The History Of Light Bars

This is a situation every driver has felt at some time in his or her life. You're driving along at night when the familiar sight of blue flashing lights appears in your rear view mirrors. If you're lucky you pull over and the lights continue straight on. If not then you have probably done something you shouldn't. Sirens on emergency vehicles occupy an integral part of our world yet they are so integral that we sometimes forget they exist. In this article, therefore, as part of our ongoing series about everyday items, we look at the history, development and evolution of light bars.

We all know the traditional cylindrical design of light bars - a revolving bulb creating the appearance of a flashing light. They've been used ever since the police took to the public highway. However, as in every walk of life, the world moves on. New technology uses all sorts of materials, especially LED lights. These are useful because of their solid condition, high power and the fact that they can continue working seemingly forever.

In fact there is all sorts of work being done all the time to improve the design and function of light bars. Research recently found, for example, that strobe effects were more useful for introducing a sense of emergency. Response times are therefore faster and traffic clears the route more quickly. We're not talking vast amounts of time here, but it just goes to show that every little does indeed count. Even if each new development only shades a fraction of a second off the overall response time to an emergency it has to be worth the effort. In the end those few seconds could make the difference between life and death.

The downside of this is the hazards to other road users, such as photosensitive epilepsy. Flashing lights of some frequencies can trigger seizures in some people. The strobes used by emergency vehicles tend to be much slower - thereby negating the risk, but scientists continue to investigate this possibility. Some effects have also been noted such as 'moth to the flame' syndrome. Lights can have a hypnotic affect on drivers and they can feel magnetized towards the source of the lights.

This is just a fraction of the work and development that goes into the continual evolution of light bars. It is work that saves hundreds of lives every year but goes unrecognised by almost everyone. The devil is in the detail, they say, and in this case the detail is often life saving.