New York MTA TO Turn Off Blue Lights on Express Buses
- Thread starter MESDA6
- Start date
kitn1mcc
Member
lotsofbars
Member
As one of the few board members who actually lives in the city, I can say it's about effing time. Not all the lights were set at a steady flashing rate and rather had some very emergency vehicle-esque flash patterns, which actually did confuse me a few times while biking.
Buses in the District have a Dominator (or some other 8-head LED stick) in amber doing a zigzag flash pattern that is visible from an appreciable distance, does not confuse people by using an emergency vehicle color (or an ambiguous color like green or white) and no other vehicles use that flash pattern. The effect is that it's an unmistakable "hey yo my man, yo bus comin". NYC oughta try that.
:haha: :dielaugh: That made my day.nerdly_dood said:
The only thing is though that in NYC the light is specifically for Express Busses. I've seen them numerous times, and really its not that bad. Its a slow blue flash on either end of the LED message board. If someone thinks its an emergancy vehicle they're an idiot. But, if they are going to change it, I say go with green or purple, as there is already sooo much amber in NYC.
THIS IS THE BEST NEWS IVE HEARD ALL DAY LONG!!!!! NY finally allows Blue lights to be used by emergency services. Just as people began to get used to seeing BLUE used as an emergency color in NYC, they went and put them on BUSSES. Id see flashing blue and expect to see an emergency vehicle, low and behold, its only a damn BUS.
Its about time they fixed this!!
Its about time they fixed this!!
lotsofbars
Member
DJZS said:
Not necessarily. For me, it's been while I've been riding my bike and I've seen the reflections on street signs and on buildings. Those blue lights really throw the light, and it's very hard to distinguish when you can't see the vehicle.
I am very happy about the change. I was concerned about two issues. One was the blatant ignoring of the V & T law. The other was concern that NY City residents that drove outside of NY City and had a blue light behind them would think the light meant nothing and not give the courtesy to firefighters in courtesy light states, or pull over for police officers in blue for PD states (although the siren helps).
In 2010, I emailed them about the illegality, inquired how they decided to use blue, and requested it be discontinued (yeah, I knew that was a stretch). Their response was as follows,
---------------------------------------------------------------
MTA New York City Transit consulted with the NYPD before we instituted the use of blue lights on Select Buses. The NYPD cleared us to use the lights.
Thank you for getting in touch with us. We appreciate your interest and concern.
Sincerely,
*** *****
Manager, Customer Services
Department of Corporate Communications
---------------------------------------------------------------
I was baffled at how a police department would authorize the ignoring of a state V & T law. Ignorance of the law is no excuse... and here was a police department that was either ignorant of the law, or thought that since it was NY City, the rule didn't apply to them. The only times laws don't apply to NY City is if it is legislated to not apply.
Even the NY State police was denied use of blue lights until the law law changed to allow it on the rear of emergency vehicles. Former AG Spitzer stated in a 2003 opinion "that under the present legislative scheme, the affixation of blue lights to any motor vehicle other than a vehicle owned or operated by a volunteer firefighter is prohibited and, therefore, one or more blue lights may not be affixed to State Police patrol vehicles." Source: http://www.ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/opinion/2003-F2%20pw.pdf
It is sad that the MTA did not heed my notification, nor that of a person named Eugene Falik (yes, I know we are 'nobodies')... it took a state senator after the MTA SBS' recent arrival on Staten Island... almost 5 years after their introduction elsewhere in NYC.
In 2010, I emailed them about the illegality, inquired how they decided to use blue, and requested it be discontinued (yeah, I knew that was a stretch). Their response was as follows,
---------------------------------------------------------------
MTA New York City Transit consulted with the NYPD before we instituted the use of blue lights on Select Buses. The NYPD cleared us to use the lights.
Thank you for getting in touch with us. We appreciate your interest and concern.
Sincerely,
*** *****
Manager, Customer Services
Department of Corporate Communications
---------------------------------------------------------------
I was baffled at how a police department would authorize the ignoring of a state V & T law. Ignorance of the law is no excuse... and here was a police department that was either ignorant of the law, or thought that since it was NY City, the rule didn't apply to them. The only times laws don't apply to NY City is if it is legislated to not apply.
Even the NY State police was denied use of blue lights until the law law changed to allow it on the rear of emergency vehicles. Former AG Spitzer stated in a 2003 opinion "that under the present legislative scheme, the affixation of blue lights to any motor vehicle other than a vehicle owned or operated by a volunteer firefighter is prohibited and, therefore, one or more blue lights may not be affixed to State Police patrol vehicles." Source: http://www.ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/opinion/2003-F2%20pw.pdf
It is sad that the MTA did not heed my notification, nor that of a person named Eugene Falik (yes, I know we are 'nobodies')... it took a state senator after the MTA SBS' recent arrival on Staten Island... almost 5 years after their introduction elsewhere in NYC.
