What colour flashing lights does a pilot vehicle have? What colour flashing lights does a pilot vehicle have?

  • A. Red

  • B. Red and blue

  • C. Yellow

  • D. Yellow or yellow and purple

  •  
    The correct answer is D
     
    The first pilot vehicle has yellow lights if it's a large load, or yellow and purple lights if it's a really large load (greater than 5m wide). The second one has yellow lights (less than 5m wide) with a sign that says wide load follows. The second pilot and a rear pilot on a load in excess of 5m has yellow and purple lights. Maintenance vehicles have flashing yellow lights, police vehicles have red and blue lights, and fire engines and ambulances have red lights.
     
 
 
 

Vehicle warning lights

Maintenance vehicle lights

Maintenance vehicles use orange flashing lights usually on the vehicle's cab, but in the case of larger vehicles they are often on the rear, too.

maintenance vehicle with flashing lights

Pilot vehicle lights

You can see in the video below that the vehicle behind the load (in this case, a house on the back of a truck), has flashing yellow and purple lights. The pilot vehicle in front of the load will have yellow and purple lights if the load is greater than 5m wide, or yellow lights if it's between 2.5 to 5m wide.

Police vehicle lights

Police motorbikes, vans and cars (including unmarked cars) have red and blue lights. You can see both police motorbikes and police cars in the video below.

Fire engine and ambulance lights

Fire engines and ambulances have red flashing lights.

Doctors on call

Doctors on call can use a flashing green light, although they aren't allowed to break the speed limit like emergency vehicles are. Not many doctors use them, and there is low public awareness of them. 

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