Nearly since I started driving, I’ve been wanting to put chrismtas lights in my car around christmas time. At one point I got some small sets of battery powered lights and taped them to the inside of the rear window. They were not very bright, and burned through batteries pretty quickly. They were also a pain to turn on and off, as I had to climb back in the back seat to reach the switches. I was dissappointed. I had dreams of lights all along the outside of the car, including on the wheels, which I was attempting to devise a way to create, all powered from the cars battery and easily switched on and off.
This year I finally got around to getting a new set of lights for the car. I got a full string of 60 of the LED lights just for it. They were AC, so I bought an inverter, figuring I could use it for my computer and other stuff as well. I routed them along the outside edge of the roof on the inside of the car, using twisty ties slid carefully into the trim. They were very bright and were a much bigger display than the previous set. I felt they weren’t noticable enough on the inside of the car, but I got plenty of compliments.
Christmas has passed, but I figured I put the effort into putting these up and liked them, so I’d keep them going until about the 15th of January, giving them a full month’s employment. I worried a bit when cops drove by that there might be something illegal about the lights in the car, but none seemed to find it a problem. But just two days short of my planned finish date, I finally got pulled over. It was right in Peninsula here, and I knew the cop from when he pulled me over last, while I was taking a late night walk alongside the road. He said that I can’t have the lights on, and added that it was well passed christmas. I am always nervous around cops and had just had one follow me for a while earlier that trip, so I was especially nervous with this guy.
I don’t know what the law says about christmas lights and where they can and can’t be placed on cars. Where I had them, they really weren’t a distraction to myself, save for a bit when backing up. I can hardly see them being a distraction to other drivers, unless their interest got the better of them, as they weren’t nearly bright enough to cause problems. I know others have had lights on their cars. I will have to look into what I can and can’t do, and perhaps figure out a way to move the lights to the exterior of the car.
Lights on the car is my favorite way to decorate for christmas.