| Subject: Blue lights, etc. |
Author:
Vtpapa
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Date Posted: 11:42:50 12/12/02 Thu
In reply to:
Patrick
's message, "Blue Lights" on 11:37:50 12/11/02 Wed
I thought the feds at least "suggested" standardizing light colors couple of decades ago. Blue or blue and white were for police, red or red and white were for fire and EMS, and yellow was for highway depts., wreckers, etc. Green and red and green were for Santa, as I recall.
Anyhow, some states -- Vermont, where I live is one of them -- codified (put into law) those requirements, which means in VT you have blue (or blue and white) lights if you're a cop, red (or red and white) lights if you're a firefighter or EMT, and yellow lights if you plow snow, do road service, or run a wrecker. VT DOT issues permits for red and blue lights. I'm pretty sure NH has the same, or similar, laws. Other New England states have variations on them, although the CT, ME, and MA SP all run blue lights, while the RI SP has red lights on their cruiser. (Think about it, that's a joke.) Of course NY and NJ SP have red lights, while the PA SP went to red and blue when they went to Vector bars, although before that they were all red, too. I think, in CT, volunteer firefighters are allowed blue lights, while career firefighters are allowed red. This is sooooo confusing.
Recently I learned that one of the sheriff's departments in VT is asking the legislature to allow red and blue lights on police cars because blue light "washes out" in sunlight. I'm not so sure about the validity of that position. I remember seeing an old Whelen catalog that showed red lenses reduced light output on strobes far less than blue and yellow did.
Getting back to the point. I think the reason the feds "suggested" specific colors for various emergency services was to simplify things. You know, if the vehicle behind you has a flashing blue light, it's a cop car; if the flashing light is red it's a fire/EMS; and if it's yellow, you're about to get plowed. Given the stupidity I've observed working crashes on the road as a firefighter, I agree with this concept.
Of course, since we all know how progressive and amenable to change emergency service agencies are, you can see why the feds didn't mandate it and why we still have all this confusion.
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