emergency lights in rear tailights (legal?)

[RyanZ71]

Interested in your thoughts on this as it has been on my mind quite a bit as of late.

Emergency lighting inside the taillight housing or rear brake light/reverse light flashers. Back in the day my department installed hideaway strobes inside the housing of taillights and reverse lights on the 98+ Crown Vics, and in a few of the 91-96 Caprice. So the 95+ vehicles got the Whelen B-Link systems and were synced up nicely with the lightbars and then the front corner strobes in the headlight assemblies (clear strobe) and the strobes in the taillights and reverse lights. Looked especially good on the Crown Vics. The strobes in the taillights would strobe a few times at the same time (both left and right at the same time) then the white in the reverse lights would strobe while the front headlight strobes would alternate side to side. Now a days, they are using LED lightheads mounted to the outside of the vehicle with those silly little twinkle twinkle little star lights that alternate left to right in that same little fixture red and blue, which I absolutely hate, Red should always be on the left of the vehicle and blue on the right side of the vehicle, none of this stupid alternating color crap in the same assembly!

HOWEVER- they have returned to reverse and brake light flashers since they have the little dinky LED pods.

I have seen a good number of highway construction contractor trucks and personal trucks that have installed a lot of cheap Chinese crap for yellow/amber warning lighting. Some of the vehicles I see are running flashing LEDs in their brake light assemblies that alternate side to side and a few even have the back-up light/brake light flashers. Since these are not considered true emergency vehicles, they can only use yellow/amber for their warning lighting here in the state of Colorado, but because the law says that brake lights must be red and front turn signals must be amber or white, are they legal in running the brake light flashers/LED alternators?

Sorry for the length, probably had a bit too much to drink. Going to bed now. Cheers and happy labor day.

Ryan

 

[Sparky_911]

Probably not legal. Depends on the state regs. I'd hope they're using LAWS and not the cheap speed turtle din plug in back flasher for the brake/backup wig wag . Those that are will likely regret it when the BCM goes out or a traffic cop with a hard on for DOT regs sees them.

Many moons ago I did an install on a privately owned rural mail delivery S Blazer. I put in a 6 head strobe kit...4 clear/2 amber. 2 clear up front in the already amber turn housings, 2 amber in backups, and 2 clear in the red tails. Now where I'm from the reds were a no-no but as long as the vehicle was marked (magnetic door/gate signs) and the reds flashed simultaneously nothing was ever said. And I'd like to note that the area this vehicle served had about 60% of the city LEOs in it. Should I have done it?, absolutely not, it was against area law/code.

Does CO allow B/A for private road crews(blue cuts snow better) or is that just CODOT owned equip?

 

[RyanZ71]

Colorado:
Construction Vehicle Lights

Construction vehicles fall into the service vehicle category and light use is covered under Colorado Revised Statutes C.R.S. 42-4-214. The vehicle must display at least a single lamp, but can use multiple lights. These lights must be yellow in color. Other colors, or combinations of colors, are not allowed. The lights must be mounted as high as practically possible and can flash, oscillate, or rotate. They should display in all directions up to 500-feet away in all directions in normal sunlight.
Exceptions For Service Vehicles Used For Plowing Snow

According to Colorado Revised Statutes C.R.S. 42-4-214, government designated vehicles used for plowing snow may display two blue lights in addition to the standard yellow lamp. These lights can flash, oscillate, or rotate during operation. These lights must be visible from 500-feet away in the day and be seen from all directions.


Tow Truck Lights

Tow trucks are covered as a service vehicle under Colorado Revised Statutes C.R.S. 42-4-214. These vehicles may be equipped with one or more lights. These lights must be mounted as high as practically possible. They must be visible from all directions and can flash, oscillate, or rotate. The color of the lights must be yellow. No other color or combination of colors can be used.

The lights may only be used when the vehicle is on the open road and it presents a hazard to traffic. They should be visible during the day up to 500-feet away and in all directions. Only the Colorado Public Commission can authorize a vehicle for tow truck lights, and owners must apply for a permit.


Volunteer Fire Fighter Lights

Volunteer fire fighters who regularly serve in a fire department organized within towns, counties, cities, or districts within Colorado are permitted to equip signal lamps on their private vehicles. According to Colorado Revised Statutes C.R.S. 42-4-222, these personal vehicles may display a single or combination of signal lamps. These lights may may be flashing, oscillating, or rotating in nature.

These lights must be visible in the front and the rear of the vehicle at a distance of 500-feet during the day. These lights must be red in color. If additional lights are displayed besides the primary lamp, the colors must be white or a combination of red and white. At least one lamp must be mounted to the top of the personal vehicle.

These lights can only be displayed upon receiving a permit to do so. This provision permits the use of these lights for funerals, parades, and special occasions that will not lead a person to believe that they are responding to an emergency.


Fire Truck Lights

As a designated emergency vehicle, statutes covering fire truck emergency lights fall under Colorado Revised Statutes C.R.S. 42-4-213. These emergency vehicles are required to have, at a minimum, one signal lamp mounted on the vehicle at the highest practical location possible. This light must be red and can be a flashing, oscillating, or rotating lamp. It must be visible from the front and from the rear at a distance of 500-feet during normal daylight.

Fire emergency vehicles are also allowed to display additional lamps in blue, white, or a combination of blue and white colors. These lamps can flash, oscillate, or rotate during use. Should the vehicle become designated as a command post during a disaster or emergency, it may display green lights that flash. The vehicle must be stationary and only one vehicle may display this color of lights.

This state statute applies to all fire emergency vehicles no matter its jurisdiction.


Police Lights

According to Colorado Revised Statutes C.R.S. 42-4-213, police vehicles are required to have at least one signal lamp mounted as high as practically possible on the vehicle. This police light must be a flashing, oscillating, or rotating red light that can be seen from the front or rear at 500-feet in the daytime. It should be noted that designated undercover vehicles are exempt from this statute.

In addition, the vehicle may display additional blue, white, or blue and white combination lights. These lights can be of the flashing, oscillating, or rotating variety. Also, a vehicle designated as a command post vehicle can use green flashing lights. These lights are allowed to be used at a single designated command post location that is stationary.

This state statute applies to city, sheriff, and state patrol vehicles.

Utility Vehicle Lights

Vehicles operated by companies providing power, telephone, and sanitation services fall under service vehicle statutes. According to Colorado Revised Statutes C.R.S. 42-4-214, these vehicles may display on yellow colored lights only. They must display at least one lamp, but may use more than one. The strobe lights must be mounted as high as practically possible and can flash, oscillate, or rotate during use.

The lights must show in all directions at a distance of 500-feet in all directions.

Security Vehicle Lights

Vehicles operated by a company offering security services may use lighting as covered by service vehicles in Colorado Revised Statutes C.R.S. 42-4-214. They may use one or more lights, mounted as high as practically possible on the vehicle. They must be visible from all directions at a distance of 500-feet in normal daylight. Thee lights must be yellow in color and can flash, oscillate, or rotate when in use.

 

[Nolines]

Too much yellow and still old school, flash oscilate or rotate how many lights still do that?? In my state we had to go amber green 50/50 or 100 amber but still look like a tow truck or utility vehicle at that point.... Annoying!

 

[Station 3]

Construction vehicles that want to look "undercover" piss me off just buy a mini amber bar and toss it on the roof when your at your construction site why do you need or want to look like a undercover with amber leds and hide aways all over the place and what upsets me the MOST is if your going to go all out with your undercover look SPEND MORE THAN $50 on amazon bro jeeesh buy quality lighting at the very least...

 

[Nolines]

Ohh because they wanna be important!!??