What color lights do you have?

certguy said:
CA's the only state I've seen where vollies aren't allowed any lights on thier pov's . Really sucks when you're responding from a distance . I was an out of district FF and they would've come in handy . After seeing cars pass too close for comfort while working a major storm with CERT , I do carry an amber rotator for scene safety .
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Oklahoma does not allow lights either.
 
Illinois:
All Sworn Law Enforcement-Red/Blue/Clear/Amber

All Fire, Rescue, EMS, career & vol.-Blue/Clear/Amber

Most Auxiliary Law Enforcement-Blue/Clear/Amber

Tow, US Postal Service, State vehicles, utility, and construction-Amber/Clear

Private Security Services-Amber/Green/Clear

Funeral Vehicles-Purple (and I have seen them used before)

County Corner-Red/Blue

Incident Commander-Green

This is the best that I remember. Most of my FF/EMT pals are not authorized lights in there POV's, but I do have a friend that is and he has more lighting in his Dodge Ram then all the rigs in are department, and the fleet of police vehicles for are county. We pick on him all the time, and so does the PD for fun.
 
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Clear headlights, red brake lights, white reverse lights, and amber turn signal lights.
 
EMTGUY12 said:
here in iowa volley EMTS can have a "white flashing light" meaning any clear or white, rotating, flashing or strobe light used for identification purposes only. volley FF can have have blue added on to the permit. in my pov (2000 crown vic police interceptor) i have a full light bar, rear direction stick lightbar, and wig-wags.
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OK, I have lights in my car too, they are blue. Which is the legal color in PA, but illegal because they are not 360 degree rotators. But no one really follows that. (However, there have been local problems with lights, therefore I am not using them at my discretion until the next fire police meeting which will have a representative from the PSP there.)

However, why do you have a crown vic police interceptor with all the lights? That's just asking to get charged with impersonating a LEO. If I pull up behind someone with my jeep liberty and blue lights going, they know to pull over but not that they are GETTING pulled over.

I don't know about some parts of the country but around here, a blue light makes a big difference. With 4 way stop signs and slow drivers, even living a minute from the station. It helps get me there faster, and that is driving how I normally do. Right of way really makes traveling faster when every block is a stop sign lol. Most people around here respect that fact that you are enroute to an emergency and yield to you even though they legally don't have to.

One thing I love hearing is an ambulance responding calling in a plate number for someone failing to yield and having the dispatcher say copy, notifying PSP. Seriously, what is the big deal about yielding the an emergency vehicle? They could be going to someone you know. :unsure:
 
Don't admit to breaking the law on an internet forum, it's not smart.
 
Sasha said:
Don't admit to breaking the law on an internet forum, it's not smart.
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Good point, thank you. However, in my area of PA, short of running a car off the road/running a light with your light flashing cops don't care.

PD shows on many EMS calls and get to know the members of the depts. Professional courtesy or outdated emergency lighting laws I don't know, but LEOs around here don't really make an issue out of it.
 
trevor1189 said:
Good point, thank you. However, in my area of PA, short of running a car off the road/running a light with your light flashing cops don't care.

PD shows on many EMS calls and get to know the members of the depts. Professional courtesy or outdated emergency lighting laws I don't know, but LEOs around here don't really make an issue out of it.
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Ah. I forgot that EMTs are above the law, so they think. :rolleyes:
 
Sasha said:
Ah. I forgot that EMTs are above the law, so they think. :rolleyes:
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No no no! haha not what I said... I am not saying you can get out of a speeding ticket by saying "But I'm and EMT!" in a whining voice. Just speaking on emergency lighting laws.
 
SafetyPro2 said:
Emergency lights are only allowed on authorized emergency vehicles in California. Volunteers aren't allowed to have any lights and must obey all traffic laws in personal vehicles....
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According to the California Vehicle Code:

25251.5. (a) Any motor vehicle may also be equipped with a system
in which an amber light is center mounted on the rear of a vehicle to
communicate a component of deceleration of the vehicle, and which
light pulses in a controlled fashion at a rate which varies
exponentially with a component of deceleration.
(b) Any motor vehicle may be equipped with two amber lamps on the
rear of the vehicle which operate simultaneously with not more than
four flashes within four seconds after the accelerator pedal is in
the deceleration position and which are not lighted at any other
time. The lamps shall be mounted at the same height, with one lamp
located on each side of the vertical centerline of the vehicle, not
higher than the bottom of the rear window, or if the vehicle has no
rear window, not higher than 60 inches. The light output from each of
the lamps shall not exceed 200 candlepower at any angle horizontal
or above. The amber lamps may be used either separately or in
combination with another lamp.
(c) Any stoplamp or supplemental stoplamp required or permitted by
Section 24603 may be equipped so as to flash not more than four
times within the first four seconds after actuation by application of
the brakes.

I'm not suggesting that folks should run out and equip their POV's but the CVC seems to imply it's ok to add amber lights that meet the guidelines.
 
Larry Levine said:
According to the California Vehicle Code:

25251.5. (a) Any motor vehicle may also be equipped with a system
in which an amber light is center mounted on the rear of a vehicle to
communicate a component of deceleration of the vehicle, and which
light pulses in a controlled fashion at a rate which varies
exponentially with a component of deceleration.
(b) Any motor vehicle may be equipped with two amber lamps on the
rear of the vehicle which operate simultaneously with not more than
four flashes within four seconds after the accelerator pedal is in
the deceleration position and which are not lighted at any other
time. The lamps shall be mounted at the same height, with one lamp
located on each side of the vertical centerline of the vehicle, not
higher than the bottom of the rear window, or if the vehicle has no
rear window, not higher than 60 inches. The light output from each of
the lamps shall not exceed 200 candlepower at any angle horizontal
or above. The amber lamps may be used either separately or in
combination with another lamp.
(c) Any stoplamp or supplemental stoplamp required or permitted by
Section 24603 may be equipped so as to flash not more than four
times within the first four seconds after actuation by application of
the brakes.

I'm not suggesting that folks should run out and equip their POV's but the CVC seems to imply it's ok to add amber lights that meet the guidelines.
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Except amber lights are NOT emergency lights. Only blue and red are. Often accented with white. I did once work for a company that had amber lights on the front that were part of the code 3 light system, they were only accents (i.e. two whites, two ambers, two steady burn reds, and four flashing reds), and that was highly irregular, I've never since seen any other emergency vehicle use amber lights except as warnings on the tail (i.e. not using them to try and clear traffic).
 
2005 thread last commented on in 2009....Nice Save!!!
 
Jim37F said:
Except amber lights are NOT emergency lights. Only blue and red are. Often accented with white. I did once work for a company that had amber lights on the front that were part of the code 3 light system, they were only accents (i.e. two whites, two ambers, two steady burn reds, and four flashing reds), and that was highly irregular, I've never since seen any other emergency vehicle use amber lights except as warnings on the tail (i.e. not using them to try and clear traffic).
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I never implied that they were. The problem is that there really isn't a better thread(s) on the interwebs than this one on this site. So kudos to you guys. The topic was what color lights... And in some context the lights are used to identify an emergency or hazard during a MVA, for example.
 
eLightbars.org doesn't have a better thread on light color than this?
 
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