Published on Thursday, June 22, 2006
in the Tallahassee Democrat

Red lights? Blue lights? It depends

Dear Traffic Doctor,

For approximately 40 years, the Florida Highway Patrol has utilized blue emergency lights on its cruisers. However, recently I observed a state trooper working the construction area near West Tennessee Street and Capital Circle, and I was surprised when the activated bar light was flashing red rather than blue.

Is the FHP going back to the use of red emergency lights? If so, why?

Charles

Let's give Charles the Observant Driver of the Day Award - and trust that he's not just a trooper masquerading as a curious civilian.

Lt. John Bagnardi was thrilled to have an excuse to talk about his agency's lights:

"When the car is in park during daylight hours," he wrote by e-mail Wednesday morning, "the lights automatically change to red. When the car is in gear in the daylight, the lights are blue and red. At night, the lights automatically turn all blue. There's a sensor in the top that gauges the daylight."

That's impressive. But why bother?

"The human eye sees red better in the daylight and blue at nighttime," he said. "Our greatest danger is being on the side of the road and being hit."

Florida has what's called a Move Over law. Here's how the driver's handbook explains it:

"When driving on interstate highways or other highways with two or more lanes traveling in the direction of the emergency vehicle, . . . drivers approaching a law enforcement or other authorized emergency vehicle parked on the roadway with their emergency lights activated will be required to leave the lane closest to the emergency vehicle, as soon as it is safe to do so."