I was always lead to believe that a vehicle could only use Blue Lights if it was an emergency vehicle, or should that be only emergency vehicles are allowed to use flashing blue lights.
I now see motor cycles, cars and even lorries sporting blue lights.... why is this ?
Jim G
The after-market LED things? They're illegal, but there isn't much enforcement for this sort of thing.* Just another form of penis extender, for men in need of one. You can't help looking at some cars, and feeling really sorry for the driver...
How many are flashing though?
G.Harman
Just before Xmas last I was driving along approaching a sharp left hand bend. Reflected in the shop windows on the right were blue flashing lights.
Daughter being a paramedic & SIL being a copper, I'm sensitive to blue flashing lights - they both complain that no bugger ever reacts properly.
I slowed down & kept left - only to find they were the reflections of Xmas lights :-)
Blue (at least the shades that could confuse) is such an un-Christmassy colour - makes no sense that anyone would choose them for decorative purposes. But have seen loads.
"the_constructor" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@brightview.co.uk:
They are to show other drivers that they are Gay.
I also find it worrying that some lorries have enormous illuminated advertising signs in their cab - usually behind the driver. The reflections of the windscreen must be dangerous.
Soon be time for the same lorry drivers to have illuminated Xmas trees on the top of their dashboards.
The new refuse trucks round here are covered in amber flashing lights - including down the sides. Of course these are only meant to be used when actually loading refuse, but most drivers seem to switch them on when they leave the depot and only off at the end of the shift. So when driving between jobs, you can't distinguish them easily from the direction indicators. I'm just waiting for a serious accident to happen. Which of course is unlikely when they're collecting refuse, which begs the point as to the need for these lights anyway...
They are either a signal that the driver is gay or a warning that the vehicle is being driven by a nincompoop depending on local trends.
Mike
Depends if they're viewed from the other side of a crash barrier, probably :-)
Itf you mean the flashing ones, then there are certainly single responder paramedics using cars and bikes about, and I'd suspect a truck heading to perhaps clear an accidents debris could use one too. Incidentally, a friend says some doctors are using flashing green lights, is he colour blind or do thes exist? Brian
Yes, our out of hours doctor service uses green lights. To get back to the OPs question, it's only *flashing* blue lights that are illegal on non-emergency vehicles. Steady blue is okay.
I don't like them though as they can appear to flash when seen through crash barriers, fences, trees etc..
Tim
Depends what you mean by 'ok'. Blue is not acceptable for lights showing to the front - they must be white. Although LED 'white' tends towards the blue range of things. And some HID headlamps can show blue on the edge of their beam. Of course the police can't be bothered to prosecute all cases, but blue replacement sidelight bulbs which are a fashion won't pass an MOT. In the same way as faded red rear lights won't either.
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