Pennslyvania Blue/Red lights on POV??????

[RAMFIRE42]

This was news to me. does anyone have more info????

I have been a vol firefighter in Pa for 11 years now and always used a blue light on my vehicle. A few years ago I got promoted to asst chief. With the promotion I turned my light from blue to red. (this was always the law as I understood it, Firefighters with blue light and company officers with red, chief, asst chief, deputy, fire police capt, capt. luiet). While on the scene of an mva that I drove direct to the scene a Pennsylvaina State Trooper told me that Pa passed a law stating that fire dept officers were not allowed to run red lights only blue. I searched the web and was unable to come up with any legislation from the government on this issue. I was wondering if anyone has any additional info on this?

[res1cueffd]

from all of the laws i have been reading, as long as you do not have both red and blue lights then you are alright.
EDIT: Im on a Mac so i suppose the link doesnt affect my comp but i didnt get any active x warnings.

[Dalmatian190]

The link in the previous post popped up an ActiveX warning it was trying to launch outlook.exe (which I don't use for e-mail) and tripped my Symantec AntiVirus for a downloader threat from a Java applet...

So I'd advise everyone else to stay away from that site until their admins can get it cleaned up.

Matt

[jerry4184]

in PA, chief officers can run red lights/sirens. Not sure about the whole company officers. Ours still run blue, except for the fire police captain. I know right now the law says no more than two light sources, visible 360 degrees. For line firefighters, it's two blue, and chief's it's red. PSP up here, and the local guys aren't too strict on this as long as you are within reason. If you want to spend three grand on a whacker bar, they won't say anything, cause the fifty dollar ticket they could give you would be meaningless.

Our department also buys the chief's siren, and red lights will be reimbursed I believe. I tend to trust what our chiefs say,a s one of them is a cop, and so is one of our regular drivers. I figure they'd be up on the vehicle codes.

[RAMFIRE42]

Does Anyone Have A Current Website That States These Laws?

[res54cuecaptain]

from what i understand (i dont care i dont use lights anymore) as long as you dont have red and blue your fine. oh and you cant have a siren with a blue light. there might be some laws in your dept that state that you cant, but as far as i know you can have red OR blue lights, not 360 degrees, with a siren, from more than one source and not even be an officer (might be different with the siren part).

just my .02 cents. who knows, i havent run or used a light for a WHILE now, and laws could (and probably did) change.

[dragonfyre]

This was news to me. does anyone have more info????

I have been a vol firefighter in Pa for 11 years now and always used a blue light on my vehicle. A few years ago I got promoted to asst chief. With the promotion I turned my light from blue to red. (this was always the law as I understood it, Firefighters with blue light and company officers with red, chief, asst chief, deputy, fire police capt, capt. luiet). While on the scene of an mva that I drove direct to the scene a Pennsylvaina State Trooper told me that Pa passed a law stating that fire dept officers were not allowed to run red lights only blue. I searched the web and was unable to come up with any legislation from the government on this issue. I was wondering if anyone has any additional info on this?

1) Sounds like you got a rookie just out of Hershey looking to establish his ground. Sometimes they tend to take the law too literally.

2) Did you get a ticket? If so, fight it and when you go to the DJ's office for the hearing ask the trooper to show you where it is in writing. Also ask how and when the information was dispursed to the fire service. We never got anything in writing at our station nor was it published in PA Fireman. You know that Ernie will publish anything that happens in PA that effects us.

3) Call the barracks and ask for the commander and tell him/her what happened and that you would like clarification on the matter. If it's true you'll get the information you need. If it's not, the trooper will get a call from the office to set things straight.

[Safety33]

Here is a link to the PA vehicle codes regarding emergency lighting...

http://www.dot10.state.pa.us/pdotforms/vehicle_code/chapter45.pdf

Subchapter D

hope it helps

[TrikeFlyer]

In my limited understanding of the PA Motor Vehicle Code, the Trooper is incorrect. If there has been a change, it has not been posted on the sites listed below. Here is some research to back that up:

The Pennsylvania Vehicle Code - Title 75:

http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/067/chapter173/chap173toc.html

CHAPTER 173. FLASHING OR REVOLVING LIGHTS ON
EMERGENCY AND AUTHORIZED VEHICLES:

§ 173.3. Display requirements.
..........
(i) Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 4571 (relating to visual and audible signals on emergency vehicles), an emergency vehicle, as defined in 75 Pa.C.S. § 102 (relating to definitions), shall be equipped with one or more flashing or revolving red lights.

************************************************** *

Please see the definition of "Emergency Vehicles" near the bottom of page 3

http://www.dot10.state.pa.us/pdotforms/vehicle_code/chapter1.pdf

"Emergency vehicle." A fire department vehicle, police vehicle, sheriff vehicle, ambulance, blood delivery vehicle, human organ delivery vehicle, hazardous material response vehicle, armed forces emergency vehicle, one vehicle operated by a coroner or chief county medical examiner and one vehicle operated by a chief deputy coroner or deputy chief county medical examiner used for answering emergency calls, or any other vehicle designated by the State Police under section 6106 (relating to designation of emergency vehicles by Pennsylvania State Police), or a privately owned vehicle used in answering an emergency call when used by any of the following:

(1) A police chief and assistant chief.
(2) A fire chief, assistant chief and, when a fire company has three or more fire
vehicles, a second or third assistant chief.
(3) A fire police captain and fire police lieutenant.
(4) An ambulance corps commander and assistant commander.
(5) A river rescue commander and assistant commander.
(6) A county emergency management coordinator.
(7) A fire marshal.
(8) A rescue service chief and assistant chief.

[KevinFFVFD]

wow, i am surprised you can have blue lights. here, we are only allowed to have red or red/white lights. if we get caught with a blue light we can get arrested for impersonating a police officer. and we are not allowed to have sirens in our pov's also. basically we can have dash lights, wig wags, and grill lights, and thats it

[DonSmithnotTMD]

Because the lights there are red and blue.

[jerry4184]

Yeah, in PA, the police use red and blue, and strictly red is for either a chief officer of a fire department, or an unmarked police unit. Blue is a courtesy light, and actual means nothing. You can't run reds, you can't run stop signs, you can't take the opposing lane of traffic or anything, because you aren't an emergency vehicle. Though I have heard from a few cops around here that PA blue light laws are changing, and instead of limiting a volunteer to two sources of light visible 360, it's gonna be whatever you want, dashlights, lightbars, grill lights, etc, as long as you have something visible everywhere. SO you can throw three dahslights in, fifty grill strobes, and a million rotators, as long as some color is showing out your back window now.