STATE OF OKLAHOMA

2nd Session of the 54th Legislature (2014)

HOUSE BILL 2721	By:	Banz

AS INTRODUCED

An Act relating to motor vehicles; permitting use of certain emergency lights on volunteer firefighter vehicles; authorizing local fire chief to determine use of lights; mandating transport of signed authorization; requiring certain visibility of lights; amending 47 O.S. 2011, Section 12-227, which relates to special restrictions on lamps and illuminating devices; adding an exception to certain prohibited act; providing for codification; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 12-218.3 of Title 47, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A volunteer firefighter may equip a privately owned vehicle with emergency flashing red or white lights or a combination of flashing red and white lights subject to the authorization of the local fire chief.  The chief of the local fire department shall have the sole discretion in designating and allowing volunteer firefighters, if any, to use emergency flashing lighting during an emergency.  The authorization shall include a signed, written statement of use by the volunteer firefighter from the local fire chief and shall be carried in the vehicle of the volunteer firefighter at any time the emergency flashing lighting is in use.  The lights shall be visible at five hundred (500) feet in normal sunlight.
SECTION 2.     AMENDATORY     47 O.S. 2011, Section 12-227, is amended to read as follows:
Section 12-227.  A.  Any lighted lamp or illuminating device upon a motor vehicle, other than headlamps, spot lamps, auxiliary driving lamps, flashing turn signals, vehicular hazard warning lamps, authorized emergency vehicle lamps, snow removal and construction and maintenance vehicle warning lamps, and school bus and church bus warning lamps, which projects a beam of light of an intensity greater than three hundred (300) candlepower shall be so directed that no part of the high intensity portion of the beam will strike the level of the roadway on which the vehicle stands at a distance of more than seventy-five (75) feet from the vehicle.
B.  Except as provided in Sections 12-218, 12-218.1, 12-228, and 12-229 of this title and Section 1 of this act, no person shall drive or move any vehicle or equipment upon any highway with any lamp or device thereon displaying or capable of displaying a red or blue light visible from directly in front of the center thereof.
C.  Flashing lights are prohibited except on:
1.  An authorized emergency vehicle, as provided in Section 12-218 of this title;
2.  A school bus or a church bus, as provided in Section 12-228 of this title;
3.  Any snow-removal and construction, and maintenance equipment, as provided in Section 12-229 of this title;
4.  A wrecker or tow vehicle while at the scene of an emergency or loading or unloading a vehicle in close proximity to traffic as needed for safety precautions or as a means of indicating the presence of a vehicular traffic hazard requiring unusual care in approaching, overtaking or passing, as provided in Section 12-218.1 of this title;
5.  Any vehicle as a means of indicating a right or left turn, as provided in Sections 12-206.1 and 12-606 of this title;
6.  Any vehicle as means of indicating the presence of a vehicular traffic hazard requiring unusual care in approaching, overtaking or passing, as provided in Section 12-220 of this title;
7.  Any vehicle displaying side marker lamps which flash in conjunction with turn signal lamps or vehicle hazard warning lamps, as provided in Section 12-220 of this title;
8.  A farm tractor or an implement of husbandry, as provided in Section 12-215 of this title; or
9.  Any vehicle used while performing official duties as a rural or contract route mail carrier of the United States Postal Service, as provided in Section 12-218.2 of this title; or
10.  Any vehicle of a volunteer firefighter that is used to respond to an emergency, as provided in Section 1 of this act.
D.  Blue lights are prohibited except as allowed in Sections 12-218, 12-218.1, and 12-229 of this title.
E.  Any person violating the provisions of subsection B, C or D of this section shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six (6) months, or by a fine not exceeding Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00), or by both such fine and imprisonment.
SECTION 3.  This act shall become effective November 1, 2014.

54-2-9002	AMM	12/26/13