New York Auxiliary and Underglow Lighting: White Only, and Never Flashing

Subdivision 41 is drafted as a ban with enumerated exceptions, not as a list of forbidden colours. It states that its provisions "shall govern the affixing and display of lights on vehicles, other than those lights required by law", which puts accent lighting, underglow, rock lights, grille lights and auxiliary bars inside it and leaves the headlamps, tail lamps and plate lamp required by subdivision 2 outside it. Paragraph 1 then bars any light other than a white light, and separately bars any white light that revolves, rotates, flashes, oscillates or constantly moves, unless the subdivision prescribes it. Two things follow straight from that sentence. A colour other than white has no home in the statute for a private vehicle, and a white lamp that strobes is prohibited even though the same lamp burning steadily is not.

Red is reserved. Paragraph 2 allows one or more red or combination red and white lights, or one white light which must be revolving, rotating, flashing, oscillating or constantly moving, to be affixed to an authorized emergency vehicle, and to be displayed only when that vehicle is engaged in an emergency operation, or on a fire vehicle while returning from an alarm of fire or other emergency.

Amber belongs to hazard vehicles under paragraph 3. A hazard vehicle engaged in a hazardous operation must display an amber light visible to all approaching traffic under normal atmospheric conditions from 500 feet, though the display is not required during daylight hours if two red flags visible from 500 feet are placed in or on the front and on the rear and two more on each side open to traffic. The paragraph also permits temporarily affixing an amber light as a warning on a disabled motor vehicle, or on a vehicle stopped on a highway while engaged in an operation that would restrict, impede or interfere with the normal flow of traffic. In a city of one million or more, one amber light may be affixed to a vehicle owned or operated by a volunteer civilian or crime patrol member who has written authorization from the police commissioner of the municipality patrolled, revocable at any time by that commissioner or a successor.

Blue is the most tightly held colour in New York. Paragraph 4 allows one blue light on a motor vehicle owned by a volunteer member of a fire department, by a family member residing in the same household, or by a business enterprise in which the firefighter has a proprietary interest or by which he or she is employed, and only where the fire chief has authorized it in writing, subject to revocation at any time. It may be displayed only when the volunteer firefighter is engaged in an emergency operation, and the paragraph states that the use of blue lights is restricted to volunteer firefighters apart from the rear-projection blue allowed on police vehicles, fire vehicles, ambulances, emergency ambulance service vehicles and county emergency medical services vehicles, and on hazard vehicles designed for towing or pushing disabled vehicles. Green follows the same pattern under paragraph 5, reserved to a member of a volunteer ambulance service or of a mobile crisis team as defined by Mental Hygiene Law section 36.03(a)(11), again on written authorization from the service's chief officer or the team's director, plus green or combination green and amber on state or municipal ice and snow removal vehicles displaying the required amber.

Two limits in subdivision 2 apply to any lamp you add regardless of colour. Paragraph (c) provides that no lamp shall be used on a motor vehicle having a light source greater than thirty-two candle power unless the lamp is approved by the Commissioner, with an exception only for lights that may be displayed on authorized emergency vehicles, hazard vehicles and vehicles permitted blue or green under subdivision 41. Paragraph (b) requires all lamps except on a motorcycle to be so arranged, adjusted and operated as to avoid dangerous glare or dazzle, and then fixes the geometry: the upper outline of any dazzling beam projected to the left of the vehicle's longitudinal axis may not rise higher than the lamp center at 25 feet nor higher than 42 inches at 75 feet, measured from the plane on which the vehicle stands.

Out-of-state drivers get one narrow pass. Paragraph 8 makes subdivision 41 inapplicable to the driver of a vehicle from another state or foreign jurisdiction which has colored lights affixed but not revolving, rotating, flashing, oscillating or constantly moving, if those lights comply with the law of the state or jurisdiction where the vehicle is registered. Paragraph 7 separately exempts out-of-state and Canadian vehicles that have entered New York to render police, fire, civil defense or ambulance aid.

Subdivision 41 has no penalty clause of its own, so a lighting violation falls to the general provision at section 375(32)(a): a violation of any provision of section 375 other than those relating to adequate brakes is punishable by a fine not exceeding $150 or imprisonment not exceeding thirty days, or both. Roadside enforcement is direct, because section 375(4) requires the operator of every motor vehicle to permit any police officer or other person exercising police powers to inspect the equipment of the vehicle and make such tests as may be necessary to determine whether the section is being complied with.

Lighting is also an enumerated item on the New York annual safety inspection: section 301(c)(1)(a) lists "lights, including but not limited to the lights which are designed and placed on a vehicle for the purpose of illuminating the vehicle's license plates" among the things a safety inspection must cover, so a non-conforming installation can cost the certificate as well as attract a summons. Where a light was installed under an authorization rather than by right, the authorization is the weak point: a volunteer firefighter's blue light authorization may be revoked at any time by the fire chief who issued it or a successor, a volunteer ambulance member's green light authorization by the service's chief officer, a mobile crisis team member's by the team director, and a crime patrol amber by the issuing police commissioner.

Revocation removes the legal basis for the light immediately, without any court proceeding. The Commissioner also holds rule-making power over colored lights under paragraph 6 and specific authority over the use, placement, power and display of blue lights on police, fire and tow hazard vehicles.