I do not mean this in a nasty way. But my husband is colorblind and that is the sort of color that he frequently has trouble with. Is it possible that the OP has some form of color blindness that makes him see it as red? Because I have almost perfect color vision and I see it as violet, but the best my DH could do was "some kind of blue, maybe reddish blue?"
There are 50 states for a reason; we don't expect or want them all to be the same. I used to live in PA and it has some of the most antiquated laws and customs I've seen of any place I've lived. Wouldn't want the state I live now to regress to the way PA does things. But some people love PA. Different strokes for different folks.![]()
I drive for Lyft sometimes. After I logged 300 rides they sent me their "amp" the light you are talking about. It changes many colors but not red or blue. I used it for a few nights but I found it distracting so it stays in the glovebox now.
There has been a trend in CA of moving patrol officers away from most traffic enforcement. Aside from the CHP whose primary function IS traffic enforcement, with dwindling resources, many agencies in CA have restricted or even prohibited patrol officers from conducting traffic enforcement for equipment violations. Some agencies even discourage their officers from stopping vehicles for movers unless they endanger someone else.
As for the blue tinted lights, the courts have ruled that those halogen lights are not blue insofar as the CVC is concerned. When they first appeared in the 90s, we stopped them all the time. The courts decided the matter for the police.
I've never confused a Lyft light with a cop's or fire fighter's light. The color of the Lyft lights to me is not close to red; it is very distinctly pink or violet. Moreover, in this city, there are no volunteer firefighters, and fire vehicles have tons of very bright flashing red lights on them. All the marked police cars use light bars on the top that flash a combination of very bright red, white and blue lights that are also very distinct. Undercover cop cars are equipped with flashing red/blue lights hidden in the front grille. In all events, they have more than one light, all of which are much brighter than the Lyft light and are flashing. So here I don't see the Lyft lights as a problem.
I've not lived in California to know what you'd see there. If you were in a major city, I'd expect it would be similar to what I see. Rural areas where you have volunteer fire fighters or cops using their personal cars from time to time maybe it wouldn't be as distinct. In my state, even those folks use a flashing red light that they toss up on their dash or on the top of their car when responding to emergencies.
I've never remotely mistaken a Lyft light for police red.
Lucubrate, I seriously doubt you are going to get any traction on this issue with the local police, but as I mentioned, you can certainly call and ask to speak to someone about the issue and your concerns.
CHAPTER 4. Windshields and Mirrors [26700 - 26712] ( Chapter 4 enacted by Stats. 1959, Ch. 3. )
26708.
(a) (1) A person shall not drive any motor vehicle with any object or material placed, displayed, installed, affixed, or applied upon the windshield or side or rear windows.
(2) A person shall not drive any motor vehicle with any object or material placed, displayed, installed, affixed, or applied in or upon the vehicle that obstructs or reduces the driver’s clear view through the windshield or side windows.
(3) This subdivision applies to a person driving a motor vehicle with the driver’s clear vision through the windshield, or side or rear windows, obstructed by snow or ice.
(b) This section does not apply to any of the following:
(1) Rearview mirrors.
(2) Adjustable nontransparent sunvisors that are mounted forward of the side windows and are not attached to the glass.
(3) Signs, stickers, or other materials that are displayed in a seven-inch square in the lower corner of the windshield farthest removed from the driver, signs, stickers, or other materials that are displayed in a seven-inch square in the lower corner of the rear window farthest removed from the driver, or signs, stickers, or other materials that are displayed in a five-inch square in the lower corner of the windshield nearest the driver.
Aren't the signs in violation of this code?