January, 1998 Talking about lights and sirens (LAS) is a popular topic among emergency responders. Whenever this is discussed, it becomes quickly obvious that these United States aren't unified when it comes to LAS laws. When this dicussion topic came up for the 3rd time in as many months several years ago, I initiated an email survey from responders across the country. This is a compilation of U.S. emergency LAS laws. Several of you pointed out that my verbiage on the survey regarding right-of-way (ROW) was lacking. Yes, I know that running LAS doesn't GRANT you right-of-way -- but it seemed to be the easy way for me to ask if motorists are required to yield the ROW by law. As you will see, the information is not complete. I now have information for 37 of the 50 states. If you'd like to contribute information for missing states, please do so. A blank survey is appended to the results. When I get a sufficient number of replies, I'll update the results and repost. All information has a two-letter state designator preceding it to make searches on the data easier (to get the information on a particular state, search for the data by the appropriate two letter designator). Only 2 states of the 35 don't allow any type of lights or siren on POVs. 18 allow lights and siren on all volunteer vehicles and expect other vehicles to yield. The remainder are in between. Thanks to those who responded. Credit is given to the author with either the most complete or the earliest response, in that order. Mike -- Mike Beaty Assistant Chief and Personnel Officer mbeaty@nyx.net Boulder Rural Fire Department, Boulder CO See our cool new web page! http://www.brfd.boulder.co.us/ Survey summary columns. 1. Number of state when alphabetically listed. 2. State 3. NOVLAS. Actually, two columns. First column is: NO = No LAS on POVs O = LAS on Officer vehicles only. V = LAS on all volunteer vehicles. Second column is: LAS = Lights and Siren L = Lights only 4. Modes allowed to be run by volunteers. Modes are: a = Rotating red beacons b = Rotating beacons (non-red) c = Steady colored lights d = Wig-wag colored lights e = Wig-wag headlights f = Strobes g = Siren h = Granted right-of-way # St. NOVLAS modes information from date --- -- ------ ----- --------------------------- --------- 1. AK V L bcd f fndjt2@yukon.uafadm.alaska.edu 31Jul95 2. AL 3. AR V LAS abcdefgh jord@troi.cswnet.com 08Jul96 4. AZ V LAS abcdefgh ceprn2@indirect.com 06Nov95 5. CA O LAS abcdefgh kaufman@Neon.Stanford.EDU 10Apr91 6. CO V LAS abcdefgh mbeaty@nyx.net 10Apr91 7. CT V L bcd f tomc@xirtlu.zk3.dec.com 23Apr91 8. DE O L bcd f scroggin@delmarva.com 14Sep93 9. FL V LAS abcdefgh stroh@america.com 20Jun95 10 GA V LAS abcdefgh gary.robinson@alf.mts.dec.com 16Apr91 11 HI 12 IA 13 ID 14 IL V L bcd f christopher.m.nelson@att.com 15 IN V L b d f kam@ecn.purdue.edu 17Apr91 16 KS 17 KY V LAS abcdefgh stuecrwn@eku.bitnet 18 LA V LAS a cdefg Glen.Strecker@f2.n390.z1.fidonet 19 MA V LAS abcd fgh denning@chirpa.enet.dec.com 24May93 20 MD O L abcdegh jacob@nospam.mayhem.com 04Apr98 21 ME 22 MI V LAS abcdefgh BDBAKER@mtus5.cts.mtu.edu 11Apr91 23 MN V L c swansonc@stolaf.edu 14Apr91 24 MO V LAS bcdefgh Tim.Pearson@f703.n286.Z1.fidonet 25 MS V LAS abcdefgh molou@big-river.net 04Apr98 26 MT 27 NC V L abcd f abc@concert.net 11Apr91 28 ND 29 NE V LAS abcdefgh swansonc@stolaf.edu 14Apr91 30 NH V LAS abcdefgh taurig@ncavax.decnet.lockheed.c 13Apr92 31 NJ V L b f abbey@husc9.harvard.edu 13Apr91 32 NM 33 NV NO giarudo@sierra.net 34 NY V L bcdef sc4e+@andrew.cmu.edu 10Apr91 35 OH V LAS abcdefgh Robert.Michel@maillink.cmic.com 20Jul94 36 OK 37 OR V L abcdef steveha@tekig5.pen.tek.com 22Apr91 38 PA V L bcd jtough@anovax.enet.dec.com 23Apr91 39 RI NO Joe.Cabral@f117.n323.z1.fidonet.org 40 SC 41 SD 42 TN 43 TX V LAS abcdefgh Ken.Anderson@p0.f50.n397.z1.fidonet.org 44 UT 45 VA V L abcd f John.Massingill@f69.n275.z1.fidonet.org 46 VT V LAS abcdefgh wooster_c@btovt.enet.dec.com 16Apr91 47 WA V L c halycyon!ralphs@sumax.seattleu 10Apr91 48 WI V LAS abcdefgh markko@bucky.win.bright.net 11Sep96 49 WV 50 WY V LAS abcdefgh ckenyon@worldnet.att.net 23Feb97 Have some inputs from abroad, so I'm including them in this release of the survey for interest. This may be discontinued, but thanks for the info! 51 UK NO mjcrag@fs1.op.umist.ac.uk 16Sep93 52 FRG O LAS b defgh now@cat.m.isar.de 08Nov95 53 SAF NO terri.deegan@digitec.co.za 24Jun96 Comments: 1. AK Blue lights only. No bells, whistles, or sirens. Permit req'd? 2. AL 3. AR No blue lights (reserved for law enforcement). 4. AZ Counties may be more restrictive: Maricopa=Phoenix allows nothing. 5. CA Fire departments restricted to red and amber lens color. Must CA have steady red light to the front. White strobe for traffic CA signal control allowed. 6. CO Must be predominantly red & white. 7. CT Blue only for fire volunteer's POVs; green only for ambulance CT POVs. Permit from MVD required. Chief officers may run red LAS. 8. DE Officers may have red/blue lights: no sirens. 9. FL ANY type of blue lights are restricted to Law Enforcement. 10 GA Must be predominantly red & white. State permit required. 10 GA ANY type of blue lights are restricted to Law Enforcement. 11 HI 12 IA 13 ID 14 IL Restricted to blue lights only. 15 IN Fire department personnel run blue lights, ambulance folks IN have green. Must have permit from DMV and endorsed by Chief. 16 KS 17 KY Red and/or white lights only. Siren must be operating. 18 LA Must have a permit from Chief of jurisdiction. Red/white LA only. 19 MA To run LAS, a permit must be issued by the Registry of Motor MA Vehicles and be endorsed by the Chief. 20 MD Up to 5 POVs/dept may have the lights. Usually top 5 ranking. 21 ME 22 MI To run LAS, a permit must be secured from the State Police. MI Blue lights are for police only. Law has roof-mount req. 23 MN Paid ambulance company owner may run full LAS. 24 MO Blue lights only. Must have permit from Chief. Must have and MO be using siren. 25 MS Must have written permission from Chief. FD runs blues lights. 26 MT 27 NC Siren on chief officer vehicles only. Headlight wig-wags on NC State Patrol vehicles only. 28 ND 29 NE 30 NH Lights must be predominantly red and white. "Live free or die." 31 NJ Blue lights only. Chief officers can run full red LAS. 32 NM 33 NV 34 NY Ambulance volunteers have green courtesy lights; fire have NY blue. Lightbars allowed if all one continuous lens. Fire NY officers can run red LAS: ambulance service officers may not. NY Permit must be carried. Headlight wig-wags for cops only. 35 OH Must have at least 1 red light & current windshield permit OH sticker. 36 OK 37 OR Must have a letter from the chief indicating permission. 38 PA No more than 2 blue lights total. If grille mounted, but be PA in front of the grille. Vehicle must be registered with FD PA and State Police. Chief officers may run full red LAS. 39 RI Chiefs may run full red LAS. 40 SC 41 SD 42 TN 43 TX 44 UT 45 VA No more than two light bulbs are allowed. No blue lights. 46 VT Vehicle permit required: non-transferrable to another vehicle. VT Lights must be red/white. If permanently installed, must work VT for vehicle inspection. 47 WA Volunteers allowed single grill-mounted green light < 200 cp. WA Current license plate permit tag required. 48 WI 49 WV Dept affiliation tag must be displayed on vehicle. 50 WY 51 UK United Kingdom. Green light used by a vehicle carrying a doctor UK on call. These vehicles can treat red traffic lights as a "give UK way". Blue/Red used by the Police, Fire, Ambulance, etc. 52 FRG Germany. Restricted to officers, usually. 53 SAF South Africa. If you have info on a state that I'm missing, or you think that the information that I have is wrong, please drop me a line. I'll add what you give me and update it. If I get sufficient new info, I'll repost this yet again. If the above applies, please take a minute to fill out this survey and drop it back to me. If mail to me bounces, I guess you can post it, but I'd prefer that you try to mail it first. Your time is appreciated. Why else should you reply to my survey? Why not? Here's some Q/A on why you *wouldn't* reply to my survey: Q1. I'm not exactly sure of the laws in my state. A1. I'm not requiring the letter of the law. Just if firefighters are allowed to run Lights And Sirens (LAS) on their Privately Owned Vehicles (POVs). Also, more and more state statutes are available on the WWW. Consider performing a search on your state! Q2. I'm not an emergency responder of any kind. A2. Do you drive? Are you interested in emergency responders? [If not, why are you reading this group? ;-] If the answer to either of these questions is yes, please send me a reply to the survey. I've found that folks interested in responders are often more informed than the responders themselves ;-). Mike Example Survey: State Laws on emergency Lights And Sirens (LAS). IN THIS EXAMPLE SURVEY, MY ANSWERS ARE IN CAPS. YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS -- THIS IS FOR CLARITY. 1. State: COLORADO 2. Are emergency lights and/or siren allowed on POVs responding to the scene of an emergency? YES 3. If LAS are allowed, are they allowed: on any volunteer POV? YES Restricted to chief? NO Restricted to Officers? NO 4. Which of the following are allowed on POVs and department apparatus? POV Dept. Rotating red beacons YES YES Rotating beacons (non-red) YES YES Steady colored lights YES YES Wig-wag colored lights YES YES Wig-wag headlights YES YES Strobes YES YES Siren YES YES Granted right-of-way YES YES 5. What restrictions, other than what is listed in question 4, are placed on POVs? A. LIGHTS MUST BE RED & WHITE. B. AT LEAST ONE LIGHT MUST BE VISIBLE 360 DEGREES. C. POV'S MUST OBEY TRAFFIC LAWS EVEN WHEN RUNNING HOT (IN A STRICT READING OF THE LAW -- SCREWIEST LAS LAW IN THE UNION). 6. What restrictions, other than what is listed in question 4, are placed on department emergency apparatus? MAY NOT EXCEED THE SPEED LIMIT BY MORE THAN 15 MPH (DEPARTMENT RULE). COLORADO LAW DOES NOT HAVE THIS RESTRICTION -- MUST BE "REASONABLE AND PRUDENT." 8. Any comments you would care to add? MY DEPARTMENT IS ALSO FIRST RESPONSE ON ALL MEDICALS. WE HAVE 50 MEMBERS OF WHICH 45 ARE EMT CERTIFIED. WE COVER ~22000 RESIDENTS AND OVER 20 SQUARE MILES RANGING FROM RURAL GRASSLANDS TO FOREST TO THE URBAN INTERFACE. IN 1997, WE RAN ON ~600 CALLS. MY POV HAS A RED HALF LIGHTBAR, WIGWAG HEADLIGHTS, WIGWAG RED/BLUES, AND A 100 WATT SIREN (NO STROBES THOUGH ;-). Survey: State Laws on emergency Lights And Sirens (LAS). 1. State: 2. Are emergency lights and/or siren allowed on POVs responding to the scene of an emergency? 3. If LAS are allowed, are they allowed: on any volunteer POV? Restricted to chief? Restricted to Officers? 4. Which of the following are allowed on POVs and department apparatus? POV Dept. Rotating red beacons Rotating beacons (non-red) Steady colored lights Wig-wag colored lights Wig-wag headlights Strobes Siren Granted right-of-way 5. What restrictions, other than what is listed in question 4, are placed on POVs? 6. What restrictions, other than what is listed in question 4, are placed on department emergency apparatus? 7. Are you currently a member in good standing of a volunteer or professional fire, rescue, or emergency medical organization? 8. Any comments you would care to add?