New York State Police - Ridiculous & Expensive Lighting Adaptations

While Sympathy for all those working on and in the roadways, the recurring failure to recognize: small, poorly designed, improperly maintained& overcrowded roadways combined with distracted drivers will result in more accidents for highway workers and stranded motorists. Entities can buy more and more lights while complaining as to their cost while chasing unicorn technology claimed as better, the result will be the status quo.

WHERE IS THE NYSP STUDY?

Overview
As soon as you see lights, vests or reflectors, check traffic around you, SLOW DOWN and MOVE OVER if safe to do so.

Effective January 1, 2012, the New York State Move Over Law protects law enforcement officers, emergency workers, tow and service vehicle operators and other maintenance workers stopped along roadways while performing their duties.

Drivers must use due care when approaching an emergency vehicle that displays red or any combination of red, white or blue emergency lighting or a hazard vehicle displaying flashing amber lighting, or a vehicle displaying blue or green lighting:
On all roads and highways, drivers must reduce speed;
On Parkways and other controlled access highways with multiple lanes, when approaching an emergency vehicle that displays red or any combination of red, white or blue emergency lighting, or a hazard vehicle displaying flashing amber lighting, or a vehicle displaying blue or green lighting, drivers must move from the lane immediately adjacent to the emergency or hazard vehicle, unless traffic or other hazards exist to prevent doing so safely.

Penalties:
Violations of this law are punishable as a moving violation.

NY State Police testing new vertical light bars on vehicles
The vertical lights are designed to increase visibility so drivers have more time to move over Dec 16, 2019

NEW YORK — The New York State Police has modified the light bars on top of their police cruisers to make emergency vehicles more noticeable.

WHEC/News 10 reports the new light bars sit both horizontally and vertically atop police vehicles. The goal is to make vehicles more noticeable, especially from the side of the road, so drivers have more time to move over.

"It's incredibly dangerous on the side of the roadway and most of the people don't have any idea because they've never been on the side of the road and if they have it's only been for moments,” Trooper Mark O’Donnell told WHEC. “But the police officers, the firefighters, the EMS people...their 8 to 12-hour shift is in the roadway or on the side of the road, so give us a break."

NYSP plans to test the new lights to see if they impact driver behavior and emergency vehicle safety, WHEC/News 10 reports.

O'Donnell couldn't say how long NYSP is planning to test the impact of the new light bars or how much they'll cost.