[QUOTE=St. Urho]
What about that big red gumdrop light on top?
[/QUOTE]
Hmm… I’m just as confused as you are by what I wrote!
So long as it’s not just me…
[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.
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.
[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!
[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.
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. Join us next time!
[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.
[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.