Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes

75 Pa.C.S. § 4571

Visual and Audible Signals on Emergency Vehicles

This section of the Vehicle Code governs which vehicles may carry emergency lights and audible warning systems. In Commonwealth v. Wiggs, 2026 PA Super 126 (en banc), a divided Superior Court read this section together with the Code's definitions in § 102 to exclude a constable's vehicle from the “police vehicle” category. We believe that reading is wrong — and so did Judge Stabile in dissent — and we are fighting it.

§ 4571. Visual and audible signals on emergency vehicles.

(a) General rule.—Every emergency vehicle shall be equipped with one or more revolving or flashing red lights and an audible warning system. Spotlights with adjustable sockets may be attached to or mounted on emergency vehicles.

(b) Police, sheriff, fire and coroner or medical examiner vehicles.—

(1) Police, sheriff, coroner, medical examiner or fire police vehicles may in addition to the requirements of subsection (a) be equipped with one or more revolving or flashing blue lights. The combination of red and blue lights may be used only on police, sheriff, coroner, medical examiner or fire police vehicles.

(d) Vehicles prohibited from using signals.—Except as otherwise specifically provided in this section, no vehicle other than an emergency vehicle may be equipped with revolving or flashing lights or audible warning systems identical or similar to those specified in subsections (a) and (b).

Operative subsections reproduced from the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes (Title 75, § 4571). Subsection (c) and the full text are available at the official source. This page is not legal advice; consult a licensed Pennsylvania attorney for guidance on specific legal questions.

Why This Section Matters

Pennsylvania elects two kinds of law enforcement — sheriffs and constables — but only the constable holds arrest authority granted by statute rather than merely the common law. That statutory arrest power is the very thing the Vehicle Code's own definition of a “police officer” requires. 75 Pa.C.S. § 102. The constable is the only directly-elected officer the General Assembly has made a police officer by law — sheriffs are elected but draw their arrest power from the common law, while municipal and state police hold statutory arrest power but are appointed, not elected.

In Commonwealth v. Wiggs, 2026 PA Super 126, an en banc Superior Court held 8–1 that a constable's vehicle is not a “police vehicle” for purposes of § 4571(b)(1), and so may not display the red-and-blue combination this section reserves to police vehicles. We believe that decision is wrong. As Judge Stabile explained in dissent, the Code's plain definitions answer the question: a constable is a “police officer” by statute under § 102, which makes his vehicle a “police vehicle.” The majority, in his words, “ignores plain statutory definitions and cherry-picks inapplicable exceptions, thwarting legislative intent.” It is one more element of a concerted effort to unconstitutionally limit the authority of the law-enforcement officers Pennsylvanians choose directly.

This decision should not stand — and we are fighting it. The remedy is twofold: a Petition for Allowance of Appeal to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and an amendment to 75 Pa.C.S. § 4571(b)(1) that names constable vehicles expressly, putting the General Assembly's intent beyond argument.

Read Commonwealth v. Wiggs — Stabile dissent › Join the fight ›

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