‘Did anyone else’s parents do this?’ Social media shares childhood car myth
Social media users have identified a common – and hilarious – misconception about the use of interior lights in the family car.
As a child, were you made to believe that turning on the interior light in your family car at night was a criminal offence worthy of extensive jail time? If so, you’re not alone.
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Social media users have been sharing tweets, memes and TikTok videos discussing this shared experience – which was more aligned to parental annoyance than the road rules.
“Anybody else’s parents convince them we would all go to jail if you turned the interior light on in the car while driving at night or was your childhood normal?” Twitter user Brandon Staton posted.
Another much-circulated meme jokes: “Why did my momma make me think it was illegal to turn a light on in. a car while you were driving throughout my whole childhood?”
Meanwhile, a slew of recent TikTok and YouTube videos parodied the over-zealous reactions of parents who claimed to have been blinded by the interior lights.
“I love when my parents’ generation is like, ‘Well, we didn’t get triggered by every little thing the way you kids do’, and I’m like, ‘Do you remember when we used to turn the interior light on in the car at night…and you’d start blindly throwing hands into the back seat of the car?'” one popular TikTok creator joked.
Is it illegal to drive with interior lights on at night?
Although interior lights can prove distracting to drivers – particularly at night time – there is no specific law preventing their use in Australia.
However, your parents weren’t entirely wrong about the risks of driving with lights on in the car – under certain circumstances, it could be deemed a visual distraction and could attract a penalty.
“It is not illegal to drive your vehicle with the interior light on, however drivers can still incur a fine if they are found to not have full control of their vehicle at all times,” a spokesperson for Victoria’s Department of Transport and Planning told Drive.
“Driving with interior lights on may be a dangerous visual distraction for drivers and drivers of other vehicles, which can affect the visibility outside of the car, making other vehicles and obstacles harder to see.”
It’s a similar story in other states and territories, where authorities may apply road rule 297, which states: “A driver must maintain proper control of a vehicle and a driver must have a clear view of the road and traffic around them.”
The penalty for breaking this road rule ranges from fines of $200 up to $1000, often with demerit points attached..
This road rule is enforced on a case-by-case basis and enforcement is typically a matter for police, so it’s better to play it safe and switch off interior lighting.
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