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A motoring myth has been proved to be wrong - you CAN drive with an interior light switched on.

Generations of drivers have grown up thinking it is illegal to have the courtesy light on.

But the RAC says it’s perfectly okay to drive with the white light showing.

The motoring organisation says it’s an old wives tale based on a misunderstanding of the law.

But there is an exception which may have led to the belief that the light should always be off while the car is in motion.

The RAC said: “There is no law against this. However, if a police officer pulls you over and adjudges your interior light to be a driving distraction they have the right to tell you to turn it off.”

The Highway Code makes no mention of driving with the light on.

But drivers should not show anything out of the back windscreen other than a red light.

And the driver should not be distracted from the road by, for example, switching on and off.

(Image: iStockphoto)

Police say there is only an outside chance of the white light from an interior light affecting other drivers.

A police officer said: “The only scrap of a chance may be if the interior light is white AND it is showing to the rear (which I would doubt) so that it is visible from outside the rear of the vehicle.

“The offence there is ‘showing a light other than red to the rear.’

“When you think about it a car has numerous lights within the cockpit nowadays, one more located in the roof probably won’t make much difference.”

He said sat-navs, instrument dials, and radios also show lights.

So the general feeling is that switching the lights on is legal.

Just don’t forget to turn them off when you get where you’re going, or you’ll run the car battery flat.