Georgia Auxiliary Lights: One Spotlight, Two Foglights, No Blue

The counting rules in section 40-8-29 are what a Georgia driver actually runs into when adding lights. Only one spotlight is permitted, it may not be aimed and used upon any approaching vehicle, and operating a spotlight from a moving vehicle on any highway or public roadway is unlawful for everyone except law enforcement officers and persons licensed under Chapter 38 of Title 43, which is the private detective and private security chapter. Foglights are capped at two, must be mounted on the front between 12 and 30 inches above the surface the vehicle stands on, and must be aimed so that with the vehicle unloaded no part of the high intensity portion of the light left of the vehicle centerline projects, at 25 feet ahead, higher than four inches below the center of the lamp. One auxiliary passing light is allowed at a mounting height of 24 to 42 inches, and one auxiliary driving light at 16 to 42 inches. A front-mounted LED bar is therefore governed by an arithmetic limit rather than by a wattage or lumen rule: the section gives a vehicle a single auxiliary driving light, not a row of them.

Color is handled in one line. Code Section 40-8-34 provides that the color in all lighting equipment covered in Title 40 shall be in accordance with Society of Automotive Engineers Standard J578, April 1965, as thereafter revised or amended. Georgia has no separate statute on underbody, undercarriage or neon accent lighting. A full-text search of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated for underglow, neon light, undercarriage and under the body returns four documents, none of which concerns vehicle accent lighting, so the constraints on an accent kit come entirely from the color rule in section 40-8-34 and from the flashing and color prohibitions described below rather than from any provision aimed at the kit itself.

Blue is the bright line. Code Section 40-8-90(a)(1) makes it unlawful to operate any motor vehicle equipped with or containing a device capable of producing any blue lights, whether flashing, blinking, revolving or stationary. The exceptions are narrow: vehicles owned or leased by a federal, state or local law enforcement agency, vehicles holding a permit granted by a state agency, and antique, hobby and special interest vehicles as defined in paragraph (8) of subsection (l) of Code Section 40-2-86.1, which may display a blue light or lights of up to one inch in diameter as part of the rear stop lamps, rear turn indicator, rear hazard lamps and rear reflectors. Subsection (b) adds an elected sheriff using a personal vehicle in law enforcement activity under an agreement with the county governing authority, provided the vehicle is marked as Code Section 40-8-91 requires. Note that the offense is possession of the capability, not just its use, so a blue bulb wired in and switched off still violates the section.

Red, amber and green each have their own regime. Under Code Section 40-8-92 the commissioner of public safety designates emergency vehicles by issuing a permit to operate flashing or revolving lights of the appropriate color, the permit is valid for five years, and red flashing or revolving lights are authorized only when the applicant demonstrates a proven need, with a fee of two dollars that federal, state, county and municipal agencies and licensed ambulance providers do not pay. Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 570-11-.03 sets out what the application takes: Form DPS-41, a notarized statement of use detailing time, location, manner and justification, a statement of the emergency uses requiring the light, the fee, and a certificate of completion of a Due Regard Training Program approved by the department, with additional proof for emergency management vehicles and volunteer firefighters. Subsection (d) of section 40-8-92 makes it unlawful to operate or park a motor vehicle on public property with flashing or revolving green lights, except where a law enforcement agency, fire department, emergency management agency or other governmental entity is marking the location of a command post at an emergency. Amber is governed by Code Section 40-8-35, which lists fifteen authorized users including wreckers and tow trucks at an accident or towing wheels-down, utility service vehicles, road construction and maintenance vehicles, vehicles with active sanitation workers, rural mail carriers delivering mail, projecting and oversize loads, escort vehicles, low-speed vehicles without the slow moving emblem, school buses meeting Code Section 40-8-115, licensed private detective and private security business vehicles, neighborhood watch vehicles and the lead vehicle in a funeral procession. Subsection (d) requires the amber equipment to be visible from 500 feet front and rear, and subsection (e) makes it unlawful to operate any vehicle with flashing or revolving amber lights on a highway unless section 40-8-35, 40-6-6, 40-8-91 or 40-8-92 authorizes it.

Two general rules sit behind all of this. Code Section 40-8-20 requires headlights and the other illuminating devices from a half-hour after sunset to a half-hour before sunrise, at any time when it is raining in the driving zone, and any time visibility is under 500 feet, which is the reason a Georgia driver running fog or auxiliary lamps alone in rain is still short of the requirement. Code Section 40-8-31 then controls the beam: within 500 feet of an oncoming vehicle the driver must use a distribution of light aimed so the glaring rays are not projected into the oncoming driver eyes, and within 200 feet behind another vehicle, except while overtaking, the driver must drop off the uppermost beam. Code Section 40-8-93 confirms that none of the blue and emergency light restrictions reach blinking or flashing parking or brake lights or directional signals.

Georgia prosecutes lighting offenses as misdemeanors and escalates when the light is used in crime. Code Section 40-8-90(a)(2) makes operating a vehicle with blue light capability a misdemeanor, and Code Section 40-8-96 repeats that anyone violating Code Sections 40-8-90 and 40-8-92 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Subsection (c) of section 40-8-90 goes further: using a vehicle equipped with flashing, blinking, revolving or stationary blue lights in the commission of a felony carries a fine of not less than 1,000 dollars or imprisonment of not less than one year, or both, which reflects the police impersonation risk the section is aimed at.

Code Section 40-8-35(f) applies the same structure to amber, making a violation a misdemeanor and a violation during the commission of a felony punishable as a felony. Permits are the other pressure point, since a red or amber light authorization issued under section 40-8-92 runs only five years and is granted on a demonstrated need that the Department of Public Safety can revisit. Enforcement is roadside: Georgia has no periodic safety inspection, and the emissions testing required in the metro Atlanta counties reads the on-board diagnostics rather than the lamps, so an added light is noticed when an officer sees it in use.