Police/Troopers sitting on median/shoulder at night with no lights on.
 

I take it that this varys from state to state? I thought they had to have something on at night. I have seen plenty with no lights on at all.

Some will sit in the dark and others will leave their lights on. The best thing to do is be careful and keep your speed down.

It's an urban legend that they have to have lights on.
Most cops that do that, are really just lonely, and want to meet more people. :lol:

In VA it's a state law that the police must have some light on if they are sitting in the dark. Many still don't follow that law but the one's that do are usually idiots to begin with. They sit with their front end facing oncoming traffic then leave their headlights on so they f-ing blind you. Parking lights guys, parking lights.

redacted - I woke up on the wrong side of the bunk.

Road, they are still trying to actually pass a law that says cops must stop at all stop signs or red stop lights unless they have their sirens AND lights going. It's due to a rash of crashes with officers responding to calls without anything on. We had one locally where they charged the driver of an ambulance after the cop ran into the side of the ambulance while responding to a call. The ambulance was on it's way to the hospital with a patient and had everything going, the cop had nothing going, he simply refused to yield to the ambulance and drove into the side of it flipping it over.

The cops locally here that I am buddies with said that yes, in VA all cops running speed traps facing into oncoming traffic must have some type of light on once it gets dark out or be sitting within either 100 or 200 feet of a light(can't remember the said distance). If they are sitting broadside then no, they do not need a light on, the reflective stickers on the car are your warning. It's not that they want to give speeders a chance to slow up, it for their own safety since they like to sit in crossover's. They try to sit in crossover's that are rarely used(except on the interstates which are not to be used by anyone other than law enforcement) but you never know when someone might want to hang a U-turn in a crossover that your sitting in. You see something with lights there and your either going to go on to the next one or be more careful turning there so you don't hit them.

I know about the responding to calls with lights, but no sirens. We live in MooseJaw, and use to do that mostly at night, unless we saw a need to make noise.

We've had some bad crashes locally as well. (the bigger cities near us)
Even my Fire Chief screwed up, and drove through our main intersection (without stopping) running 1033 on icy roads, and some kid couldn't stop, skidding into the backside of the Pumper. No injuries, but dag man... adrenaline can make you stupid. All first responders are suppose to stop at intersections, and in multiple lane intersections, "clear" each lane of cross traffic.
I had to re-certify every 3 years as an emergency vehicle operator.

They have the reflective sticker argument, plus they have the light source argument, too. Your headlights are suppose to illuminate 500 feet ahead of you.
The "fair notice" argument doesn't work either, because of posted speed limits.

When you see a blackout cruiser, ... yell out the window...
"You'll never take my donuts ALIVE!......Copper!!!" :moon: :lol:
If he doesn't follow you, he's probably getting some sleep.

We call those "dummy" cars. Ain't nobody in them but the dummy drivers out on the road's slow up anyways. The one's around here are easy to pick out, the cops are dummies for parking them where no cop in their right mind would dare sit, that and the cars are slightly different than all the others in the fleets. Actually, one of the dummy cars had it's wheels stolen twice before the cops caught on and put wheel locks on them. The crooks stole the light bar the next time.

The city police in the "town" of Millersville, TN, just north of Nashville, is the worst offender I have seen doing this. (yes, another case of city cops doing "traffic enforcement" on the interstate) Of course what happens out on I-65 has nothing to do with their nearby little town. They park in the median near MM 102 on I-65 with all lights off, just a few feet from the yellow line asking to be killed.

VA, OH and AZ I know for certin require to have headlights on at ALL TIMES..... IN, IL, AR, MO, TX do not have a law for this, tho I do know here in Porter Co, IN they require them to run marker lights when running radar........

Honestly, most states are at 65mph max speed, so if your worrying about the cops, then you deserve the ticket, cuz 65 is more than fast enough.