Z-0173.1

SENATE BILL 5937

BySenators Lovelett, Nguyen, Fortunato, Das, Billig, and Hunt; by request of Washington State Patrol

AN ACT Relating to the color of stop lamps on vehicles; and amending RCW 46.37.100 and 46.37.200.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 46.37.100 and 2002 c 196 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Front clearance lamps and those marker lamps and reflectors mounted on the front or on the side near the front of a vehicle shall display or reflect an amber color.

(2) Rear clearance lamps and those marker lamps and reflectors mounted on the rear or on the sides near the rear of a vehicle shall display or reflect a red color.

(3) All lighting devices and reflectors mounted on the rear of any vehicle shall display or reflect a red color, except ((the stop lamp or)) other signal devices, which may be red((,))or amber, ((or yellow,)) and except that on any vehicle forty or more years old, or on any motorcycle regardless of age, the taillight may also contain a blue or purple insert of not more than one inch in diameter, and except that the light illuminating the license plate shall be white and the light emitted by a backup lamp shall be white or amber.

Sec. 2. RCW 46.37.200 and 2006 c 306 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Any vehicle may be equipped and when required under this chapter shall be equipped with a stop lamp or lamps on the rear of the vehicle which shall display a red ((or amber)) light((, or any shade of color between red and amber,)) visible from a distance of not less than one hundred feet and on any vehicle manufactured or assembled after January 1, 1964, three hundred feet to the rear in normal sunlight, and which shall be actuated upon application of a service brake, and which may but need not be incorporated with one or more other rear lamps.

(2) Any vehicle may be equipped and when required under RCW 46.37.070(2) shall be equipped with electric turn signals which shall indicate an intention to turn by flashing lights showing to the front and rear of a vehicle or on a combination of vehicles on the side of the vehicle or combination toward which the turn is to be made. The lamps showing to the front shall be mounted on the same level and as widely spaced laterally as practicable and, when signaling, shall emit amber light: PROVIDED, That on any vehicle manufactured prior to January 1, 1969, the lamps showing to the front may emit white or amber light, or any shade of light between white and amber. The lamp showing to the rear shall be mounted on the same level and as widely spaced laterally as practicable, and, when signaling, shall emit a red or amber light, or any shade of color between red and amber. Turn signal lamps shall be visible from a distance of not less than five hundred feet to the front and rear in normal sunlight. Turn signal lamps may, but need not be, incorporated in other lamps on the vehicle.

(3) Any vehicle may be equipped and when required under this chapter shall be equipped with a center high-mounted stop lamp mounted on the center line of the rear of the vehicle. These stop lamps shall display a red light visible from a distance of not less than three hundred feet to the rear in normal sunlight, and shall be actuated upon application of a service brake, and may not be incorporated with any other rear lamps.

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