Christmas lights on cars: Celebration or distraction?

SINGAPORE – Some car drivers who got into the festive spirit during the Christmas season ended up on the wrong side of the law by dressing up their vehicles with fairy lights.

In a Facebook post on Jan 3, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it caught a total of 86 vehicles for over 165 offences in the fortnight before, in islandwide enforcement operations against non-compliant modifications on vehicles. In one of the images attached to the post, a car is seen covered in fairy lights – also known as Christmas lights.

The dark-coloured sedan was among 50 vehicles caught for having illegal decorative lamps by the LTA during a two-week operation in December 2024. Vehicles with such lamps formed the largest proportion of offences detected by LTA during that period, with 39 vehicles also flagged for having modified exhaust systems, the authority told The Straits Times.

Images of some of these cars have made the rounds on social media.

Photos uploaded on Facebook page SG Road Vigilante, which has more than 280,000 followers, captured cars decorated with Christmas lights on public roads. The Jan 4 post drew mixed reactions from netizens, with more than 400 reactions and over 180 comments.

At least 10 netizens expressed confusion and questioned why the vehicles were not allowed to be decorated festively.

Said A.J. Kasetyo: “I don’t see anything wrong with this. People are just trying to be festive. It’s not glaring to a point where it obscures another driver’s vision.”

But others disagreed, saying that the lights were a distraction to other road users.

When queried, LTA pointed ST to the One Motoring website, which it owns and operates.

According to the website, such modifications are prohibited as these “lights may distract and disorient other road users”. It added that decorative lamps can include LED lights on windscreen wipers, neon lights on the undercarriage or in car interiors, and flashing lights.

According to the website, anyone – including workshops – who illegally modifies or uses such vehicles may face fines of up to $5,000, imprisonment of up to three months, or both. Repeat offenders face double the penalties.

This is not the first time that car owners who have decorated their vehicles in an unusual fashion have run afoul of the law.

In June 2024,

a car decorated to resemble a police vehicle but had decals of the word “Polite”

instead of “Police” on it went viral online. The next month, the

authorities advised the owner to remove the livery and also issued him a stern warning.

Under the Police Force Act, it is an offence for a person who is not a police officer to wear or possess any police uniform, or to use any police insignia, knowing that any member of the public may believe that he or she is a police officer.

In August 2024

, a car modified to resemble a Hong Kong taxi

was served an enforcement notice. The LTA notice said the car was a “private vehicle displaying a ‘taxi’ sign” and was required to undergo an inspection at an authorised centre. The car’s owner told ST that he had removed decals on the vehicle which made it look like a taxi.