[adi.mariner]

Nowadays I have seen many vehicles having Blue and Red Flashing LED Lights either in the Front Grill or on the Dashboard. Are these for any official or police vehicles?

[revsperminute]

Glad someone brought this up. I was out driving at night about a month back. It was late at night, roads were empty and I gave it some. Nothing reckless, just some spirited driving. Suddenly an Ertiga pulled up behind me with these “cop lights” flashing its high beams. For a moment, I thought I’ll have to go through another pointless conversation with the police. Lo and behold, the Ertiga passes me with all windows down blasting rap music.


These lights cannot be legal for civilian vehicles. No way.

[Dark water]

The police are waiting for the sale of the lights to reach to an extent that the proposition of penalizing the owners becomes more profitable.
Usually only police beat vehicles sport these lights and they are a visual identification and distinction for such vehicles that also include pilot vehicles for ministers and other VIPs. Other people sporting them have to be illegal

[batish]

Originally Posted by adi.mariner

Nowadays I have seen many vehicles having Blue and Red Flashing LED Lights either in the Front Grill or on the Dashboard. Are these for any official or police vehicles?

Officially, No. These are strobe lights. Available at car accessory shops near you. What has happened is after the beacon ban, police have started using other lights but still they are on mounted on roof and not on the windshield or grill.

Ministers and other officials who legally cannot use it on roof, have started sticking these on their cars wherever they find the space to stick these, could be windshield, dashboard, or bumpers. Even these are illegal but we should keep in the mind the system we are in.

TLDR; Any official police vehicle will have their lights on roof, that is their identification.

[windrider]

I had a similar experience in Kerala a long time ago. Must have been towards the end of 2012. I had just purchased a new CB unicorn and used to take it out during the evenings to complete the engine run in on the old national highway 47, now NH544 that runs between Salem and Kochi. One night when I was riding on the highway, I heard a low volume emergency siren. On looking into my mirrors, I saw a pair of static red and blue lights fast approaching me. As most sections of the highway don't have streetlights, I couldn't make out what kind of vehicle was coming. I guessed it must be a badly maintained Maruti omni ambulance since these static lights were at headlight level and I didn't see any flashing lights on the roof or anywhere else. Anyway I quickly moved over to the side to let them pass. Imagine my shock when a convoy of 4 or 5 Mahindra pickups, carrying palm wine/toddy from Palakkad to different parts of Kerala flew past me These guys had fitted some small siren illegally and were using it to clear the path to reach their destination as soon as possible since toddy has to be consumed within a few hours after it is harvested. These guys don't have any fear of the law, since these mafias work hand in glove with law enforcement.

[TSIboy]

Originally Posted by windrider

These guys don't have any fear of the law, since these mafias work hand in glove with law enforcement.

Those toddy running pickups & that type of refrigerated trucks that carry fish are such a menace on Kerala roads while driving at night!! They drive so damn fast & bully everyone they can to overtake. Not to mention the blinding aux lights & never dipped high beams those trucks have.

[warrioraks]

Originally Posted by Dark water

The police are waiting for the sale of the lights to reach to an extent that the proposition of penalizing the owners becomes more profitable.

Not sure if this is sarcasm but the police in Delhi & Gurgaon actually applied this strategy for bullet bikes with loud silencers. After nearly everyone with a Royal Enfield had a custom exhaust, the cops woke up one day and made a killing in terms of revenue. The fine was 10k for non-stock silencers. So many bikers were caught unaware.

On a related topic of police like flash lights, I know few people who actually have installed a police like siren in their private car. Typically use them when stuck in jam to clear the way. It’s just a flick of a switch which activates or de-activates it. Since it is just an audio device in the car without any visible installation on the exterior, it is impossible to know about it based on visual inspection from outside. Our ingenious cops need to figure out a strategy to address this menace as well

[vredesbyrd]

What about dashboard flashers with are not red and blue?
What about the green ones or orange? Are those acceptable to use at night?