# Blue Lights and Police Cars - Southern States? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2007, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-lights-and-police-cars-southern-states/416204 "2007-08-20T02:12:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-lights-and-police-cars-southern-states/416204/21 "2007-08-20T15:34:26Z")
[QUOTE=St. Urho] 😕 What about that [big red gumdrop light](http://www.jbot.ca/images/cars/02/02-33.jpg) on top? [/QUOTE] Hmm… I’m just as confused as you are by what I wrote! ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-lights-and-police-cars-southern-states/416204/22 "2007-08-20T15:52:08Z")
So long as it’s not just me… ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-lights-and-police-cars-southern-states/416204/23 "2007-08-20T16:24:22Z")
[QUOTE=VandyLaw] Are blue lights on police cars just a Southern U.S. thing? [/QUOTE] It denotes those states where KMart still has a viable presence. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-lights-and-police-cars-southern-states/416204/24 "2007-08-20T16:35:15Z")
In Virginia, law enforcement vehicles may use flashing, blinking, or alternating blue, blue and red, blue and white, or red, white, and blue combination warning lights, as laid out in VA Code § 46.2-1022. The Code goes on, in §§ 46.2-1023 through 1030, to prescribe other color combinations for other functions: Flashing red or red and white warning lights are for fire apparatus, ambulances, rescue and life-saving vehicles, and forest warden vehicles; flashing amber, purple, or green warning lights are for tow trucks, utility and highway maintenance vehicles, refuse collection, snow removal, and related functions. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-lights-and-police-cars-southern-states/416204/25 "2007-08-20T16:37:19Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] I’ve never seen green flashing lights. That would totally, like, freak me out, man. [/QUOTE] Then quit smoking up behind the Orange Julius, boy! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-lights-and-police-cars-southern-states/416204/26 "2007-08-20T20:02:46Z")
[QUOTE=ArmenE] It doesn’t. **NY, also not in New England** , has red and blue for police - I’ve seen that in most places I’ve gone in the state, though I can’t definately vouch for the whole of the state. Not sure what EMS/Fire people light up with. [/QUOTE] I dunno, are you East of the Hudson and north of Poughkeepsie? 😃 Ohhhh…FL, I dont recall seeing only blue or only red lights for police here, although I have seen blue-only lights UPON what looked like police cars, I just have never seen them on, so maybe I am just selectively remembering. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-lights-and-police-cars-southern-states/416204/27 "2007-08-21T01:41:28Z")
For a while in the 1960’s, Nashville police had sirens that sounded like what I think of as gestapo sirens. (You can hear these at the end of the 1950s version of the film _The Diary of Anne Frank_.) Now _that_ was really creepy. Welcome to the Straight Dope, **VandyLaw** You just missed a good time down the street from you. Read about it [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=429237&page=1&pp=50) Join us next time! ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-lights-and-police-cars-southern-states/416204/28 "2007-08-21T02:13:46Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] When did the volunteer firefighters switch to blue in the Northeast? I don’t recall seeing that in any of my trips out that way–although it has been more than ten years since I’ve had the chance to visit. [/QUOTE] Dunno if you refer to PA as part of the northeast, but Fire and EMS here has been using blue for at least 35 years. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2007, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-lights-and-police-cars-southern-states/416204/29 "2007-08-21T02:23:10Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] When did the volunteer firefighters switch to blue in the Northeast? I don’t recall seeing that in any of my trips out that way–although it has been more than ten years since I’ve had the chance to visit. [/QUOTE] I know Maryland isn’t really considered Northeast, but here only police cars use blue lights. They have blue and red, and some have a small yellow lightbar below the main one facing backwards for traffic control. Fire and EMS (both career and volunteer) use strictly red and white (some have yellow on the back for traffic), and yellow is for county vehicles, trash trucks, roadwork vehicles, mailtrucks and private security. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-lights-and-police-cars-southern-states/416204.md?page=1)