Emergency blue lights on roof

The flying mouse

Was in Spain recently and noticed that all the patrol cars,National, Civil and local police forces drive with the Blue Lights on roof switched on all the time.
In the night time you can see them coming from km away as their very bright, Was wondering did our own Gardai ever consider doing this ? and whats the advantages /disadvantages from having this operated. Thanks.

source

The flying mouse wrote: »

Was in Spain recently and noticed that all the patrol cars,National, Civil and local police forces drive with the Blue Lights on roof switched on all the time.
In the night time you can see them coming from km away as their very bright, Was wondering did our own Gardai ever consider doing this ? and whats the advantages /disadvantages from having this operated. Thanks.

Cars are fitted with the ability to do this. It varies from district to district as to whether it is required or not depending on the super's directions.

Advantage: it let's the public know the police are in the area.

Disadvantage: it let's the criminals know the police are in the area.

The flying mouse

source wrote: »

Cars are fitted with the ability to do this. It varies from district to district as to whether it is required or not depending on the super's directions.

Advantage: it let's the public know the police are in the area.

Disadvantage: it let's the criminals know the police are in the area.

That's what i was thinking, but why would they have them on all the time in Spain,They have lots of criminals there to, just asking like, not being smart.

Esel

The flying mouse wrote: »

That's what i was thinking, but why would they have them on all the time in Spain,They have lots of criminals there to, just asking like, not being smart.

To let the criminals know they are coming?

That, or safety.

Capri

When you say 'turned on' it's just the constant rather than flashing blue ? In Paris they flash when just cruising but here I've seen some just lit on a dull blue rather than the strobes on. A lot of 'ordinary' motorists using them now as sidelights etc so confusion could arise.

The flying mouse

They constantly on, with a very bright blue glow, they work very effectively on the motorway system here, And in the urbanisations give a secure feeling when you see the blues driving around,Would that work here in Dublin or maybe more importantly in rural areas ?

Terrontress

Anyone with blue lights in their sidelights should be forced to change the lights St the side of the road and if they have no bulb, have the car removed at their expense!

Sterling Archer

For reference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD73IpOaiaQ

flazio

ISTR the Gardaí had a bar that used to emit a soft blue glow when it wasn't strobing, also a lot of emergency vehicles had a middle "taxi" light to indicate who they were.

Capri

flazio wrote: »

ISTR the Gardaí had a bar that used to emit a soft blue glow when it wasn't strobing, also a lot of emergency vehicles had a middle "taxi" light to indicate who they were.

It seemed like a 5w light along with the 'GARDA' lit as well.

Anyone with blue lights in their sidelights should be forced to change the lights St the side of the road and if they have no bulb, have the car removed at their expense!

I think they'd play the HID card where those HID lights tend to look blue-ish at certain angles - I've seen scooters in Asia actually come from the showroom with blue sidelights

On an earlier subject of 'POLITE' hi-vis etc , one guy's made his own and I've also seen a Gold Wing with flashing strobe whites on the front and red at the rear and 'ALIEи' on the front like the 'GARDA' (that и is like Russian for ?? )

Bad enough having ordinary m/cycles try to carve through as if they're emergency vehicles without going the next step and actually using strobes and hi-vis WITHOUT the training and experience of genuine EV personnel :cool:

Preset No.3

This used to be very common on patrol cars about 10 years ago. A constant light blue which got brighter flashing. Think I last saw it on a Yaris.

Esel

- I'M -
POLITE

Tango Alpha 51

The older style flashbar used to have a cruise light function ie the wording in the middle lit up ie Garda /Ambulance. Either side of the sign ie the blue lens used to light up slightly. Newer style flashbar do have a different cruise function ie the end of the flashbar lights up steady. A lot of the services got this disconnected as some motorists were pulling over out of the way even though the ES vehicle was not responding to any call. The Gardaí still have the ability to turn or off the middle Garda sign in the flashbar.

The flying mouse

Tango Alpha 51 wrote: »

The older style flashbar used to have a cruise light function ie the wording in the middle lit up ie Garda /Ambulance. Either side of the sign ie the blue lens used to light up slightly. Newer style flashbar do have a different cruise function ie the end of the flashbar lights up steady. A lot of the services got this disconnected as some motorists were pulling over out of the way even though the ES vehicle was not responding to any call. The Gardaí still have the ability to turn or off the middle Garda sign in the flashbar.

Thanks for that, and the other replies, and the broader question would ye think they might be a hindrance or more of a help here in Ireland if they were to be used as in Espana

flazio

Hindering, definitely. Due to the unique caliber of driving you find in Ireland, the non emergency use of lights would cause more accidents then the services can handle.

Markcheese

As usual the devil is in the detail.... (or numbers) ,if some bikers or cars loosely resemble garda vehicles (as long as they dont try driving like emergency services) the general public will drive more safely/slowly ... but if the gardai dont pull vehicles resembling E.V.s ,then loads of people will do it ,(and get more brazen) and it'll slow nobody down... ( my (probably crap) opinion any way...

leinsterjack

What I find quite interesting that at least in the UK it is not a legal requirement for police vehicles to carry Blue Lights and Sirens. They just do it as it's a tradition I suppose but it makes people aware of their presence when responding to calls etc.

mikeecho

leinsterjack wrote: »

What I find quite interesting that at least in the UK it is not a legal requirement for police vehicles to carry Blue Lights and Sirens. They just do it as it's a tradition I suppose but it makes people aware of their presence when responding to calls etc.

Its not a legal requirement here either.