Is it legal in Kansas to deck your car out in Christmas lights? See what the law says
With Christmas a week away, you may be thinking of ways you can get into the Christmas spirit — whether that involves decorating your house in holiday cheer, baking holiday goodies or even the festive trend of decking your car in Christmas lights.
But if you want to hop on that last trend, you may want to be careful.
Both Kansas law and Wichita’s city statutes have specific laws on lights on vehicles, which say that all headlights must be white or amber and vehicles other than school buses, church buses, day care buses or emergency vehicles cannot have flashing lights.
Laws also say that vehicles cannot have more than four headlights higher than 300 candlepower on at the same time. Tail lights must be a red color, and stop lights and signal devices can be amber or white.
While the law doesn’t specifically cover holiday lights, according to the Wichita Police Department, any driver “with additional lighting that violates Kansas law, or the City of Wichita ordinances is considered illegal.”
In fact, Garden City’s police department just recently posted on social media a warning to residents to refrain from the trend.
“Not to mention, excessive lighting or non-standard lights on vehicles may distract other drivers, impair visibility, or confuse roadway signals,” the social media post read.
So instead of branching out and putting bright holiday lights on your Kansas vehicle, it’s best to keep those lights to decorate your home.
This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Is it legal in Kansas to deck your car out in Christmas lights? See what the law says."
