Parking lamps are often confused with sidelights, as they help increase the visibility of your car on the road. It is extremely important for you as a driver to know how to use parking lamps appropriately while parking your car, especially during traffic and unpleasant weather.

What are parking lamps?

Parking lamps, commonly known as parking lights, refer to the small lights that are located at the front and rear of your car. These lamps are grouped along with the main headlight and the dipped headlight.

The colour of the parking lamps depends on their placement. If they are located at the back of your car, their colour would be red. However, if they are located at the front of your car, their colour could be white, yellow, or amber.

Parking Lamps vs Sidelights vs Headlights

Parking lamps are often confused for being the same as sidelights. Both of them serve the same purpose: making sure your car is visible to other drivers on the road. However, unlike sidelights, the parking lamps in your car must be visible to other people on the road.

While parking lamps and sidelights are used to make sure that your car is visible to other people on the road, headlights are used to make sure that you can clearly see the road ahead of you. Due to this reason, headlights are brighter than parking lamps and sidelights.

How to turn on parking lamps?

You can turn on the parking lamps in your car by using the switch or dial located at either side of your car’s steering wheel. You can move the switches to turn on the parking lamps and then move them back to their original position to turn them off.

How to Check if your parking lamps are on?

You can confirm whether or not the parking lamps of your car are switched on by looking for the symbol on your car’s dashboard. If you see the symbol of parking lamps, that is, two semi-circles placed opposite each other with three lines at each side, on the dashboard, it means that the parking lamps are switched on.

When you should use parking lamps?

You should use the parking lamps on your car in the situations mentioned below.

• You have parked your car on or near a road that has a speed limit above 30mph.
• You have parked your car less than 33 feet away from a junction.
• You have parked your car in the opposite direction of the traffic flow.
• You are driving at night or in the dark.

• The visibility on the road is low due to reasons such as foggy weather or heavy rain.

  Conclusion

  Parking lamps help prevent accidents on roads, as they make sure that your car is visible to other people. You are required to manually turn on these lights while parking your car or driving in the dark or bad weather.

  You can visit the Park+ website and download the Park+App application to learn more about how you can make the process of parking your car easier. Park+ will assist you in finding and booking a parking space for your vehicle. It will also aid you in researching and comparing car loan offers and car insurance policies.