Why do police cars sometimes have their lights flashing but the siren is off?
In: Other
It’s a sliding scale of urgency. With the lightbar on but sirens off, an emergency vehicle can still be visible and slow traffic around them, but without the extra emphasis of, and attention attracted by, the sirens. I’d imagine an officer might do this when in a quiet residential area or when responding to a minor incident (e.g. fender bender, no injuries), or when they want to respond rapidly to criminal activity without tipping off the perps that they’re nearby.
Obligatory disclaimer: I’m not a police officer. I *am* an EMT and drive an ambulance; while I can’t claim to speak for officers and therefore I can’t claim my answer is accurate, I can tell you there’s a few situations in which *I’d* run lights-only, and conceptually my answer is based on that.
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