In the spirit of Cecil’s “Why we drive on the right” column (still my personal favorite) I’d like to know why British & European police, ambulance and firetruck lights are blue instead of red? There has to be more than the “that’s just how they do it there” reason because blood red is hard wired in humans as an alert & danger signal. British warships don’t go on “blue alert” do they?
It seems especially strange to Americans because here a blue light means either a volunteer fireman or a sale at Kmart!
I for one welcome our new insect overlords… - K. Brockman
Where I live, a single flashing blue light means “snow removal vehicle”, and ONLY “snow removal vehicle”. I don’t remember whether any other emergency and service vehicles have blue lights along with lights of other colours… most fire trucks, etc, I remember had red and white flashing lights and strobes, and towtrucks, etc, have rotating yellow lights.
In Hawaii, blue lights are reserved for police vehicles and ONLY police vehicles.
If you are caught with ANY blue light, flashing or non, wired into you car, you will be charged with impersonating an officer.
In the past most (Hawaii) patrolmen used their own vehicles. A few psychos capitalised on this and abducted women by using blue lights to pull them over.
Depends where you are. Some permutation of blue and/or red are the usual colors anywhere. State (or provincial, or national laws) set uo the specifications.
California requires a steady red 360 degree light, with others (wag lights, blue strobe, etc… optional). Most marine patrols are flashing blue, etc, etc…
In the past most (Hawaii) patrolmen used their own vehicles.
I remember that, Evil, from when I was there in the late 60’s. Not fair.
I also remember cab drivers using their own vehicles too. Cadillacs and such. Do they still?
Peace,
mangeorge
I only know two things;
I know what I need to know
And
I know what I want to know
Mangeorge, 2000
I live in NY state and the only people who use blue lights here are volunteer firemen. And I don’t think there’s any law restricting the use of either blue or yellow lights. But you cannot have ANY red lights pointing forward. A friend of mine had an old beat-up toyota pickup with a missing front turn signal lens and he taped a red lens over the bare bulb. He got a ticket for it. The cop even said, “So, you think you’re the police?”!
Okay, so now I know what other meaning blue lights can have in America. I still want to know why Europe & Britain use blue strobes for all their emergency vehicles.
I for one welcome our new insect overlords… - K. Brockman
Blue is not used for anything else whereas red, amber and green are used in traffic lights. If you see a blue light on the British roads, it can only be an emergency vehicle.
The colour blue has always been associated with the police in this country. They have always worn blue uniforms and police stations were until recently designated by a blue lamp outside [the film in which Dixon of Dock Green first appeared was called The Blue Lamp]. It would have seemed natural, when police cars were first introduced, to give than lights which were blue, rather than any other colour.
I spend a lot of time on the roads, in an area where I get to see both red flashing lights, from emergency vehicles, and blue flashing lights from snowplows. IMO, the blue flashers can be seen from a greater distance, especially on days when visibility is low. Perhaps this greater visibilty is why they’re used in Europe.
Emergency vehicles in Dallas use have blue along with the red . State law requires the red,with no red to the front for us civvies. Blue and white and yellow is local option. If you’ve ever seen them at night, hopefully somewher to the front, you know that the blue is the first you see, lot’s more visible than red, and like tom sez you KNOW what it is.Combine several colors rotating at different speeds and it is real hard to say " buh officuh i din’t, hic, din’t,hic, see the lights"
“Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx
Yep but not as much. Now it’s kind of a perk to officers with more time on the beat. They have recently started letting them patrol in minivans and SUV types. That sucks as my brain has yet to make a Jeep=cop connection.
Dunno bout cabs. I see a bunch that are regular sedans with lights on em, most lemos are owned by the operators I hear.
Why are American police/fire/ambulance lights not blue?
I could answer this for you but it all goes back to the days prior to the Revolution. Once upon a time there was a newly arrived pilgrim, he was all pissed off at Europe and the fact that it was a bitter, mean place to live…
i have to second Tomh and Iamity on this one, blue has traditionally been the colour of lights for the emergency services because red denoted a general hazard, such as a stop light or alarm, and this has become fixed with legislation probhibiting anybody other than the three services using that colour. The reason originally was very likely that blue can be seen from further away than red.
One police jurisdiction here in Northern Virginia (not sure which one) is very patriotic. Their light array atop their cruisers are red, white, and blue.
Wrong thinking is punished, right thinking is just as swiftly rewarded. You’ll find it an effective combination.
Proof? Are you kidding? Dump a bucket of blue, yellow or green paint on yourself and take a stroll. Other than thinking it a bit odd people won’t care. But use red paint and absolutely 100% of people will not only notice you but most will approach you to see if you’re dying.
And I don’t see how anyone could possibly mistake a flashing and/or revolving red strobe for a steady red stop light.
I for one welcome our new insect overlords… - K. Brockman
Yes, we do. Given that the rules governing behaviour towards an emergency vehicle (i.e. you pull over to the left and slow down or stop to let it pass) do not discriminate between different types of vehicle, it is simpler to have one signal (flashing blue light) for all of them. You don’t need to know whether it’s a police car, ambluance or fire engine.
BTW, I saw the film Hard Rain the other night. The police vehicles in that have blue flashing lights, though I’m not sure where in the USA it’s set.
My friends, back in our halycon days, wanted black strobe lights in their cars. We flagged down a cop and spoke to him, and he said that in Missouri, you can have a strobe of any color save red in your vehicle. As long as it is INSIDE the vehicle, NOT pointing directly out the windshield, and not bright enough to blind, you would not be pulled over for it. Don’t know how true this is, but my friends got their damned bulbs, and weren’t ever pulled over for them.
Around here, on cops, they have red, blue, white, and yellow bulbs on their roofs, blue and red in their windshield and rear window, and every single light rotates or blinks at different rates. But the frightning part is, their headlights, brights, turn signals, hazards, and brakelights, reverse lights, and taillights also flash, at different rates. Does anyone else think it’s a hazard for a cop to be following someone at night with his brights and dims strobing?
Finally, I’ve heard that it is illegal for cops to have fog lights. This seems to hold up, in that I’ve never seen a cop car with a strobe. Valid?
–Tim
We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first “lost generation” nor today’s lost generation; in fact, we think we know just where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak.
