Why do police cars have red and blue lights and when did they start using these on their cars?

Question

Why do police cars have red and blue lights and when did they start using these on their cars?

Answer 1

Not all police cars have red AND blue. Some have red & white, blue & white, all red, or all blue. The colors used will depend on what the laws for the state the agency is located in require. For example in New York the color required for emergency vehicles is RED, with white & amber being optional extras. Blue is for volunteer firefighters, and green is for non-fire based volunteer EMS. Only recently has the law been modified to allow LE to use blue as an extra color to the REAR ONLY.

In other states LE runs blue ONLY, with white & amber as optional extras. In Texas any emergency vehicle- police, fire, ambulance, volunteer POVs can run red, blue, white, & amber.

For more info see-

http://www.policeposers.com/laws.php

- David