It’s not unusual if a car owner would like to personalize his car, making it different from the thousands of similar ones on the road. Even repainting the car to a different colour can be considered personalization and of course, there are many accessories that can be added.

However, the JPJ does also remind motorists that changes made to the car may be illegal in some cases as they may be considered modifications. For instance, the installation of a large rear spoiler might be excessively large and that would not be permitted. Changing of headlight bulbs is also an offence although changing the wheels has been generally allowed, provided they are of the same dimensions as the original wheels.

One dangerous personalization practice that has been highlighted by our fellow motoring journalist Hezeri Samsuri of Careta is the darkening of the rear lights. It may be trendy or sporty but it blocks the illumination of the brake light completely. That, of course, is very dangerous as drivers behind won’t know the car is braking and might ram into it.

In a Twitter posting recently, Hezeri raised the issue and said that there are shops that will paint the lights black (or owners might do it themselves) which naturally obscures the brake lights. He is highlighting the issue as a friend almost rammed into the car ahead because the brake lights could not be seen.

The ironic thing is that the law usually places guilt on the car behind in cases of a collision. The reasoning is that if the speed was not fast and a safe gap was allowed, it should have been possible to brake in time and not have a collision. It would then take a lot of argument by the driver behind to get the police to see why he did not see any red light coming on.

Hezeri hopes that the police and KPDNHEP will take action against motorists who do such ‘personalisation’, as well as stop shops that are willing to spray the lights. Apparently, it is also possible to buy black film that can be stuck onto the tail light lenses to darken them.

There have been a few cars which have had dark rear lights but these have been specially designed so that when the brake lights come on, the red illumination will still shine through, or the brake lights are separate units. No carmaker would ever install a rear combination light where the brake light cannot be seen when activated.