Police Lights, emergency lights, warning lights, fire truck lights, whatever you call them, most people are referring to the flashing lights usually found on emergency vehicles such as police cars, fire trucks, ambulances and rescue vehicles. Emergency vehicle lighting is a diverse field consisting of various lighting technologies. These include the use of incandescent & halogen lights, strobe lights and now, LED lights. Almost every emergency vehicle warning light manufacturer now offer products based on one or more of these technologies. Doing so accommodates different needs and different budgets as well as trying to out perform the competition. The best part of the equation is the environmental savings led emergency lights provide.



Since the early days of the automobile, there has been a need to use vehicles for emergency services. The cars and trucks which we used have evolved and so has the emergency vehicle lighting, from simple flashing lights or rotating beacons on the roof, to full length light bars that can span the entire width of a fire truck or heavy duty wrecker. And with the evolution of the light emitting diode, full size lightbars have gone undercover. LED interior lightbars are now being installed inside the police car behind the windshield or on the rear deck. This was unheard of just a few years ago. As with computers, police car lights have grown smaller along with growing in brightness and clarity due to the unique nature of LEDs.

Now, LEDs can be found in almost every emergency vehicle lighting product that is available. And because they generate less heat and require less space than strobe or halogen lights, they have greatly increased light output while consuming less energy. Because of this, there are several factors in which led emergency lights benefit our environment. First, most led lightbars generally have a very low profile. Compared to the roof mounted lightbars from even five years ago, the aerodynamic efficiencies are exponential. No longer do police cars and other emergency vehicles have to drag around a “parachute" on the roof. The older style halogen and strobe lightbars were very tall and therefore created a lot of wind resistance. Low profile led lightbars are so thin, that their effect on the overall drag coefficient of a vehicle is next to nil. LED undercover lightbars and LED dash lights which mount inside the vehicle, directly behind the windshield, now offer the ability to have full size warning without any increase in wind resistance outside of the vehicle. The reduction in drag, multiplied by the hundreds of thousands of police cars, ambulances, tow trucks, etc. on the road every day, translates into a huge reduction of carbon emissions. Less fuel is required to operate the vehicle and therefore, not only are emissions reduced but fuel consumption is reduced which reduces operating costs.

Secondly, the energy required to operate and led emergency vehicle warning light has been drastically reduced. Incandescent and/or halogen lightbars would draw upwards of 30 amps or more for a fully loaded unit. Now a completely decked out low profile led lightbar draws less than ten or twelve amps on average. What this means is that the vehicle’s engine is no longer devoting substantial energy to generate the electricity through the alternator. Again, less power consumption translates into the use of less fuel and therefore less greenhouse gas emissions, not to mention less heat generated as well. It is a big win all the way around.

The next time you spot an emergency vehicle on the side of the road with their warning lights on, chances are, you’ll be looking at the latest generation of led lighting technology. Whether it’s a lightbar, deck light, or traffic director, led’s have completely revolutionized the emergency vehicle warning equipment industry as well as our emergency services by making emergency vehicles brighter, more visible, more aerodynamic and more fuel efficient. For more information, visit Responder PSE’s Police Car Lights website.