HB 545

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to use of lights on motor vehicles;
3	amending s. 316.2397, F.S.; authorizing vehicles owned,
4	operated, or leased by any county correctional agency to
5	show or display blue lights when responding to
6	emergencies; providing an effective date.
7
8	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
9
10	Section 1.  Section 316.2397, Florida Statutes, is amended
11	to read:
12	316.2397  Certain lights prohibited; exceptions.--
13	(1)  No person shall drive or move or cause to be moved any
14	vehicle or equipment upon any highway within this state with any
15	lamp or device thereon showing or displaying a red or blue light
16	visible from directly in front thereof except for certain
17	vehicles hereinafter provided.
18	(2)  It is expressly prohibited for any vehicle or
19	equipment, except police vehicles, to show or display blue
20	lights. However, vehicles owned, operated, or leased by the
21	Department of Corrections or any county correctional agency may
22	show or display blue lights when responding to emergencies.
23	(3)  Vehicles of the fire department and fire patrol,
24	including vehicles of volunteer firefighters as permitted under
25	s. 316.2398, vehicles of medical staff physicians or technicians
26	of medical facilities licensed by the state as authorized under
27	s. 316.2398, ambulances as authorized under this chapter, and
28	buses and taxicabs as authorized under s. 316.2399 are permitted
29	to show or display red lights. Vehicles of the fire department,
30	fire patrol, police vehicles, and such ambulances and emergency
31	vehicles of municipal and county departments, public service
32	corporations operated by private corporations, the Department of
33	Environmental Protection, the Department of Transportation, the
34	Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the
35	Department of Corrections as are designated or authorized by
36	their respective department or the chief of police of an
37	incorporated city or any sheriff of any county are hereby
38	authorized to operate emergency lights and sirens in an
39	emergency. Wreckers, mosquito control fog and spray vehicles,
40	and emergency vehicles of governmental departments or public
41	service corporations may show or display amber lights when in
42	actual operation or when a hazard exists provided they are not
43	used going to and from the scene of operation or hazard without
44	specific authorization of a law enforcement officer or law
45	enforcement agency. Wreckers must use amber rotating or flashing
46	lights while performing recoveries and loading on the roadside
47	day or night, and may use such lights while towing a vehicle on
48	wheel lifts, slings, or under reach if the operator of the
49	wrecker deems such lights necessary. A flatbed, car carrier, or
50	rollback may not use amber rotating or flashing lights when
51	hauling a vehicle on the bed unless it creates a hazard to other
52	motorists because of protruding objects. Further, escort
53	vehicles may show or display amber lights when in the actual
54	process of escorting overdimensioned equipment, material, or
55	buildings as authorized by law. Vehicles owned or leased by
56	private security agencies may show or display green and amber
57	lights, with either color being no greater than 50 percent of
58	the lights displayed, while the security personnel are engaged
59	in security duties on private or public property.
60	(4)  Road or street maintenance equipment, road or street
61	maintenance vehicles, road service vehicles, refuse collection
62	vehicles, petroleum tankers, and mail carrier vehicles may show
63	or display amber lights when in operation or a hazard exists.
64	(5)  Road maintenance and construction equipment and
65	vehicles may display flashing white lights or flashing white
66	strobe lights when in operation and where a hazard exists.
67	Additionally, school buses and vehicles that are used to
68	transport farm workers may display flashing white strobe lights.
69	(6)  All lighting equipment heretofore referred to shall
70	meet all requirements as set forth in s. 316.241.
71	(7)  Flashing lights are prohibited on vehicles except as a
72	means of indicating a right or left turn, to change lanes, or to
73	indicate that the vehicle is lawfully stopped or disabled upon
74	the highway or except that the lamps authorized in subsections
75	(1), (2), (3), (4), and (9) and s. 316.235(5) are permitted to
76	flash.
77	(8)  Subsections (1) and (7) do not apply to police, fire,
78	or authorized emergency vehicles while in the performance of
79	their necessary duties.
80	(9)  Flashing red lights may be used by emergency response
81	vehicles of the Department of Environmental Protection and the
82	Department of Health when responding to an emergency in the line
83	of duty.
84	(10)  A violation of this section is a noncriminal traffic
85	infraction, punishable as a nonmoving violation as provided in
86	chapter 318.
87	Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2009.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.