehicles are seeking to achieve.
When a driver of an older vehicle activates their fog lights, they are doing so to announce their presence on the road—to be seen by pedestrians, cyclists, and other motorists. The functional outcome is identical to what the law now requires of newer vehicles via DRLs.
To penalise one group for achieving the same safety outcome as another, simply because of the age of their vehicle and the means by which they achieve it, is arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.
Furthermore, it bears noting that some vehicles actually use fog lights as their daytime running light system, meaning the same manufacturers who design these cars consider fog lights entirely appropriate for continuous daytime use. The JCF is therefore, in effect, ticketing Jamaican motorists for doing what certain vehicle manufacturers already do as a standard factory configuration.
D. International Regulatory Frameworks Support Fog Light Use for Visibility
Jurisdictions around the world have grappled with this exact issue, and many have reached sensible conclusions that Jamaica should consider.
In the United States, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 108 governs vehicle lighting. The NHTSA’s Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards establish baseline automotive lighting standards that define photometric performance, durability, and colour for all lighting devices. Fog lights that meet these standards are not prohibited from use—the emphasis is on the quality and certification of the lights, not an outright ban on their use outside meteorological fog.
In Canada, where DRLs have been mandatory since 1990, fog lights continue to be used legally by drivers as a supplementary visibility tool. The Canadian approach recognises that road safety is best served by flexibility, not rigid prohibitions that punish motorists for safety-conscious behaviour.
Internationally, daytime running lights are not substitutes for fog lamps, and fog lamps are recognised as providing distinct and important visibility benefits that DRLs cannot replicate. These two lighting systems are understood globally as complementary, not competing.
E. The $10,000 Fine Is a Disproportionate and Counterproductive Penalty
The current $10,000 fine is punishing the very behaviour that road safety campaigns seek to encourage. Jamaica faces a serious road fatality problem. The nation consistently ranks among the Caribbean countries with the highest rates of road traffic deaths per capita.
In this context, any motorist who voluntarily takes steps to make their vehicle more visible on the road should be commended, not fined.
The enforcement, as currently structured, produces absurd outcomes:
A motorist in a newer vehicle with DRLs drives freely with enhanced visibility at all times—no fine.
A motorist in an older vehicle who activates their factory fog lights to achieve the same result—$10,000 fine.
This is not law enforcement in service of public safety. It is law enforcement in contradiction of it.
F. The Plea
We respectfully call on the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Ministry of Transport and Mining to take the following immediate and measured steps:
Suspend forthwith the issuance of fines to motorists using factory-installed, standards-compliant fog lights for visibility purposes.
Acknowledge the safety gap between newer vehicles equipped with DRLs and older vehicles that rely on fog lights as the functional equivalent, and treat both equally under the law.
Amend or clarify the relevant traffic regulations to distinguish between factory-installed, internationally certified fog lights—which pose no demonstrated danger—and illegally modified, aftermarket, or improperly aimed lighting that may genuinely endanger other road users.
Engage in public consultation with motoring associations, vehicle safety experts, and the public before enforcing any lighting regulation that contradicts established international safety norms.
Redirect enforcement energy toward genuinely dangerous lighting practices—unregulated high-intensity aftermarket lights, improperly aimed beams, and vehicles with defective or missing lights—rather than penalising safety-conscious behaviour.
G. Conclusion
The road is the great equaliser in Jamaica. Whether one drives a new vehicle or an old one, the right to arrive safely is the same. Factory fog lights do not endanger the public—they are designed, tested, and certified precisely to serve road safety.
To ticket a motorist for using them while newer vehicles enjoy legal protection for their DRLs is not enforcement of the law—it is the unequal application of it.
We urge the authorities to act with fairness, with reason, and, above all, with the safety of all Jamaican road users at heart.
Support safety. Treat all motorists equally.
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