Overheads

[ICE Offcr]

What are your thoughts of overhead colors: is anyone better than the other?
All Blues
Blue/Red
Red

When I lived in Florida the HP used all blues and most sheriffs/cities used blue/red.

I now live in Texas and it is so confusing, everone uses blue/red, cops, ambulances, fire depts, maint crews, I have never seen so many different non-law enforcement using the color blue.

First time I went out west from the southern east coast I was lost at seeing all red on cars in New Mexico, I was even pulled over once by CHP and almost didn't pull over because of that steady red light they use.

My belief is this, We need at least one nationally reconized color. Blue is the world nationally reconized color of Law Enforcement and should be the sole use of Law Enforcement and should be on all law Enforcement vehicles, if you want to use red and blue that's fine but no other agency should use blue for anything.

[LA DEP]

In CA, ONLY LE vehicles are allowed to use blue (you are also required to have a steady red lamp facing forward as well)........Yellow is maintenance crews, tow trucks ect......Red is for ambulances and fire trucks

[Narco]

what's the logic behind the steady red? GA police must use blue but can also use red/blue combo. my car has blue/white to the front and blue/amber to the rear.

[LA DEP]

what's the logic behind the steady red? GA police must use blue but can also use red/blue combo. my car has blue/white to the front and blue/amber to the rear.

Not sure of any logic.....its state law though......

at one time, ALL of the lights on LEO vehicle were red......flashers and one solid....the law might date from then......

[JPSO Recruit]

In CA, ONLY LE vehicles are allowed to use blue (you are also required to have a steady red lamp facing forward as well)........Yellow is maintenance crews, tow trucks ect......Red is for ambulances and fire trucks

How do you follow this requirement? Do you have a red lamp or something on your vehicle so you can be in compliance?

State Police use all blue led's, we use red/blue led's on the front and back(nobody uses amber in around here) .

[SgtCHP]

what's the logic behind the steady red? GA police must use blue but can also use red/blue combo. my car has blue/white to the front and blue/amber to the rear.

It stems from the state law that says traffic must STOP on display of a steady red signal - i.e.: Red traffic lights, Red signals on RR's, etc. Flashing red signals allow you to stop and proceed if safe; steady red, you must remain until you receive a green, the red is turned off or you are waved on by competent authority.

Warning Lamps on Authorized Emergency Vehicles

25252. Every authorized emergency vehicle shall be equipped with at least one steady burning red warning lamp visible from at least 1000 feet to the front of the vehicle to be used as provided in this code.

In addition, authorized emergency vehicles may display revolving, flashing, or steady red warning lights to the front, sides or rear of the vehicles.

Amended Ch. 635, Stats. 1974. Effective January 1, 1975.

Circular Red or Red Arrow

21453. (a) A driver facing a steady circular red signal alone shall stop at a marked limit line, but if none, before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection or, if none, then before entering the intersection, and shall remain stopped until an indication to proceed is shown, except as provided in subdivision (b).

(b) Except when a sign is in place prohibiting a turn, a driver, after stopping as required by subdivision (a), facing a steady circular red signal, may turn right, or turn left from a one-way street onto a one-way street. A driver making that turn shall yield the right-of-way to pedestrians lawfully within an adjacent crosswalk and to any vehicle that has approached or is approaching so closely as to constitute an immediate hazard to the driver, and shall continue to yield the right-of-way to that vehicle until the driver can proceed with reasonable safety.

(c) A driver facing a steady red arrow signal shall not enter the intersection to make the movement indicated by the arrow and, unless entering the intersection to make a movement permitted by another signal, shall stop at a clearly marked limit line, but if none, before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection, or if none, then before entering the intersection, and shall remain stopped until an indication permitting movement is shown.

(d) Unless otherwise directed by a pedestrian control signal as provided in Section 21456, a pedestrian facing a steady circular red or red arrow signal shall not enter the roadway.

Amended Sec. 1, Ch. 14, Stats. 2001. Effective January 1, 2002.

Authorized Emergency Vehicles

21806. Upon the immediate approach of an authorized emergency vehicle which is sounding a siren and which has at least one lighted lamp exhibiting red light that is visible, under normal atmospheric conditions, from a distance of 1,000 feet to the front of the vehicle, the surrounding traffic shall, except as otherwise directed by a traffic officer, do the following:

(a) (1) Except as required under paragraph (2), the driver of every other vehicle shall yield the right-of-way and shall immediately drive to the right-hand edge or curb of the highway, clear of any intersection, and thereupon shall stop and remain stopped until the authorized emergency vehicle has passed.

(2) A person driving a vehicle in an exclusive or preferential use lane shall exit that lane immediately upon determining that the exit can be accomplished with reasonable safety.

(b) The operator of every street car shall immediately stop the street car, clear of any intersection, and remain stopped until the authorized emergency vehicle has passed.

(c) All pedestrians upon the highway shall proceed to the nearest curb or place of safety and remain there until the authorized emergency vehicle has passed.

Amended Sec. 68, Ch. 1154, Stats. 1996. Effective September 30, 1996.

[LA DEP]

How do you follow this requirement? Do you have a red lamp or something on your vehicle so you can be in compliance?

State Police use all blue led's, we use red/blue led's on the front and back(nobody uses amber in around here) .

All of the LE vehicles here have a solid red lamp somewhere in the lightbar, or elsewhere on the vehicle.....another popular spot (esp. on some of the slicktop CHP cars) is a solid red lamp directly in the middle of the upper windshield....in front of/above where the rear view mirror is.....

[JCT]

There are some agencies in east Tennessee that use a red/blue combination but the vast majority of departments in TN are blue only. And the only constant light that comes off of my vehicle is the spotlight in the driver's eyes.

[mavriktu]

How do you follow this requirement? Do you have a red lamp or something on your vehicle so you can be in compliance?

State Police use all blue led's, we use red/blue led's on the front and back(nobody uses amber in around here) .

Hey recruit you sure??I saw one of your units in my parish the other day and it looked like it had the same bar as my unit,in which case it would have an amber rear flasher(which is also directional),

[37delta]

Red is easier to see than blue. All of our cars have red on the driver side. Blue is more of the true police color, but is harder to see. Amber is by far brighter and easier to see. We have a small center section of our rear bar amber and thats it. Usually for freeway stuff.

[L-1]

what's the logic behind the steady red?

Myth or truth (I don't know) but here is how it was once explained to me.

The human eye works like a movie camera. We don't really see motion. Instead, we see a given number of still pictures or frames every second which. when viewed together. create the illusion of motion. If the pulse of a flashing light happens to be synced to the blank period in between someone's visual frames, it is entirely possible they will never see the flashing light. OTOH, if there is a steady burning light present, they will always see it.

I don't know if this is a BS story someone made up, or if it is the truth. However, when I was growing up as a kid, LAPD used to equip its units with two steady burning red lights visible to the front. When they ran code, you could see them coming for miles and there was never any doubt that an emergency vehicle was approaching. OTOH, many of the other Southern California PDs, FDs and ambulances had one small steady burning red light along with a couple of flashing lights and it was often hard to see them until they were right on top of you, so I'm going to believe the first explanation.

[rgv_cop]

Texas laws are very confusing when it comes to lights.

I could only guess that blue=the po-po and red=stop.

The only ones I would be leary of are the construction vehicles. I usually just see yellow/clear on the construction guys.

[355339]

I heard a long time ago the reason for different colors (atleast the southeast). All blue was police, red and blue meant the dept was cross trained as police and EMT's, and of course fire, EMS was red. I don't know this to be fact, just what I heard. This system was before my time and apparantly dept's just kind of use what they like better now days.

[11b101abn]

what's the logic behind the steady red? GA police must use blue but can also use red/blue combo. my car has blue/white to the front and blue/amber to the rear.

I have tested this theory. A steady burning light, be it red or blue, has some visiblilty benefits, beyond a flashing light.

We kind of scoff at it here in Ga, but the theory is solid.

It probably has nothing to do with Cali law, however.

[11b101abn]

I heard a long time ago the reason for different colors (atleast the southeast). All blue was police, red and blue meant the dept was cross trained as police and EMT's, and of course fire, EMS was red. I don't know this to be fact, just what I heard. This system was before my time and apparantly dept's just kind of use what they like better now days.

No real truth to that here. It is left up to the discretion of the chief. Only GSP has colors mandated by statute.