I doubt that if a bicycle had a couple of yellow side marker lights, and they are available flashing now, that Law Enforcement would quibble about a headlight that didn't meet the letter of some arcane law. My Cygolite 1200 has the same slits mentioned earlier on the Metro, and I have to believe they will pass muster. My seven year old MagicShines kind of scallop the bezel around the front glass so some light kind of spills to the sides, so its clear they were on the same page years ago. It's enough, and I hope no one plans to scrap perfectly good headlights over hyper-literal interpretation of legalese. My common sense reading of that law does not make me think a headlight has to throw as much light to the sides as it does straight ahead! Furthermore, I am quite certain that even without bezel cuts and etc. the splash of light in front of most lights would be quite visible from the sides. Flashing or passive side marker lights are just gravy IOW.