Bill Text: FL S1158 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Motor Vehicle Lights and Signals
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2019-05-03 - Died in Infrastructure and Security, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/HB 1057 (Ch. 2019-92) [S1158 Detail]
Download: Florida-2019-S1158-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2019 SB 1158
By Senator Gainer
2-01604-19 20191158__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to motor vehicle lights and signals;
3 amending s. 316.235, F.S.; authorizing any motor
4 vehicle to be equipped with certain lamps or devices
5 under certain circumstances; amending s. 316.2397,
6 F.S.; authorizing certain vehicles to display red and
7 white lights; amending s. 316.2398, F.S.; authorizing
8 certain vehicles to display red and white warning
9 signals under certain circumstances; providing
10 requirements and penalties; amending s. 316.224, F.S.;
11 conforming a cross-reference; providing an effective
12 date.
13
14 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
15
16 Section 1. Present subsections (3) through (6) of section
17 316.235, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (4)
18 through (7), respectively, and a new subsection (3) is added to
19 that section, to read:
20 316.235 Additional lighting equipment.—
21 (3) Any motor vehicle may be equipped with one or more
22 lamps or devices underneath the motor vehicle as long as such
23 lamps or devices do not emit light in violation of s.
24 316.2397(1) or (7) or s. 316.238.
25 Section 2. Subsections (1) and (3) and paragraph (c) of
26 subsection (7) of section 316.2397, Florida Statutes, are
27 amended to read:
28 316.2397 Certain lights prohibited; exceptions.—
29 (1) A No person may not shall drive or move or cause to be
30 moved any vehicle or equipment upon any highway within this
31 state with any lamp or device thereon showing or displaying a
32 red, red and white, or blue light visible from directly in front
33 thereof except for certain vehicles hereinafter provided in this
34 section.
35 (3) Vehicles of the fire department and fire patrol,
36 including vehicles of volunteer firefighters as permitted under
37 s. 316.2398, may show or display red or red and white lights.
38 Vehicles of medical staff physicians or technicians of medical
39 facilities licensed by the state as authorized under s.
40 316.2398, ambulances as authorized under this chapter, and buses
41 and taxicabs as authorized under s. 316.2399 may show or display
42 red lights. Vehicles of the fire department, fire patrol, police
43 vehicles, and such ambulances and emergency vehicles of
44 municipal and county departments, public service corporations
45 operated by private corporations, the Fish and Wildlife
46 Conservation Commission, the Department of Environmental
47 Protection, the Department of Transportation, the Department of
48 Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the Department of
49 Corrections as are designated or authorized by their respective
50 department or the chief of police of an incorporated city or any
51 sheriff of any county may operate emergency lights and sirens in
52 an emergency. Wreckers, mosquito control fog and spray vehicles,
53 and emergency vehicles of governmental departments or public
54 service corporations may show or display amber lights when in
55 actual operation or when a hazard exists provided they are not
56 used going to and from the scene of operation or hazard without
57 specific authorization of a law enforcement officer or law
58 enforcement agency. Wreckers must use amber rotating or flashing
59 lights while performing recoveries and loading on the roadside
60 day or night, and may use such lights while towing a vehicle on
61 wheel lifts, slings, or under reach if the operator of the
62 wrecker deems such lights necessary. A flatbed, car carrier, or
63 rollback may not use amber rotating or flashing lights when
64 hauling a vehicle on the bed unless it creates a hazard to other
65 motorists because of protruding objects. Further, escort
66 vehicles may show or display amber lights when in the actual
67 process of escorting overdimensioned equipment, material, or
68 buildings as authorized by law. Vehicles owned or leased by
69 private security agencies may show or display green and amber
70 lights, with either color being no greater than 50 percent of
71 the lights displayed, while the security personnel are engaged
72 in security duties on private or public property.
73 (7) Flashing lights are prohibited on vehicles except:
74 (c) For the lamps authorized under subsections (1), (2),
75 (3), (4), and (9), s. 316.2065, or s. 316.235(6) s. 316.235(5)
76 which may flash.
77 Section 3. Section 316.2398, Florida Statutes, is amended
78 to read:
79 316.2398 Display or use of red or red and white warning
80 signals; motor vehicles of volunteer firefighters or medical
81 staff.—
82 (1) A privately owned vehicle belonging to an active
83 firefighter member of a regularly organized volunteer
84 firefighting company or association, while en route to the fire
85 station for the purpose of proceeding to the scene of a fire or
86 other emergency or while en route to the scene of a fire or
87 other emergency in the line of duty as an active firefighter
88 member of a regularly organized firefighting company or
89 association, may display or use red or red and white warning
90 signals. or A privately owned vehicle belonging to a medical
91 staff physician or technician of a medical facility licensed by
92 the state, while responding to an emergency in the line of duty,
93 may display or use red warning signals. Warning signals must be
94 visible from the front and from the rear of such vehicle,
95 subject to the following restrictions and conditions:
96 (a) No more than two red or red and white warning signals
97 may be displayed.
98 (b) No inscription of any kind may appear across the face
99 of the lens of the red or red and white warning signal.
100 (c) In order for an active volunteer firefighter to display
101 such red or red and white warning signals on his or her vehicle,
102 the volunteer firefighter must first secure a written permit
103 from the chief executive officers of the firefighting
104 organization to use the red or red and white warning signals,
105 and this permit must be carried by the volunteer firefighter at
106 all times while the red or red and white warning signals are
107 displayed.
108 (2) A It is unlawful for any person who is not an active
109 firefighter member of a regularly organized volunteer
110 firefighting company or association or a physician or technician
111 of the medical staff of a medical facility licensed by the state
112 may not to display on any motor vehicle owned by him or her, at
113 any time, any red or red and white warning signals as described
114 in subsection (1).
115 (3) It is unlawful for An active volunteer firefighter may
116 not to operate any red or red and white warning signals as
117 authorized in subsection (1), except while en route to the fire
118 station for the purpose of proceeding to the scene of a fire or
119 other emergency, or while at or en route to the scene of a fire
120 or other emergency, in the line of duty.
121 (4) It is unlawful for A physician or technician of the
122 medical staff of a medical facility may not to operate any red
123 warning signals as authorized in subsection (1), except when
124 responding to an emergency in the line of duty.
125 (5) A violation of this section is a nonmoving violation,
126 punishable as provided in chapter 318. In addition, a any
127 volunteer firefighter who violates this section shall be
128 dismissed from membership in the firefighting organization by
129 the chief executive officers thereof.
130 Section 4. Subsection (3) of section 316.224, Florida
131 Statutes, is amended to read:
132 316.224 Color of clearance lamps, identification lamps,
133 side marker lamps, backup lamps, reflectors, and deceleration
134 lights.—
135 (3) All lighting devices and reflectors mounted on the rear
136 of any vehicle shall display or reflect a red color, except the
137 stop light or other signal device, which may be red, amber, or
138 yellow, and except that the light illuminating the license plate
139 shall be white and the light emitted by a backup lamp shall be
140 white or amber. Deceleration lights as authorized by s.
141 316.235(6) s. 316.235(5) shall display an amber color.
142 Section 5. This act shall take effect October 1, 2019.
