I wasn’t surprised by the amount of reader interest in the story about Pennsylvania State Police issuing warnings to firefighters for illegal lights mounted inside their vehicles. Since that story came out, I’ve been trying to put my head into that peculiar-looking trooper hat to see the world as they do.
No luck. I tried, really, I did.
I’m not buying the argument that there’s a public safety threat if civilians somehow mistake a volunteer firefighter’s POV with interior-mounted lights for unmarked or undercover police vehicles.
In fact, I’m not buying that the general public even makes that mistake. Most unmarked police units are the same make and model as marked vehicles. And undercover cars are unlikely to be tricked out with lights, because, well, they’re undercover.
The notion that firefighters would be impersonating police is unlikely, though not without precedent.
I know there are incidents of young firefighters using their lights to pull motorists over or commit other missteps — like the guy who used his to make faster pizza deliveries. However, I’m sure that this behavior is not rampant or of epidemic proportion.
So, what’s the deal in Pennsylvania?
We can speculate that it’s a fairly local issue given how big the state is and how the warnings seemed to be concentrated around the Pittsburgh area.
Added burden
What I can say for sure is that this is a bad law and that laws like it may exist in other states. Many of those who commented on the story were unsure of the exact language of their state’s courtesy light law.
Requiring exterior-only courtesy lights places undue financial burden on firefighters having to buy, mount and wire more expensive light bars. And as many readers pointed out, this will decrease the value of the firefighter’s vehicle.
There are enough legitimate barriers to recruiting and retaining volunteers without this added burden.
In the past five years, LED technology has advanced to the point where a small dashboard light can be bought for less than $100. They are plenty bright, and even a simpleton like me can figure out how plug it into the auxiliary power port.
The story has reopened discussion on the value and proper use of courtesy lights by volunteers. When used right, they can aid a firefighter getting to the station quicker and delineate their vehicle if they respond directly to a scene, as some must.
Know your law
I’m in favor of allowing the lights, but with the understanding that they are used sparingly and with extreme caution. Many aspects of firefighting require firefighters to make mature and responsible decisions — navigating traffic is one of those, and we can handle it.
However, I’m not in favor of law enforcement using an outdated law to get at someone’s pet peeve, if that’s what’s going on in the Pittsburgh area.
While the reaction from readers didn’t surprise me, the reaction from the firefighters who were warned did. I would like to see more push back from the fire service. And if they are being conciliatory in front of the cameras and pushing back hard behind the scenes, all the better.
However, taking a “that’s the law and we’ll follow it” position is not the right response.
Again, this is a bad law based on suspect reasoning. There is some effort at the statehouse level to partially change it, but that will take time.
That effort needs to be supported, and in the interim, the police need to stop enforcing the law — dumb laws go unenforced all the time, just look at those archaic laws governing what consenting adults can and cannot do in the bedroom.
Take the time to review your state’s courtesy light law. And if it’s a dumb law, get on the horn to a friendly lawmaker to get it fixed.
