Cops suck, and then...

[VeedUp]

I do have to admit that here in LA the light bars are freaking bright! in WA the WSP bars were not nearly that bright and had other colors besides blue... and no one except leo could have a blue strobe(no construction vehicles like here)

construction vehicles don't have blue lights, you might be confusing the white strobes with blue.

 

[MOTOR51]

There was def a construction guy on I12 with blue but he was warned and does not use them anymore. He had more blue than the units sitting in the construction zone.

 

[cajun_64]

And it's a fine line between too bright and not bright enough. Our old bar lights were hard to see in the daytime so we upgraded and now they are way bright at night. Guess its better to be seen, and if the law is followed you are suppose to slow down and move to the opposite lane if possible. If that is done then its really not that big of a deal.

Even if you move over in the next lane and slow down, You gotta admit, those lights are fierce in the middle of the night on a country road. I understand you guys want to and need to be seen. I am just not sure patially blinding people driving up near you is the safest thing either.


With my Astigmatism, I see spots for days!

Question for you guys, If someone else is on the road at night with lights shining in peoples eyes enough to create a hazzard, what would you do?

 

[alpinehyperlite]

There was def a construction guy on I12 with blue but he was warned and does not use them anymore. He had more blue than the units sitting in the construction zone.

Small black dodge p/u with blue bar in rear window?

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Even if you move over in the next lane and slow down, You gotta admit, those lights are fierce in the middle of the night on a country road. I understand you guys want to and need to be seen. I am just not sure patially blinding people driving up near you is the safest thing either.

I try and use my directionals in the rear as often as I can. The slower pattern (than the random flashing pattern) seems to be more bearable.

 

[Cat]

And it's a fine line between too bright and not bright enough. Our old bar lights were hard to see in the daytime so we upgraded and now they are way bright at night. Guess its better to be seen, and if the law is followed you are suppose to slow down and move to the opposite lane if possible. If that is done then its really not that big of a deal.

Well, to be honest it was taught in drivers Ed to avert your eyes, look towards the shoulder, keeping the road in your peripheral vision, and reduce your speed etc.

So dealing with light blindness IS covered. I was just being a smartass.

They are bright though.

 

[Cat]

I just pray to the vehicle gods there aren't any yellow led bars on some trucks. The red/yellow spectrum gives me very bad halos and star bursts after my LASIK. It has improved drastically but still hard to maneuver through a construction zone at night.

 

[JNieman]

I try and use my directionals in the rear as often as I can. The slower pattern (than the random flashing pattern) seems to be more bearable.

I agree with that and thank you for being one that helps!! Those 'aggressive' lights are horrendous at night. I have an astigmatism as well, and it can cause the lighters to appear larger and brighter than they normally do. For instance, a 4MOA Aimpoint reticle will be roughly 2-3x wider than it should be, in a semi-horizontal smear. It's why I have to be an EOTech guy, despite liking the physical form of the AP Micros more. Those cop lights get to hassling my eyes in a similar way. I cope, but it makes me nervous that I won't see something darting out from the direction of the lights because it makes a bit of a 'blind spot' where the lights are coming from - which is kind of the opposite of the point of them being on.

My vision is nothing that would require a restrictive license, I've found. Just those damned lights. It's the only thing I've come across that causes me problems. I get through everything safely - I just worry about reaction time. Kind of like trying to find a fly-ball amid the sunlight in a softball game.

But yes, the slower lights are much more tolerable and don't induce as much of an 'attack' on the eyes.

 

[cajun_64]

I agree with that and thank you for being one that helps!! Those 'aggressive' lights are horrendous at night. I have an astigmatism as well, and it can cause the lighters to appear larger and brighter than they normally do. For instance, a 4MOA Aimpoint reticle will be roughly 2-3x wider than it should be, in a semi-horizontal smear. It's why I have to be an EOTech guy, despite liking the physical form of the AP Micros more. Those cop lights get to hassling my eyes in a similar way. I cope, but it makes me nervous that I won't see something darting out from the direction of the lights because it makes a bit of a 'blind spot' where the lights are coming from - which is kind of the opposite of the point of them being on.

My vision is nothing that would require a restrictive license, I've found. Just those damned lights. It's the only thing I've come across that causes me problems. I get through everything safely - I just worry about reaction time. Kind of like trying to find a fly-ball amid the sunlight in a softball game.

But yes, the slower lights are much more tolerable and don't induce as much of an 'attack' on the eyes.

Same for me. And I too appreciate how some do things that help. I never knew what it was, but could always tell that some were alot easier on my eyes than others. I know there are times when they won't have time to do little things like that. I would just hate to cause any more problems for that officer to deal with, much less hit with my mirrors or some such. JMHO

 

[DBMJR1]

And it's a fine line between too bright and not bright enough. Our old bar lights were hard to see in the daytime so we upgraded and now they are way bright at night. Guess its better to be seen, and if the law is followed you are suppose to slow down and move to the opposite lane if possible. If that is done then its really not that big of a deal.

They are LED's You can control the frequency that they strobe at, effectively dimming them. Why not tie them to a photo cell so that they are uber blinding bright during the day, but not blinding us older drivers, to the point of causing us to crash into bridge embankments, at night?

I try and use my directionals in the rear as often as I can. The slower pattern (than the random flashing pattern) seems to be more bearable.

Thank you for recognizing a problem and trying to mitigate it with what you have at your disposal. You need better tools.

 

[XD-GEM]

A friend of mine is a cop with severe dyslexia.

His dyslexia is so bad that on his personal vehicle, he put a bumper sticker that's a blue rectangle with a black line on it.

 

[Bayoupiper]

Why is it that some cops cannot resist the urge to equip their personal vehicle with more lights and hardware than their issued vehicle?




.

 

[JR1572]

Why is it that some cops cannot resist the urge to equip their personal vehicle with more lights and hardware than their issued vehicle?




.

Remember this: the amount of lights in a police vehicle is inversely proportional to the amount of work the user of that vehicle does.

Police lights in a POV: that's a recipe for disaster.

JR1572

 

[returningliberty]

Remember this: the amount of lights in a police vehicle is inversely proportional to the amount of work the user of that vehicle does.

Police lights in a POV: that's a recipe for disaster.

JR1572

We've got one guy who heads up the dive team here, and he's got lights in his POV. Since he runs a dive shop in BR I can totally understand why he might want the lights.

I go to school in Hammond, and there's been once or twice I would have Liked to race in to work to help out, but I'm not in charge of anything so I really don't see why I (or any other officer not responsible for others) would need some.

 

[jmcrawf1]

We've got one guy who heads up the dive team here, and he's got lights in his POV. Since he runs a dive shop in BR I can totally understand why he might want the lights.

I go to school in Hammond, and there's been once or twice I would have Liked to race in to work to help out, but I'm not in charge of anything so I really don't see why I (or any other officer not responsible for others) would need some.

There isn't a statute in LA that protects a pov vehicle as an emergency vehicle. Emergency lighting in POV's is ridiculous.

 

[returningliberty]

There isn't a statute in LA that protects a pov vehicle as an emergency vehicle. Emergency lighting in POV's is ridiculous.

I have No idea about any statute that regulates lights in any vehicle, so I'll take your word on that. No clue.

 

[JR1572]

I have No idea about any statute that regulates lights in any vehicle, so I'll take your word on that. No clue.

32:318

You need to brush up on your traffic laws. Don't worry, they'll go over those with you in the academy.

JR1572

 

[jmcrawf1]

I have No idea about any statute that regulates lights in any vehicle, so I'll take your word on that. No clue.

Uh yea. You can't just be flicking on lights and blowing red lights all willy nilly.

 

[returningliberty]

32:318

You need to brush up on your traffic laws. Don't worry, they'll go over those with you in the academy.

JR1572

Thanks. I'm not going to say anything negative about my office, but I'm really looking forward to POST in a big way.

 

[JNieman]

I didn't know any cop even put emergency lights in their personal vehicle. I guess I'd never seen it in use, if so. The only personal vehicles I've seen with lights are fire fighter types. I can't think that I saw an obviously-private vehicle with blue lights. Who does that?