Understanding the lights on your car

What you need to know:

Every light on your car means and does something. Edgar R Batte explains their meaning

Lights could be seen as another accessory on a car. They add to its beauty and just like your eyes, lights are important for a driver when on the road because they help communicate different intentions or plans of a driver.

Andrew Musoke, a motor vehicle technician and engineer, particularly for rally cars, says car lights are useful be it during the day or night, adding that if someone is following you, they would like to know what your intentions are. “If you are moving at a slow speed, someone might want to overtake you, not knowing that your intention is to turn either to the right or left. This could cause an accident,” he explains.

Eric Amadi, a technical consultant at Dalas Auto says any driver should be keen on the different uses of their car lights as different lights have different uses or meaning on a vehicle.

Uses of the different lights

Brake lights
Eric Amadi, a technical consultant at Dalas Auto explains that lights come in handy every time a driver is on the road. From the rear, you can slow down with your brake lights (red lights at the back of the car) to let the driver behind you know that you are intending to turn a slow down or stop. But that is just part of the many purposes that lights serve on a vehicle. He adds that brake lights help drivers calculate distance.

Indicators
“Turn signals or indicators are also known as blinking lamps. They are mounted near the left and right front and rear corners of a vehicle. They are used when a driver is intending to turn.

The brake lights, also known as stop lamps are activated when the driver brakes. These are fitted symmetrically at the left and right edges of the rear side of the vehicle,” Peter Amadi, a technical advisor at Dalas Auto explains.

Low-beam headlights
Musoke explains that headlights have a small dim bulb. “That is the parking light. Those are normally put on when it starts getting dark. We switch them on so that any other vehicle can notice that there is an oncoming vehicle. When it gets dark, you can switch on the dim headlights.

When you are driving with dim lights, they are focused more on the road and they don’t dazzle the oncoming driver so he knows that there is a car. The dims are dipped onto the road,” the motor vehicle engineer explains.

High-beam lights
The high-beam lights, on the other hand, are brighter and spread their rays a bit more. Musoke observes that drivers misuse these lights because some do not know which light to use when. Peter Amadi observes that main beam headlamps provide an intense and central distribution of light.

It is common to find motorists driving in full-lights even though they are driving on a well-lit street, which experts say is wrong and can cause an accident since it affects the sight of an oncoming driver.

“Full lights are used on highways, to enable you see further. In town, I would recommend drivers to use dim headlights because you have roadside lights, street lights illuminating the road and I see no need for switching on the bright lights,” Musoke advises.

Spotlights
Though not common on cars driven in Uganda, spot lights are another set of lights. They are also called day-running lights. They are found on cars such as Range Rover Sport. They come on immediately you start the engine.

“They help improve your visibility when you are driving so that other drivers can see you coming from a distance. When you are driving, you might forget to put on your headlights so spot lights can help. They are also used when you are going to drive under tunnels,” he adds. They are sometimes called the ‘Front fog lamps’. They are mounted low and directed towards road surface to help in areas with poor visibility due to fog rain or dust.

Dashboard lights

Hand brake light
Besides the external lights, there are the lights found inside the cars. “One of the lights has a circle, an exclamation mark in the middle and two semi-circles on the sides. That one is for the hand-break. Whenever the hand-brake is on, the light glows.

If it happens to shine when you are driving and the hand-brake is down, then you know that there is a fault on the hand-brake system. Either the brake fluid level has gone down or the breaks are worn out,” Musoke explains.

Check engine light
He adds that the dashboard has an orange light. Once you switch on the ignition, it lights up and then goes off. It has a picture of an engine. In most vehicles, it is the check engine button. In case your engine has a fault, the light will shine even when you are driving

Battery-charge light
There is another red light which has a picture of a battery.
“It is the battery-charge light. When you switch on the engine, it should shine. It shows the alternator is charging the battery. If it comes on when you are driving, then you know that the alternator is faulty,” he adds.

Oil light
Still on the dash board, there is a red light in the shape of a small container with a drop at its tip. The car engineer says this is the oil light which shows you the state of your oil pressure. He observes that some vehicles have a gauge but modern vehicles have a light.

The moment it comes on when you are driving, know that the engine does not have any oil in it. It goes off the moment you start the vehicle.

“Therefore, it is important that you check and pay attention to all lights whether in or out of the car because they have a meaning,” Musoke advises.

Location of lights

Parking lights
Parking lights shine a dim red at the back of the car and for the front part, they shine in white. These show the person behind that you are parking.

Close to the back parkinglights are reversing lights which shine in white to show the person driving behind you that you are reversing.

Hazard lights or double indicators
Musoke says these flash at the front and back of the car. He says they are normally switched on when there is a harzad or problem ahead.
These lights can also be used when your car gets a mechanical problem.

However, when either one or both indicator lights stop working, “you can tell from the way they sound.” Andrew Musoke, a motor vehicle technician and engineer says they sound louder than they normally do.