Question to LEO's and others if you want

[car54]

 I've noticed over the years that our city police department when they started using traffic advisors that the officers either don't use them when needed or directing traffic incorrectly, i.e center out when it should've displayed left arrow. Now to my question(s) is are you LEO's out there normally trained in what your vehicle lighting capability can or cannot do and or trained when and how to use your traffic advisors correctly? To me that should be priority 1 in traffic accident investigation 101, not only for your own safety but the publics safety as well. Not that the public follows direction or are able to read or get the idea of what's going on ahead of them, but I'm just curious. Liability or not really? Thanks end of questions and rant off. :crazy:   opcorn:

 

[Chris W]

In my experience the majority of the public does not even know what an arrow stick means, they just view it as some more blinky lights.  The exception to this is obviously the larger ones that are a big arrow. 

 

[jdh]

In my experience the majority of the public does not even know what an arrow stick means, they just view it as some more blinky lights.  The exception to this is obviously the larger ones that are a big arrow. 

The general public is generally......well you know. I find most of the time the intention is wiped out by the plethora of other lights and becomes a blur. A really confusing blur.  

 

[SomeBloke]

The general public is generally......well you know. I find most of the time the intention is wiped out by the plethora of other lights and becomes a blur. A really confusing blur.  

This is why a lot of the UK uses the ever effective "rear reds" method. 

 

[car54]

I totally agree with you guys on every point with the public side and blur points. Might be time to regulate amount of lights on police cars and patterns used, like ambulances and fire trucks? Maybe put into drivers education classes, books and tests about traffic safety related to police, fire and ambulance in motion and stopped at a scene, etc. At night on my way home the local pd is out blinding everyone on traffic stop with there overheads on high or even for a disabled vehicle, when its not all that necessary.

 

[jswwjw]

I use mine but then again. I am "super-deputy"

really, I just push a little button and the arrow starts to "blinky"

................and yes I drive off and forget it...............lol

bring the fight. 

 

[Chris W]

I use mine but then again. I am "super-deputy"

really, I just push a little button and the arrow starts to "blinky"

................and yes I drive off and forget it...............lol

bring the fight. 

No fights here, I use it all the time too.

 

[kitn1mcc]

one of my customers does traffic signals and has a small dominator    he knows how to,use it

 

[7d9_z28]

I would use an arrow all the time if I had the use for one.........

Even tied into my turn signals. Im a whacker. Bring the fight.

 

[J-Rock1944]

I've rolled up on a couple MVAs while off duty. Most people get the whole 'Red blinkies mean move over,' but I throw it on regardless. I haven't been hit...YET. The Kentucky State Police Troopers don't seem to understand how they work, and the Sheriff's Office just have all their cars set to unsynched light vomit. 

 

[unityrv26]

I could have 10 arrow lights on blinking in the same direction, a huge neon sign saying "go that way" and even a flare pattern on the road lined with traffic cones.......

and still some moron will want to go the other way.

 

[Hoff]

I've been having to teach the younguns on how lights work for years... some seem to be mystified by the whole progressive slide switch thing.

 

[TritonBoulder47]

Personally a T/A in a lightbar is useless, it just gets lost in the rest of the lighting...  I still think D&R had the right idea with their Odyssey Lightbar

http://www.dandrelectronics.com/emergency/product/mini-odyssey.html

 

[wilsonbr90]

The big issue I see with the arrow bar here in NY, especially with NYSP;


They have a separate arrow In the back window, but with the roof bar on full power and the rear deck lights, the amber of the arrow function is washed out completely.


I believe the arrow function on the liberty would be way more effective because at least then there would be a drop in light and a slower pattern.

 

[Phoenix_Rising]

Lets call it what it is:


A) people are stupid


B ) people are stupid


C) unless its just the TA on, gets lost with...how did someone already put it? LIGHT VOMIT...and even then: people are stupid


D) Last but not least:


PEOPLE ARE STUPID

 

[Alboy29]

We used to have them i enjoyed the Vision SL with the Arrowstick. Used it all the time. Since they upgraded to the MEssage boards, and SLR, there is no traffic function, all it is, is a Scrolling blue arrow across the screen, however it is literally a blue blob from more then four feet away..Fully useless. 

 

[Station 3]

I use it all the time most of the officers I have seen only know that when they flip the switch lights turn on and that's it. Most call them strobes or rotators even if they have a generic typical LED Whelen Liberty so yes I would say that around 90% of the officers out there are clueless on what they have. Most don't even know what brand of lighting they have on the patrol cars.

NOW what upsets me the most of all...... Is I have seen some local PDs with Whelen Justice bars and for some reason non of the rear lights are connected only the corner LEDs are connected so when they do a traffic stop all you see is all the front lighthing and just the rear corner leds on the bar with the center of the bar off........ NOW I know that damn car has a directional but the idiots who work there cannot figure out what that box that says WHELEN DIRECTIONAL means........ It upsets me.

 

[J-Rock1944]

The rear of my CVPI is set up like this; I've got two strobe Dashkings set to do a comet-flash X pattern along with the tail lights. I mounted the TA/ warning bar higher up in my rear window. The bar itself is red, but definitely stands out against the strobes.

Like I said, I haven't been hit yet...hahaha. 

 

[Jarred J.]

hell, we have cops around here all the time that say "you left your cherries on"

their lights are blue.....

 

[SomeBloke]

At my former AL PD, after we nicked some of Hoover PD's tahoes, someone found out that the Tahoe lightbars had built-in TAs.  And best of all, they're blue.  So instead of it being light vomit, it's literally a row of blue lights going in either direction.

 

[kitn1mcc]

my truck has a loaded freedom with t/a  i noticed it does work well in city traffic

 

[justavillain]

My squad at work has a ta, but you can't see it because the officers wanted a halogen mini bar on the back. The vector isn't enough I guess.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Here, it seems that officers rarely use the TAs that are built into their Valors unless they're ONLY running the TA and not the rest of their lights.  I live in a snobby I'll-go-as-fast-as-I-want area so most of the time, people just try to stay away from the car with the lights. :lol:

 

[lotsofbars]

We used to have them i enjoyed the Vision SL with the Arrowstick. Used it all the time. Since they upgraded to the MEssage boards, and SLR, there is no traffic function, all it is, is a Scrolling blue arrow across the screen, however it is literally a blue blob from more then four feet away..Fully useless. 

What really grinds my gears with the NYPD lighting is that once they settle on one warning package, THAT IS THE PACKAGE YOU WILL GET FOR THE NEXT 5-10 YEARS. It's awful because traffic advisors do work when utilized correctly, but the Vision SL's are pure garbage and the traffic advisor is pretty much all you can see. I like the SLR better purely because it's a really good lightbar, but the blue message boards are impossible to read, have no traffic functions, and are more or less a huge waste of money. I'm surprised that idea even made it past the brainstorming phase, it's such a worthless addition to what is otherwise a decent warning package. 

 

[Alboy29]

Yeah they even have scooters with message boards. Esu trucks. Everything. Waste of $


But then again what do we know compared to the decision makers in the office haha

 

[lotsofbars]

Yeah they even have scooters with message boards. Esu trucks. Everything. Waste of $


But then again what do we know compared to the decision makers in the office haha

When I saw the new ESU trucks with the message boards, my gears ground to powder . . . I mean, it's one thing to put them at eye level, but those trucks are effing huge. There's no way any reasonable average person, including most PO's, could ever hope to read that. It's a novelty that NYC took far too seriously. It's like they're following suit with all the food carts with the huge flashing/scrolling LED signs on them.

 

[Phillyrube]

My old agency ordered arrowsticks as part of the Vista package. Here's where it gets good. In Virginia law enforcement cannot run amber to the rear unless stopped. Our guys were running code with the amber on flashing. AND, we had a sergeant who would initiate complaints against officers who did run amber. So, when the city bought new cars, old Vistas were shipped to A@#*$@&, and rewired so there were no longer arrowsticks. Check out the bars, and see all the empty sockets where they pulled the bulbs. Just plain unreal!!

Then again, I used to write summons for HAWs in funeral cars and wreckers, and using bars with flashing white in them. We're starting to see wreckers now with flashing red and amber in rear, and red and white to the front.

Oh well, I'm retired!!

 

[Station 3]

My old agency ordered arrowsticks as part of the Vista package. Here's where it gets good. In Virginia law enforcement cannot run amber to the rear unless stopped. Our guys were running code with the amber on flashing. AND, we had a sergeant who would initiate complaints against officers who did run amber. So, when the city bought new cars, old Vistas were shipped to A@#*$@&, and rewired so there were no longer arrowsticks. Check out the bars, and see all the empty sockets where they pulled the bulbs. Just plain unreal!!


Then again, I used to write summons for HAWs in funeral cars and wreckers, and using bars with flashing white in them. We're starting to see wreckers now with flashing red and amber in rear, and red and white to the front.


Oh well, I'm retired!!

I don like your State.......