{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-189.920","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 189.920","heading":"Flashing lights and sirens.","body":"(1) All fire department, rescue squad, or publicly owned emergency management\nagency emergency vehicles and all ambulances shall be equipped with one (1) or\nmore flashing, rotating, or oscillating red lights, visible under normal atmospheric\nconditions from a distance of five hundred (500) feet to the front of the vehicle, and\na siren, whistle, or bell, capable of emitting a sound audible under normal\nconditions from a distance of not less than five hundred (500) feet. This equipment\nshall be in addition to any other equipment required by the motor vehicle laws.\n(2) All state, county, or municipal police vehicles and all sheriffs' vehicles used as\nemergency vehicles shall be equipped with one (1) or more flashing, rotating, or\noscillating blue lights, visible un der normal atmospheric conditions from a distance\nof five hundred (500) feet to the front of the vehicle, and a siren, whistle, or bell,\ncapable of emitting a sound audible under normal conditions from a distance of not\nless than five hundred (500) feet. T his equipment shall be in addition to any other\nequipment required by the motor vehicle laws.\n(3) By ordinance, the governing body of any city or county may direct that the police or\nsheriffs' vehicles in that jurisdiction be equipped with a combination of red and blue\nflashing, rotating, or oscillating lights.\n(4) All public safety vehicles shall be equipped with one (1) or more flashing, rotating,\nor oscillating yellow lights, visible under normal atmospheric conditions from a\ndistance of five hundred (50 0) feet to the front of the vehicle. Yellow flashing,\nrotating, or oscillating lights may also be used by vehicles operated by mail carriers\nwhile on duty, funeral escort vehicles, and church buses.\n(5) All Department of Corrections vehicles used as emerge ncy vehicles shall be\nequipped with one (1) or more flashing, rotating, or oscillating blue lights, visible\nunder normal atmospheric conditions from a distance of five hundred (500) feet to\nthe front of the vehicle. The Department of Corrections vehicles s hall not be\nequipped with or use a siren, whistle, or bell. The equipment prescribed by this\nsubsection shall be in addition to any other equipment required by motor vehicle\nlaws.\n(6) (a) If authorized by the legislative body of a county, urban-county, charter county,\nconsolidated local government, or unified local government:\n1. All publicly owned county jail and regional jail vehicles used as\nemergency vehicles may be equipped with the one (1) or more flashing,\nrotating, or oscillating blue lights, visibl e under normal atmospheric\nconditions from a distance of five hundred (500) feet to the front of the\nvehicle; and\n2. An elected jailer or the chief administrator of a county or regional jail\nnot managed by an elected jailer may equip one (1) personally own ed\nvehicle with one (1) or more flashing, rotating, or oscillating blue lights,\nvisible under normal atmospheric conditions from a distance of five\nhundred (500) feet to the front of the vehicle.\n(b) Publicly owned county jail or regional jail vehicles sha ll not be equipped with\nor use a siren, whistle, or bell.\n(c) The equipment prescribed by this subsection shall be in addition to any other\nequipment required by the motor vehicle laws.\n(7) Red flashing lights may be used by school buses.\n(8) No emergency vehicle, public safety vehicle, or any other vehicle covered by KRS\n189.910 to 189.950 shall use any light of any other color than those specified by\nKRS 189.910 to 189.950. Sirens, whistles, and bells may not be used by vehicles\nother than those specified by KRS 189.910 to 189.950, except that any vehicle may\nbe equipped with a theft alarm signal device which is so arranged that it cannot be\nused by the driver as an ordinary warning signal.\n(9) Vehicles used as command posts at incidents may b e equipped with and use when\non scene, a green rotating, oscillating, or flashing light. This light shall be in\naddition to the lights and sirens required in this section.\n(10) A personal vehicle used by a paid or volunteer firefighter, ambulance personnel , or\nemergency services director who is responding to an emergency shall display the\nlights required in subsection (1) of this section.\n(11) An elected coroner may equip a publicly or privately owned motor vehicle, or both,\nwith flashing, rotating, or osci llating red and blue lights and a siren meeting the\nrequirements of this section solely for the purpose of responding to a report of the\ndeath of a human being subject to the following terms and conditions:\n(a) The coroner makes a written request to the le gislative body of the county,\nurban-county, charter county, consolidated local government, or unified local\ngovernment in which the coroner was elected to equip a publicly or privately\nowned motor vehicle, or both, with flashing, rotating, or oscillating r ed and\nblue lights and a siren meeting the requirements of this section, and that\nrequest is approved by the legislative body by ordinance or by court order;\n(b) The coroner may use the lights and siren only while responding to the scene of\nthe report of a  death of a human being and shall not, KRS 189.940 to the\ncontrary notwithstanding, exceed the posted speed limit; and\n(c) The permission granted pursuant to this section shall expire upon the coroner\nleaving office or the legislative body revoking the authorization.\n(12) A deputy coroner certified pursuant to KRS Chapter 72 may equip a publicly owned\nor privately owned motor vehicle, or both, with flashing, rotating, or oscillating red\nand blue lights and a siren meeting the requirements of this section so lely for the\npurpose of responding to a report of the death of a human being, subject to the\nfollowing terms and conditions:\n(a) The deputy coroner has made a written request to the coroner to equip a\npublicly owned or privately owned vehicle with flashing , rotating, or\noscillating red and blue lights meeting the requirements of this section and the\ncoroner has approved the request in writing;\n(b) The coroner makes a written request to the legislative body of the county,\nurban-county, charter county, consol idated local government, or unified local\ngovernment in which the coroner is elected to permit the deputy coroner to\nequip a publicly owned motor vehicle or privately owned motor vehicle, or\nboth, and that request has been approved by the legislative body by ordinance\nor by court order;\n(c) The deputy coroner may use the lights and siren only while responding to the\nscene of the report of the death of a human being and shall not, KRS 189.940\nto the contrary notwithstanding, exceed the posted speed limit; and\n(d) The permission granted pursuant to this section shall expire upon the coroner\nleaving office or the legislative body revoking the authorization.","path":["KRS Chapter 189"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=39895","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:51:44Z","sha256":"83e7346caa9d7cb8d438138677dd1393598f2bda28b4d9733a18c27d2c77b341","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-189.910","next":"us-ky/krs-189.930"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}