Florida Allows Underglow but Bans Red, Blue and Flashing Lights

The permission in § 316.235(3) sits inside a section of accessory allowances that tells you how far Florida will go on extra lamps. The same section permits not more than two side cowl or fender lamps emitting amber or white light without glare, not more than one running board courtesy lamp on each side in white or amber without glare, and backup lamps that must not be lighted while the vehicle is in forward motion. Vehicles 80 inches or more in overall width that are not already covered by § 316.2225 may carry up to three identification lamps showing amber to the front and three showing red to the rear.

Colour is where Florida is specific. Section 316.2397(2) says it is expressly prohibited for any vehicle or equipment to show or display blue lights, and then names only three exceptions: police vehicles, government-owned fire department vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 24,000 pounds where the fire chief authorises it in writing and the light is shown only on the rear, and vehicles owned, operated or leased by the Department of Corrections or a county correctional agency responding to emergencies. Fire patrol and volunteer fire department vehicles are carved out of that fire exception. Red or red and white belongs to fire department and fire patrol vehicles including volunteer firefighters permitted under s. 316.2398. Red alone extends to vehicles of medical staff physicians or technicians of state-licensed medical facilities, volunteer ambulance services, ambulances, organ transport vehicles, and buses and taxicabs authorised under s. 316.2399.

Amber is the working colour for everyone else Florida chooses to light: wreckers and mosquito control fog and spray vehicles when in actual operation or when a hazard exists but not travelling to and from the scene without authorisation from a law enforcement agency, road and street maintenance vehicles, refuse collection vehicles, petroleum tankers, mail carrier vehicles, and trailers carrying unprocessed logs or pulpwood at their rearmost point. Private security agency vehicles get a combination found in few other states: § 316.2397(3)(g) allows green and amber lights, with either colour no greater than 50 percent of the lights displayed, while security personnel are engaged in security duties on private or public property.

Rear-facing accessory lamps run into a second rule. Section 316.224(3) requires all lighting devices and reflectors mounted on the rear of any vehicle to display or reflect red, except the stop light or other signal device which may be red, amber or yellow, the licence plate lamp which must be white, and the backup lamp which must be white or amber. Front clearance, identification and side marker lamps near the front display amber, and those near the rear display red. So a strip mounted low at the back is a rear lighting device and inherits the red requirement, while the same strip along the rocker panel is judged by what colour it throws forward.

Front-facing auxiliary lamps are limited by count, height and aim rather than colour. Section 316.2396(2) allows no more than a total of four lamps projecting a beam greater than 300 candlepower to be lighted at one time on a highway, counting headlamps together with any auxiliary lamps or spot lamps. Section 316.233 then sets the mounting envelopes: not more than two spot lamps, aimed and used so that no part of the high intensity portion of the beam strikes the windshield, windows, mirror or occupant of another vehicle in use; not more than two fog lamps mounted on the front at a height of not less than 12 inches nor more than 30 inches, aimed so that with the vehicle unloaded none of the high intensity portion of the light to the left of centre projects higher than 4 inches below the lamp centre at 25 feet ahead; not more than two auxiliary passing lamps mounted between 24 and 42 inches; and not more than two auxiliary driving lamps mounted between 16 and 42 inches. Section 316.2397(6) adds that all of the lighting equipment referred to in that section must meet the requirements of s. 316.241 on selling or using lamps and equipment.

224 are each declared noncriminal traffic infractions punishable as nonmoving violations under chapter 318, which Fla. 18(2) prices at $30. 238, the dimming rule, is the outlier: a violation of that section is punishable as a moving violation, so it carries points as well as a fine. 2397(10)(a), which makes it a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 082, s. 083 or s. 084, for a person to violate subsection (1) and in doing so effect or attempt to effect a stop of another vehicle.

610 makes it a violation to drive a vehicle that "is equipped in any manner in violation of this chapter," an officer with reasonable cause may require the driver to stop and submit the vehicle to inspection, and where continued operation would not be unduly hazardous the officer must give written notice to repair within 48 hours excluding Sunday. 6105 affidavit-of-compliance route: remove or correct the lamp, present the vehicle to any Florida police or sheriff department within 30 days, and pay $4 to the agency.