Good Question: When are police required to use their emergency lights?

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Today’s Good Question comes from a viewer who wanted to know if the lights and sirens you see from police are a requirement.

For today’s Good Question, Sean asks, when are police required to use their emergency lights?

The simplest answer is anytime they’re driving in a way that would ignore traffic laws.

KRS 189.940 has several parts, including when emergency vehicles can break traffic regulations. Those include emergency vehicles when responding to emergency calls, police vehicles when in pursuit, and ambulances when transporting a patient to medical care facilities

The law allows those vehicles to go through stop signs and red lights without coming to a complete stop, drive on the left side of the highway if normal lanes are blocked, and park in the road.

That law also says any driver using these options must illuminate their warning lights continuously and use their siren. One exception is if it’s an ambulance and that siren would be detrimental to a patient’s health.

That law also “does not relieve the driver of any emergency or public safety vehicle from the duty to drive with due regard for the safety of all persons and property upon the highway.”

It’s also possible local governments have additional regulations for when those lights and sirens should be used.

If you have a Good Question you’d like us to try to answer, send it to goodquestion@wkyt.com.

Copyright 2023 WKYT. All rights reserved.