NY State Police testing new vertical light bars on vehicles

Police1 Staff

NEW YORK — The New York State Police has modified the light bars on top of their police cruisers to make emergency vehicles more noticeable.

WHEC reports the new light bars sit both horizontally and vertically atop police vehicles. The goal is to make vehicles more noticeable, especially from the side of the road, so drivers have more time to move over.

“It’s incredibly dangerous on the side of the roadway and most of the people don’t have any idea because they’ve never been on the side of the road and if they have it’s only been for moments,” Trooper Mark O’Donnell told WHEC. “But the police officers, the firefighters, the EMS people...their 8 to 12-hour shift is in the roadway or on the side of the road, so give us a break.”

NYSP plans to test the new lights to see if they impact driver behavior and emergency vehicle safety, WHEC reports.

O’Donnell couldn’t say how long NYSP is planning to test the impact of the new light bars or how much they’ll cost.

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