Jecfire said:
FSS 316.1974 covers Funeral escorts in the State of Florida. All non-law enforcement funeral escort vehicles and funeral lead vehicles shall be equipped with at least one lighted circulation lamp exhibiting an amber or purple light or lens visible under normal atmospheric conditions for a distance of 500 feet from the front of the vehicle. Flashing amber or purple lights may be used only when such vehicles are used in a funeral procession.
Any law enforcement funeral escort vehicle may be equipped with red, blue, or amber flashing lights which meet the criteria established in paragraph above.
There is no provision in Florida State Statute for use of a siren during funeral escort. Furthermore, the lead funeral vehicle must LAWFULLY (cannot violate traffic control device) enter the intersection first, control the intersection, and then the rest of the vehicles in the funeral procession can legally disregard the traffic control device and all other traffic must yield the right of way to the procession.
Off duty law enforcement officers use their issued vehicles and are given some leeway with the use of siren during escort. However, as stated in an earlier post, private companies are now doing a majority of the escorts. Many are retired LEOs or just certified security guards and are in fact violating the law. The only vehicles allowed to have red or blue lights in a funeral escort are “authorized” law enforcement vehicles. Privately owned vehicles do not qualify as they are not owned or affiliated with a law enforcement agency. I do know of some agencies that authorize personally owned vehicles to be used for law enforcement business, but this has been for active officers not retired.
Typically the lead car and sometimes the hearse may have a magenta light, most might have an amber one. the use of sirens on a security vehicle isnt allowed period, they (the security vehicle) can have green and amber as long as its 50% green & 50% amber (per the state of florida). I didnt see any vehicles displaying blue lights, I did see green. good info though
FSS.316.2397 Certain lights prohibited; exceptions.
(1) No person shall drive or move or cause to be moved any vehicle or equipment upon any highway within this state with any lamp or device thereon showing or displaying a red or blue light visible from directly in front thereof except for certain vehicles hereinafter provided.
(2) It is expressly prohibited for any vehicle or equipment, except police vehicles, to show or display blue lights. However, vehicles owned, operated, or leased by the Department of Corrections or any county correctional agency may show or display blue lights when responding to emergencies.
(3) Vehicles of the fire department and fire patrol, including vehicles of volunteer firefighters as permitted under s. 316.2398, vehicles of medical staff physicians or technicians of medical facilities licensed by the state as authorized under s. 316.2398, ambulances as authorized under this chapter, and buses and taxicabs as authorized under s. 316.2399 are permitted to show or display red lights. Vehicles of the fire department, fire patrol, police vehicles, and such ambulances and emergency vehicles of municipal and county departments, public service corporations operated by private corporations, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the Department of Corrections as are designated or authorized by their respective department or the chief of police of an incorporated city or any sheriff of any county are hereby authorized to operate emergency lights and sirens in an emergency. Wreckers, mosquito control fog and spray vehicles, and emergency vehicles of governmental departments or public service corporations may show or display amber lights when in actual operation or when a hazard exists provided they are not used going to and from the scene of operation or hazard without specific authorization of a
law enforcement officer or
law enforcement agency. Wreckers must use amber rotating or flashing lights while performing recoveries and loading on the roadside day or night, and may use such lights while towing a vehicle on wheel lifts, slings, or under reach if the operator of the wrecker deems such lights necessary. A flatbed, car carrier, or rollback may not use amber rotating or flashing lights when hauling a vehicle on the bed unless it creates a hazard to other motorists because of protruding objects. Further, escort vehicles may show or display amber lights when in the actual process of escorting overdimensioned equipment, material, or buildings as authorized by
law.
Vehicles owned or leased by private security agencies may show or display green and amber lights, with either color being no greater than 50 percent of the lights displayed, while the security personnel are engaged in security duties on private or public property.
(4) Road or street maintenance equipment, road or street maintenance vehicles, road service vehicles, refuse collection vehicles, petroleum tankers, and mail carrier vehicles may show or display amber lights when in operation or a hazard exists.
(5) Road maintenance and construction equipment and vehicles may display flashing white lights or flashing white strobe lights when in operation and where a hazard exists. Additionally, school buses and vehicles that are used to transport farm workers may display flashing white strobe lights.
(6) All lighting equipment heretofore referred to shall meet all requirements as set forth in s. 316.241.
(7) Flashing lights are prohibited on vehicles except as a means of indicating a right or left turn, to change lanes, or to indicate that the vehicle is lawfully stopped or disabled upon the highway or except that the lamps authorized in subsections (1), (2), (3), (4), and (9) and s. 316.235(5) are permitted to flash.
(8) Subsections (1) and (7) do not apply to police, fire, or authorized emergency vehicles while in the performance of their necessary duties.
(9) Flashing red lights may be used by emergency response vehicles of the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Health when responding to an emergency in the line of duty.
(10) A violation of this section is a noncriminal traffic infraction, punishable as a nonmoving violation as provided in chapter 318.
This
FS. is why we dont see police officers with blue lights in their
POV's (some agencies may allow it on a needed basis) But most officers I know leave the police look at home when not working..