Australian States & Territories – Warning Light Regulations
for Police, Ambulance, Fire, SES and other emergency vehicles
Please note the following points about the legislation covering different States and Territories:
A number of the States and Territories simply follow the Australian National Road Rules and allocate red, blue or both red & blue for any type of emergency vehicle use.
Other States require definitive colours to be fitted only to certain vehicle types and these States typically issue a more comprehensive document for guidance.
Also, please check with local authorities as informal agreements regarding colours may exist between different emergency agencies within each State or Territory.
Some regulations do not refer to forward-facing white clearing lights and flashing headlights which are in common use throughout Australia – ACT Ambulances are fitted with steady-burn yellow lamps in addition to red and blue flashing warning lights. These are illuminated during response or used alone at some accident scenes, when parked at the kerbside or airside at airports.
Green flashing lamps (by national agreement) are used only on command vehicles at major incidents.
