TITLE XXI
MOTOR VEHICLES

CHAPTER 266
EQUIPMENT OF VEHICLES

Emergency Lights and Warning Lights

Section 266:78-b

    266:78-b Blue Lights Restricted to Law Enforcement, State Department of Corrections, and Emergency Response. –
I. No person other than a sworn law enforcement officer with power of arrest, state probation and parole officers, and state correctional officers in the performance of their official duties shall operate a vehicle equipped with blue colored lights, except in the case of a service technician driving the vehicle in connection with servicing or maintaining the vehicle or as provided under paragraph II.
II. No person other than a sworn law enforcement officer with power of arrest, state probation and parole officers, and state correctional officers in the performance of their official duties or an emergency response employee or volunteer of a city, town, or village district or the federal government or an employee of a private ambulance service contracted with a city, town, or village district shall operate a vehicle equipped with a rear-facing blue colored light, except in the case of a service technician driving the vehicle in connection with servicing or maintaining the vehicle.
III. Blue colored lights are authorized only for vehicles owned or leased by state, county, municipal, or federal law enforcement agencies, state department of corrections, fire marshal vehicles, emergency response vehicles owned or leased by city, town, village district, or federal fire departments, forestry departments, or emergency medical departments, or emergency response vehicles owned or leased by a private ambulance service contracted with a city, town, or village district and vehicles privately owned or leased by sworn law enforcement officers when authorized by their department heads. When blue colored lights are installed on a private vehicle owned by or leased to a law enforcement officer, such lights shall be covered when the vehicle is being driven by someone other than a law enforcement officer. A blue colored light installed on emergency response vehicles other than those vehicles used by a sworn law enforcement officer, state probation and parole officers, and state correctional officers in the performance of their official duties shall be limited to a single, rear-facing blue colored emergency light on each vehicle. A private ambulance service that is no longer contracted with a city, town, or village district shall remove the single rear-facing blue colored light upon the expiration of the contract.

Source. 2008, 358:12, eff. Sept. 9, 2008. 2015, 130:1, eff. June 12, 2015. 2019, 156:3, eff. Aug. 30, 2019.