They can still be seen sporadically in the street scene: yellow headlights. Today they are actually only there for display, but in the past century the yellow viewers were still legally required in France. Where does this legal obligation actually come from? This edition of De Vluchtstrook shines light on the remarkable phenomenon.
In November 1936, the French government came up with a legal requirement for yellow headlights. That law stipulated that all new vehicles in France had to have yellow headlights from 1937 onwards. Exactly why the French government introduced this law is not entirely clear. An information website of the French Ministry of Defense states that the yellow headlights may have become mandatory because of the rising tensions with Germany at that time. By giving French vehicles yellow headlights, it would be easier to spot foreign vehicles during an invasion. The timing of the law, some time after Hitler took office in 1933 and several years prior to the outbreak of World War II, supports this statement.
Yet this explanation is disputed by some because official sources are said to be lacking. Another reading is that yellow headlights have been made compulsory for the safety of motorists. Yellow lamps are said to be less dazzling than white lamps and also less tiring for the eyes. Be that as it may, the French government also held on to the yellow headlights well after World War II. Only in 1993 did the characteristic viewers in France come to an end. In that year, 12 European countries signed the Maastricht Treaty, which formed the basis for the European Union. The lighting for cars was harmonized and white lamps became the new standard. So from 1994, after 57 years ‘yellow’, French cars look quite different from their eyes.
Quirky
Today it is even illegal to drive around France with yellow headlamps unless the car is pre-1994. Why the French held on to the measure for so long is not known, but it probably has something to do with the idiosyncrasy of the French people. In any case, the yellow headlights were a nice landmark for French cars and today it is still a unique sight. The lower light output is a disadvantage, but on the other hand, yellow lamps reflect less in the water droplets in bad weather, which means that visibility must be better. In the Netherlands you can just drive around with yellow headlights, but the color of the lighting must be the same on both sides.
In addition to old French cars, yellow light can also be seen on Japanese of yesteryear, but in Japan the yellow lighting was not legally required as far as is known. In most countries you could choose which color of lighting you wanted. Currently, yellow headlamps are also used in the World Endurance Championship, where the cars from the GT rankings drive them. However, the main purpose of this is to make them easier to distinguish in the dark from the faster LMP cars with white light.
All in all, the yellow lighting has lost quite a bit of ground over the years. Yet today there is one car that goes back to the past from the factory and that is the BMW M5 CS, which has yellow LED daytime running lights. That doesn’t have much practical use, by the way, but it can be seen as a nice wink.