Lightbars!?! Whats the deal?

[Jake Tyson]

Ok everyone, i am new, so please consider that if i am asking a question that has been here before. anyways

I have noticed alot of you talking about lightbars, some in good ways and some in bad. I am just wondering, what caused the problem, whats the deal and why is it such a problem.

(PS: I do not have one and dont plan to)



Also, to help chasers who do have them, what is a proper way to use a lightbar, and when are they approiate?

 

[Marcus Hicks]

The biggest issue is that they are not needed totally misused in many cases and serve no real purpose other than saying "Look at me" I personaly do not care and to each his own. How ever others will have differing views. On a lighter note The do look really cool on some vehicles

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

For me, my dislike of lightbars came from an early childhood alien abduction. All sorts of flashing lights then, and subsequent bad memories of probes and whatnot. Since then, lightbars on chases just give me flashbacks.

 

[Ric Burney]

I'm all for having a single beacon, mag mount emergency light (amber) in case of true emergency but a full lightbar is totally unnecessary for chasing or anything else unless you are driving a true emergency vehicle. I have a single beacon dash laser.. lives in a box in the back where its been for a very long time.

 

[Chris Nuttall]

The controversy is because some chasers abuse the use of lightbars. Some people view it as impersonating an emergency vehicle because to the average public driver, if they see flashing lights in the rear view mirror, they pull over. Some chasers think that lightbar-users have it in their minds that they are "emergency vehicles" when most of them are not. Some chasers also view it as nothing but a "Here look at me. This isn't really needed, but I want the attention!" type of thing. There's also some issues with the various laws surrounding the use of emergency lights.

I personally don't have a problem with lightbars (if used properly), but I don't really think they are necessary. That said, I used to have a rotating amber in the rear window of my old car. I only used it when pulled over near dark or in low visibility. I used it simply as a supplement to my flashing hazards.

 

[Bart_Comstock]

The controversy is because some chasers abuse the use of lightbars.

Yeah, like take my set up for next year...

This is a good example of what is acceptable with light bars. Now lets say I had put on 10 instead of 8 light bars or I had one one the rear quarter panels, then that would be unacceptable abuse.

 

[Jason Boggs]

Ok everyone, i am new, so please consider that if i am asking a question that has been here before. anyways

I have noticed alot of you talking about lightbars, some in good ways and some in bad. I am just wondering, what caused the problem, whats the deal and why is it such a problem.

(PS: I do not have one and dont plan to)



Also, to help chasers who do have them, what is a proper way to use a lightbar, and when are they approiate?

Jake, read the other 10 million threads on the subject. When you get through next year, you'll know all about them, and then more.

 

[Wes Carter]

Jake,

You might not get a lot of answers on this thread. You will probably get an animated GIF or two of someone flogging a horse on the ground among other things. If you want to understand the history of lightbars on Stormtrack, read through these threads which are a small sample of the whole lightbar debate. After reading through them I cannot think of anything original or clever to add, so I'll just leave you with these links. (And by the way, go down just to the left of where it says, "Welcome, Jake Tyson" on the page menu bar and click on the Search link and enter "lightbar" to get even more threads. I just cherry picked a few.)

Lightbar thread #1
Lightbar thread #2
Lightbar thread #3
Lightbar thread #4
Lightbar thread #5
Lightbar thread #6
Lightbar thread #7
Lightbar thread #8

 

[Jake Tyson]

thanks wes, and im sorry for starting a newthread, i did use search but in all honesty i got exahusted after reading a few pages out of a few threads.

 

[David Drummond]

Jake,

You might not get a lot of answers on this thread. You will probably get an animated GIF or two of someone flogging a horse on the ground among other things.

I'm running out of space, where will I mount all these?

 

[Mikel Shively]

Do I win the pool? I was just thinking that when someone mentioned the word lightbar that there would be a thread about it shortly. Although admittedly, I thought it might have been a little longer.

 

[Joshua Nall]

thanks wes, and im sorry for starting a newthread, i did use search but in all honesty i got exahusted after reading a few pages out of a few threads.

I wouldn't be sorry... I get exhausted to, hate reading old threads. I don't have time to read all the new ones. I did not join a forum to read old threads. If a topic comes up that I haven't participated in before, I want to participate.

My extended family and I have had Sunday lunch together since I can remember. When lunch is over folks sit around and talk. I have taken an active part for 15 years or so. If every time a subject was brought up, some one said... "no wait we can't talk about that, we talked about that last year" there wouldn't be near as much discussion going on. I hear what everyone's saying who has been here a while, but that annoys me way more than hearing things talked about 10 times. There is this attitude of "listen to me, I been here forever and we already talked about that so you stupid boy, do a search" No wonder there are some hard feelings among the newbs on here. And by the way, I have no problem with the word, it's the way its used.

I hate flashing lights coming up behind me, whether its lightbars or flashers, and not knowing what to do. If your just doing what I'm doing I dang sure ain't pulling over. How do I know? That's about my only complaint. What it makes me, and others probably, want to do is ignore the lights. But what if it's someone with a real emergency? It's being deceptive, people see lights and pull over, when really they are not under any obligation to pull over for someone wanting to speed to get to a storm. So Jake, that is my personal problem with them.

 

[rdale]

If every time a subject was brought up, some one said... "no wait we can't talk about that, we talked about that last year" there wouldn't be near as much discussion going on.

Are you adding something new when you have those family conversations? Or do you say the SAME THING OVER AND OVER AND OVER? So far all of these threads have not added to the discussion, they've pretended as though we've never discussed them before, and just start from scratch.

Read what's been posted, then add something if you feel you have a revolutionary idea. Don't dig the same horse out in order to beat him back to death. He's dead. Only post if you think you can get his heart beating again.

 

[D. Hayes]

I love these threads. It gives us all a reason to gather up and blab a bit with out really adding anything to the subject at all cause it's all been said. With that...

I told my mom stop asking me about the kids. She was there when my daughter was born and she knows she was just fine. But no she don't listen. Every time she calls she asks, " How are the babies?" For serious, can't she just remember from last time that the kids were fine?!?!? Argggg!


=) Anyways..

I've had a small LED amber light bar on for a few years now and I've maybe used it 3 times for emergency use. It does have side white lights I can use to illuminate beside my truck and I use those a lot. I like them but like everyone said many people abuse them. If you're moving though normal traffic they shouldn't be on period. If you come across a downed power line then yes and alert people to the danger.

 

[David Drummond]

I hate flashing lights coming up behind me, whether its lightbars or flashers, and not knowing what to do. If your just doing what I'm doing I dang sure ain't pulling over. How do I know? That's about my only complaint. What it makes me, and others probably, want to do is ignore the lights. But what if it's someone with a real emergency? It's being deceptive, people see lights and pull over, when really they are not under any obligation to pull over for someone wanting to speed to get to a storm. So Jake, that is my personal problem with them.

I thought that stuff was covered in driver education/handbooks everyone takes to get their driver's license?

Red/Blue you pull over, no exceptions
Ambers excercise caution could be anything from a road maintenance vehicle to a mail carrier to a farm vehicle to a storm chaser prone to stopping suddenly no required to pull over (unless you just want to be nice and let them pass)