Why Are Emergency Lights the Colors They Are and Which Colors are for What Alert?
Posted by Kristen Pflibsen on Dec 29th 2023
Have you ever wondered why police lights flash red and blue and ambulance lights are red or what other colors of flashing lights are for and who uses them?
Emergency vehicles are designed to get our attention by using flashing lights and loud noises. It is well understood that the appropriate response to seeing these lights is to pull over yielding the right-of-way to an emergency response vehicle, immediately, but also safely.
Most of us can distinguish between emergency vehicles and other vehicles by elements of their design. What is it about red and blue together, out of the whole spectrum of colors, that made them the perfect pair to announce a police car that needs the road space you occupy?
People naturally associate red with danger, alarms such as red alert, brake lights, and exits. In the visible spectrum, red has long wavelengths, meaning it is very low energy compared with other colors.
Blue is a rare color for lights and the color blue is known to have a calming effect on people. Blue is also not as common as many other colors we see in nature.
Red and blue together definitely stand out against a natural landscape full of organic colors in a wide variety of shades and hues. According to seeds.ca, the cells of most foods, plants, and animals lack the chemical compound that makes blue, which is why the natural blue pigment so rare.
Color blindness is also another factor in choosing emergency colors for lights on police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks. People who are color blind can usually see either red or blue, rarely color blind to both red and blue. Approximately 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women are color blind with approximately 7.4% of the population in America who cannot distinguish red from green or see and red and green differently.
The most common type of color vision deficiency makes it hard to tell the difference between red and green.
It is illegal in some places to install red and blue lights on your personal vehicle since those light colors are usually reserved for emergency use. Only vehicles that qualify to use warning lights and sirens within the state's statutes are allowed to use red and blue strobe lights or red flashing lights.
By Virginia code, various types of vehicle lights must be authorized by the Superintendent of State Police or the Department of Transportation. Certain military vehicles are designated by the Adjutant General. The Department of Corrections vehicles are designated by the Director of the Department of Corrections.
Law-enforcement vehicles may be equipped with flashing, blinking, or alternating blue, blue and red, blue and white, or red, white, and blue combination warning lights of types, with steady-burning blue or red warning lights of types, and must first be approved by the Superintendent.
Such warning lights may be of types constructed within turn signal housings or motorcycle headlight housings, subject to approval by the Superintendent.
Fire apparatus, forest warden vehicles, emergency medical services vehicles, vehicles of the Department of Emergency Management, vehicles of the Department of Environmental Quality, vehicles of the Virginia National Guard Civil Support Team and the Virginia National Guard Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and High Yield Explosive (CBRNE) Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP), vehicles of county, city, or town Departments of Emergency Management, vehicles of the Office of Emergency Medical Services, animal warden vehicles, vehicles of the Response and Recovery for Emergency Preparedness, and vehicles used by security personnel of some organizations, conservators of the peace and policemen for certain places may be equipped with flashing, blinking, or alternating red or red and white combination warning lights of types approved by the Superintendent.
Warning lights may be of types constructed within turn signal housings or motorcycle headlight housings, subject to approval by the Superintendent.
Any member of a fire department, volunteer fire company, or volunteer emergency medical services agency and any police chaplain may equip one vehicle with no more than two flashing or steady-burning red or red and white combination warning light units of types approved by the Superintendent, with the certificate carried in the vehicle at all times.
Some vehicles may be equipped with flashing, blinking, or alternating amber warning lights of types approved by the Superintendent, such as: towing and recovery vehicles, highway maintenance vehicles, cleanup vehicles performing state-required environmental activities, automatic teller machine service vehicles, vehicles used in refuse collection, vehicles used by individuals for emergency snow-removal purposes, hi-rail vehicles, emergency medical vehicles, fire apparatus vehicles, certain security services, United States mail trucks, some national package delivery company vehicles, gas trucks, law-enforcement vehicles, hot air balloon chase vehicles, farm trucks or tractors, construction company vehicles operating under Virginia contractors licenses, bicycle race escorts authorized by the Department of Transportation, remote broadcast radio or television vans, municipal safety officers, speedway or motor vehicle racetrack pace cars, security vehicles, or firefighting vehicles, neighborhood watch patrol groups approved by the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality, federally-licensed amateur radio operators participating in emergency communications who are authorized by the Department of Transportation where the event is being conducted, some transit buses; and vehicles used for hauling trees, logs, or any other forest products.
Lights shall be lit only when performing the functions which qualify them to be equipped with such lights. Amber or purple warning lights are not permitted to be simultaneously used on the same vehicle.
The Superintendent of the State Police develops standards for purple lights. Additionally, vehicles used by police, firefighting, or emergency medical services personnel, as command centers at the scene of incidents, may be equipped with and use green warning lights of a type approved by the Superintendent. Such lights shall not be activated while the vehicle is operating upon the highway.
Any firefighting vehicle, emergency medical services vehicle, Virginia Department of Transportation vehicle, or tow truck may be equipped with clear auxiliary lights, which shall be used exclusively for lighting emergency scenes.
Emergency vehicles may be equipped with the means to flash their headlights.
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State laws establish the color of lights for different types of vehicles. Tow trucks generally use amber or yellow lights so that they are not confused with police cruisers or other emergency vehicles. However, advocates concerned for the safety for the towing industry have sought changes in state laws for the use of other colors, such as red, blue, or green, which are more visible and more likely to change driver behaviors.
Two states in the U.S. also allow blue lights, New York and Pennsylvania. Maine allows green. See the state chart for current tow truck light laws: Tow Truck Warning Light Colors in Other States (ct.gov)
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