MUTCD for vehicles

[jakeroot]

One of my favorite aspects of the Battenburg markings is the use of retroreflective patterns, something I do not recall seeing on American emergency vehicles. This could seriously improve night time visibility.

Just playing devil's advocate here: Does the reflectiveness of the vehicle really matter given the zillions of lights the more recent US emergency vehicles are being equipped with? From what I can recall, Europeans seem to use far fewer emergency lights.

To the best of my knowledge, emergency lights for traditional shoulder stops are kept to a minimum, both at night and day.

Not from any of the traffic stops I've seen. They may kill most of the non-white scene lighting to the front, but from the rear, they usually have the light bar going, arrow sticks, hazards, lights buried in the taillights and reverse lights. Many of the SUV-based squads also have lights in the rear window still going as well.

Look, I'm not saying that emergency lights are barely used (though in my experience, only overhead flashing blue lights and an orange "keep left" bar are used for WA traffic stops). What I am saying is that additional measures could be taken to improve the visibility of the vehicles. Stopped emergency vehicles seem to be hit quite often still, so I'm not sure emergency lights alone are really doing enough.

[DaBigE]

One of my favorite aspects of the Battenburg markings is the use of retroreflective patterns, something I do not recall seeing on American emergency vehicles. This could seriously improve night time visibility.

Just playing devil's advocate here: Does the reflectiveness of the vehicle really matter given the zillions of lights the more recent US emergency vehicles are being equipped with? From what I can recall, Europeans seem to use far fewer emergency lights.

To the best of my knowledge, emergency lights for traditional shoulder stops are kept to a minimum, both at night and day.

Not from any of the traffic stops I've seen. They may kill most of the non-white scene lighting to the front, but from the rear, they usually have the light bar going, arrow sticks, hazards, lights buried in the taillights and reverse lights. Many of the SUV-based squads also have lights in the rear window still going as well.

Look, I'm not saying that emergency lights are barely used (though in my experience, only overhead flashing blue lights and an orange "keep left" bar are used for WA traffic stops). What I am saying is that additional measures could be taken to improve the visibility of the vehicles. Stopped emergency vehicles seem to be hit quite often still, so I'm not sure emergency lights alone are really doing enough.

I'm not trying to pick a fight; I still see plenty of value to reflective markings. I'm just wondering if any more effort/policy is really needed given the current state of vehicle lighting technology. All the extra lighting seems like it would wash-out any benefit to approaching headlights reflecting off of the vehicle markings (e.g., the oncoming motorist will see the lights far before any markings (if they aren't blinded by the lights). When the light aren't illuminated, in theory the markings shouldn't matter, because they shouldn't be sitting where they could be a target - that's where federally-mandated reflectors required for all vehicles come into play.

[jakeroot]

One of my favorite aspects of the Battenburg markings is the use of retroreflective patterns, something I do not recall seeing on American emergency vehicles. This could seriously improve night time visibility.

Just playing devil's advocate here: Does the reflectiveness of the vehicle really matter given the zillions of lights the more recent US emergency vehicles are being equipped with? From what I can recall, Europeans seem to use far fewer emergency lights.

To the best of my knowledge, emergency lights for traditional shoulder stops are kept to a minimum, both at night and day.

Not from any of the traffic stops I've seen. They may kill most of the non-white scene lighting to the front, but from the rear, they usually have the light bar going, arrow sticks, hazards, lights buried in the taillights and reverse lights. Many of the SUV-based squads also have lights in the rear window still going as well.

Look, I'm not saying that emergency lights are barely used (though in my experience, only overhead flashing blue lights and an orange "keep left" bar are used for WA traffic stops). What I am saying is that additional measures could be taken to improve the visibility of the vehicles. Stopped emergency vehicles seem to be hit quite often still, so I'm not sure emergency lights alone are really doing enough.

I'm not trying to pick a fight; I still see plenty of value to reflective markings. I'm just wondering if any more effort/policy is really needed given the current state of vehicle lighting technology. All the extra lighting seems like it would wash-out any benefit to approaching headlights reflecting off of the vehicle markings (e.g., the oncoming motorist will see the lights far before any markings (if they aren't blinded by the lights). When the light aren't illuminated, in theory the markings shouldn't matter, because they shouldn't be sitting where they could be a target - that's where federally-mandated reflectors required for all vehicles come into play.

Are we sure that current vehicle lighting technology is doing enough to prevent collisions? I seem to hear about vehicle vs police incidents quite often on the news. WSP is actually starting some emphasis patrols for "move over" laws today. I'm not saying that reflective markings are a cure-all for side-swipes and rear-end crashes, but there are other things besides bright LED lights that can help drivers spot emergency vehicles, without drawing too much attention to them. These new lights can be seen from a mile away. That's simply not necessary. Perhaps reduce emergency lights to a more reasonable level, and improve localised lighting conditions?