Blue/Red lights legality?

[NlGHTMARE]

These lights are NOT for a vehicle. Just attached to a lightstand outside my yard to slow down speeders who blast through my neighborhood doing 30+ MPH over the speed limit.

I figure if I have blue/red lights setup outside my house it will startle the speeders enough to slow down. I have kids running around, have to do something. Vehicle Code wouldn't apply here, and I cant find anything in Civil code either

 

[silver03svt]

If you are using them to actually affect the flow of traffic on your street, then technically, it could be conceived as a form of police impersonation. Check your local and state laws to see if it would apply. I say this because you, the property owner and person, have installed a signal system (flashing red/blue lights) that would leave a reasonable person (drivers on your street) to believe that an LEO presence was near and/or signalling traffic for a specific purpose.

 

[jonb347]

this just seems very illegal haha. at the same time, please set up a gopro or something so we can see their faces

 

[oldmodman]

There is a public street near me where the homeowners association bought a used police car and parks it randomly around the area to slow down the traffic.

It has a light bar on the roof and a fake cop in the front seat. it also has a working radar transmitter to trigger all the radar detectors.

It's been in the area so long that all the locals just ignore it. So now the real cops just sit a little past it and pick off the morons one by one. All day long.

 

[Troponin]

THe light thing is a state by state law. For instance, blue lights in Pa can only be used by emergency personnel, while here in Texas, most people can use blue as a way to stay safe while on the side of a road, or public utility company etc.

I would expect, the way you're going to use them, I would absolutely do research, because I am pretty sure that won't be legal.

If you're having an issue with a particular area, you could always give a call to the county/city and talk to someone about it. It might not even be a bad idea to voice your concerns to the local PD. Invite them to sit in your driveway and make them coffee and snacks. lol

 

[Outlaw99]

one way to find out!

 

[NlGHTMARE]

Well I will look into it. So far the Sheriff stations I have called couldn't cite any penal code (California).

Even if it was illegal, I'd imagine a solid-red or solid-blue light would work just as well..? thoughts?

 

[stang99x]

I would imagine that the since they are in your yard, the laws governing the used of specific colored light on vehicles would not apply. I know sometimes certain LEO's can be a real PITA about lights. Years ago I had a little 3 inch long by 1/4 inch high led that moved back and forth like Knight Rider. I mounted it in the front grill of my old Explorer to use for the alarm, and everyone who saw it thought it was so cool I should run it all the time so I hooked it up to run constantly. I got stopped once in Statesboro GA (at GA Southern University) and the LEO gave me some attitude about it, then sent me on my way saying if he saw it again he'd lock me up. So of course the next week he stopped me again for the same thing, and I made up that I had called the State Patrol and asked and they said it was fine.....well he called them, and turns out it wasn't illegal. The lights had to be of a certain size and they were far less concerned over red than they would have been about blue. Are we talking flashing/rotating lights or just a solid always on unit?

 

[NlGHTMARE]

I would imagine that the since they are in your yard, the laws governing the used of specific colored light on vehicles would not apply. I know sometimes certain LEO's can be a real PITA about lights. Years ago I had a little 3 inch long by 1/4 inch high led that moved back and forth like Knight Rider. I mounted it in the front grill of my old Explorer to use for the alarm, and everyone who saw it thought it was so cool I should run it all the time so I hooked it up to run constantly. I got stopped once in Statesboro GA (at GA Southern University) and the LEO gave me some attitude about it, then sent me on my way saying if he saw it again he'd lock me up. So of course the next week he stopped me again for the same thing, and I made up that I had called the State Patrol and asked and they said it was fine.....well he called them, and turns out it wasn't illegal. The lights had to be of a certain size and they were far less concerned over red than they would have been about blue. Are we talking flashing/rotating lights or just a solid always on unit?

The lightbar I will be using has different modes (strobe, solid, etc). I think what I will do is put together a 'prototype' and take it to local LEO and see what they have to say about it. Regardless of the law, I dont want to be hassled by LEO even if it is legal.

Worst case scenario I will just use solid red LED lights, or solid blue - or red/white or blue/white - which is almost as terrifying to a speeder at night time as blue/red, IMO

 

[stang99x]

Any flashing lights at night will catch a driver's attention and likely make them slow down. I thought a little more and, during Christmas a LOT of people have the blinking blue icicle lights and they are perfectly legal. Using that mentality it'd have to be legal. I think we're all thinking about the laws made to keep blue lights off a normal person's car, which wouldn't be enforced on a pole in your yard. Put it out there and try it, and if they tell you to take it down then remove it. Call it a joke with a buddy or something, lost bet, who knows.

 

[GRUSE]

Do it,if it keeps you neighborhood safer how can it be a bad thing.

 

[VirtualSVT]

Don't be that guy.

 

[03cobra#694]

Just move, must be HPK testing cars again!

 

[OhIIICobra]

We have a firefighter in our rural HOA with a shared gravel road. He made a huge stink at the last meeting about people driving too fast, dust ruining his home, and his grandkids blah blah. He put sprinklers across the road to "keep the dust down" (**** up everyones cars). I saw the dumb hypocritical asshole this weekend making 50 MPH passes on his Banshee with his toddler grandkid on the tank (no helmets) spraying our gravel all over the place. I hate two-faced dumb ass SOBs. Rant off.

I let cops be cops.

 

[R.D.P.]

The speeders are probably local, which means your lights will only work a few times like the old cop car idea. They will then learn to just ignore the lights.

 

[cbj5259]

I can't imagine that having flashing blue and red lights on your porch or somewhere within the confines of your property would be illegal. If anything it may be a zoning issue, but certainly not a criminal offense. The impersonating a law enforcement officer laws in pretty much every state require the offender to actually impede someone's civil rights or identify themselves as an officer directly or by implication. Simply having flashing red and blue lights on your porch doesn't meet either of those criteria.

 

[silver03svt]

I can't imagine that having flashing blue and red lights on your porch or somewhere within the confines of your property would be illegal. If anything it may be a zoning issue, but certainly not a criminal offense. The impersonating a law enforcement officer laws in pretty much every state require the offender to actually impede someone's civil rights or identify themselves as an officer directly or by implication. Simply having flashing red and blue lights on your porch doesn't meet either of those criteria.

Virginia's code section for impersonation:

§ 18.2-174. Impersonating law-enforcement officer; penalty.

Any person who falsely assumes or exercises the functions, powers, duties, and privileges incident to the office of sheriff, police officer, marshal, or other peace officer, or any local, city, county, state, or federal law-enforcement officer, or who falsely assumes or pretends to be any such officer, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. A second or subsequent offense is punishable as a Class 6 felony.

(Code 1950, § 18.1-311; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15; 2013, cc. 410, 431, 638.)


Setting up of red/blue lights in your yard near the roadway with intent to affect the flow of traffic would be a violation of what I highlighted in red.

OP needs to check HIS state and local laws before he acts, which is pretty much the advice he has been given.

 

[cbj5259]

Virginia's code section for impersonation:

§ 18.2-174. Impersonating law-enforcement officer; penalty.

Any person who falsely assumes or exercises the functions, powers, duties, and privileges incident to the office of sheriff, police officer, marshal, or other peace officer, or any local, city, county, state, or federal law-enforcement officer, or who falsely assumes or pretends to be any such officer, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. A second or subsequent offense is punishable as a Class 6 felony.

(Code 1950, § 18.1-311; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15; 2013, cc. 410, 431, 638.)


Setting up of red/blue lights in your yard near the roadway with intent to affect the flow of traffic would be a violation of what I highlighted in red.

OP needs to check HIS state and local laws before he acts, which is pretty much the advice he has been given.

That's pretty ambiguous. I'm not sure how setting up flashing red and blue lights on your own private property could be construed as impersonation of a law enforcement officer, unless said lights were attached to a vehicle fashioned to look like a police car and positioned in such a fashion as to appear as if the car was conducting traffic enforcement. If the OP wanted to attach flashing red and blue lights to his inflatable Santa doll in the front yard there is no way that should be illegal in any state. It makes the assumption that use of any flashing red and blue lights is the distinct priveledge of law enforcement, which the statute you cited doesnt address. Unless the buying and/or owning of red and blue lights is prohibited in your state of course...which is a whole other ball of wax. The statute also pertains to a "person" who misrepresents themself as a law enforcement officer. I'm not sure that flashing red and blue strobes on an inanimate object could be construed as a person. It doesn't pass the "reasonable" test. If I was locked up for having flashing red and blue lights on my porch, I would most likely be a rich man after the 1983 Monell case was settled.

 

[Iceman II]

I don't see an issue on ones own private property. Now, as mentioned once those lights are attached to a vehicle then there's going to be an issue. I'm sure it's going to generate a lot of complaints from the public and surroundng neighbors so is it really going to be worth the while?
I had a case where a guy actually set up an aftermarket traffic light by his food stand. It was located on his property. But every time a drunk drove and it turned red, the drunk would friggin stop in the road. It caused a traffic issue! I simply asked him to remove it and he did.

 

[silver03svt]

That's pretty ambiguous. I'm not sure how setting up flashing red and blue lights on your own private property could be construed as impersonation of a law enforcement officer, unless said lights were attached to a vehicle fashioned to look like a police car and positioned in such a fashion as to appear as if the car was conducting traffic enforcement. If the OP wanted to attach flashing red and blue lights to his inflatable Santa doll in the front yard there is no way that should be illegal in any state. It makes the assumption that use of any flashing red and blue lights is the distinct priveledge of law enforcement, which the statute you cited doesnt address. Unless the buying and/or owning of red and blue lights is prohibited in your state of course...which is a whole other ball of wax. The statute also pertains to a "person" who misrepresents themself as a law enforcement officer. I'm not sure that flashing red and blue strobes on an inanimate object could be construed as a person. It doesn't pass the "reasonable" test. If I was locked up for having flashing red and blue lights on my porch, I would most likely be a rich man after the 1983 Monell case was settled.

Depending on how and where the lights are mounted, but his INTENT is clear. That is what is going to bite him in the butt.