(1) An ambulance;

(2) A Baxter State Park Authority vehicle operated by a Baxter State Park ranger;

(3) A Bureau of Marine Patrol vehicle operated by a coastal warden;

(4) A Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry vehicle operated by a forest ranger;

(5) A Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry vehicle used for forest fire control;

(6) A Department of Corrections vehicle used for responding to the escape of or performing the high-security transfer of a prisoner, juvenile client or juvenile detainee or a Department of Corrections vehicle operated by a person who is certified by the Board of Trustees of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy as a law enforcement officer;

(7) A Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife vehicle operated by a warden;

(8) A Department of Public Safety vehicle operated by a police officer appointed pursuant to Title 25, section 2908, a state fire investigator or a Maine Drug Enforcement Agency officer;

(9) An emergency medical service vehicle;

(10) A fire department vehicle;

(11) A hazardous material response vehicle, including a vehicle designed to respond to a weapon of mass destruction;

(12) A railroad police vehicle;

(13) A sheriff’s department vehicle;

(14) A State Police or municipal police department vehicle;

(15) A vehicle operated by a chief of police, a sheriff or a deputy sheriff when authorized by the sheriff;

(16) A vehicle operated by a municipal fire inspector, a municipal fire chief, an assistant or deputy chief or a town forest fire warden;

(17) A vehicle operated by a qualified deputy sheriff or other qualified individual to perform court security-related functions and services as authorized by the State Court Administrator pursuant to Title 4, section 17, subsection 15;

(18) A Federal Government vehicle operated by a federal law enforcement officer;

(19) A vehicle operated by a municipal rescue chief, deputy chief or assistant chief;

(20) An Office of the Attorney General vehicle operated by a detective appointed pursuant to Title 5, section 202;

(21) A Department of the Secretary of State vehicle operated by a motor vehicle detective;

(22) A University of Maine System vehicle operated by a University of Maine System police officer; and

(23) A life support transport vehicle when parked on a Department of Transportation ferry vessel and being used to transport a person who requires constant medical support to survive. [PL 2019, c. 319, §1 (AMD); PL 2019, c. 397, §25 (AMD).]

(1) A vehicle engaged in highway maintenance or in emergency rescue operations by emergency management and public safety agencies and a public service vehicle may be equipped with auxiliary lights that emit an amber light.

(1-A) A Department of Labor motor vehicle operated by a workplace safety inspector may be equipped with auxiliary lights that emit an amber light.

(1-B) A municipal public works vehicle or a vehicle operating under direction of the Department of Transportation or the Maine Turnpike Authority may be equipped with auxiliary lights that are green, white or amber or any combination of green, white or amber. Lights under this subparagraph may be located on the front, rear or sides of the vehicle and may flash, oscillate, strobe or blink.

(2) A wrecker must be equipped with a flashing light mounted on top of the vehicle in such a manner as to emit an amber light over a 360-degree angle. The light must be in use on a public way or a place where public traffic may reasonably be anticipated when servicing, freeing, loading, unloading or towing a vehicle.

(2-A) A wrecker may be equipped with a flashing green auxiliary light mounted on top of the vehicle in such a manner as to emit a green light over a 360-degree angle. A flashing green auxiliary light on a wrecker equipped in accordance with this subparagraph may be used only when:

(2-B) A public service vehicle may be equipped with a flashing green auxiliary light mounted on top of the vehicle in such a manner as to emit a green light over a 360-degree angle. A flashing green auxiliary light on a public service vehicle equipped in accordance with this subparagraph may be used only when assisting members of the public or law enforcement officers with a disabled vehicle, loading a vehicle onto a wrecker, removing debris from a roadway or constructing, maintaining, inspecting or repairing utility infrastructure.

(3) A vehicle engaged in snow removal or sanding operations on a public way must be equipped with and display an auxiliary light that provides visible light coverage over a 360-degree range. The light must emit an amber beam of light and be equipped with a blinking or strobe light function and have sufficient intensity to be visible at 500 feet in normal daylight. When the left wing of a plow is in operation and extends over the center of the road, an auxiliary light must show the extreme end of the left wing. That light may be attached to the vehicle so that the beam of light points at the left wing. The light illuminating the left wing may be controlled by a separate switch or by the regular lighting system and must be in operation at all times when the vehicle is used for plowing snow on public ways.

(4) A vehicle equipped and used for plowing snow on other than public ways may be equipped with an auxiliary rotary flashing light that must be mounted on top of the vehicle in such a manner as to emit an amber beam of light over a 360-degree angle, or an amber strobe, or combination of strobes, that emits at a minimum a beam of 50 candlepower and provides visible light coverage over a 360-degree range. The light may be in use on a public way only when the vehicle is entering the public way in the course of plowing private driveways and other off-highway locations.

(5) A rural mail vehicle may be equipped with auxiliary lights.

(6) A vehicle used or provided by a contract security company to assist in traffic control and direction at construction or maintenance sites on a public way may be equipped with amber auxiliary lights.

(7) A Department of Public Safety vehicle operated by a motor carrier inspector or motor vehicle inspector may be equipped with auxiliary lights that emit an amber light.

(8) A vehicle used by an animal control officer appointed pursuant to Title 7, section 3947 may be equipped with auxiliary lights that emit a flashing amber light.

(9) A refuse, garbage, compost, recycling or trash business vehicle used by an individual to transport refuse, garbage, compost, recycling or trash may be equipped with auxiliary lights that emit a flashing amber light.

(10) A vehicle used by an individual to transport and deliver newspapers may be equipped with auxiliary lights that emit a flashing amber light. [PL 2023, c. 68, §2 (AMD).]

(1) Emergency lights used on the following vehicles must emit a blue light or a combination of blue and white light: a police vehicle, except that a police vehicle may also use red emergency lights under paragraph F; a Department of Corrections vehicle as described in subsection 1, paragraph B, subparagraph (6); a vehicle operated by a chief of police, a sheriff or a deputy sheriff; and a vehicle operated by a qualified deputy sheriff or other qualified individual performing court security-related functions and services.

(2) Emergency lights used on an ambulance, an emergency medical service vehicle, a fire department vehicle or a hazardous material response vehicle may include one blue light mounted facing toward the rear of the vehicle so that the light is primarily visible to approaching traffic from the rear only.

(3) The taillight of a vehicle, or replica of a vehicle, manufactured prior to 1952 and registered under section 457, may contain a blue or purple insert of not more than one inch in diameter.

(4) Blue interior auxiliary lighting or dash lighting may be used on any vehicle if no portion of the beam of light is visible at a height of 42 inches above a surface parallel with the level surface on which the vehicle stands at a distance of 20 feet from any part of the vehicle.

(5) A vehicle owned by the Department of Public Safety may be equipped with blue emergency lighting and a siren, but neither the lighting nor the siren may be displayed or used except when the vehicle is being operated by a law enforcement officer. [PL 2019, c. 335, §5 (AMD).]

(1) Emergency lights used on an ambulance, an emergency medical service vehicle, a fire department vehicle, a fire vehicle, a rescue vehicle or a hazardous material response vehicle must emit a red light or a combination of red and white light.

(2) The municipal officers or a municipal official designated by the municipal officers, with the approval of the fire chief, may authorize an active member of a municipal or volunteer fire department to use one red or combination red and white flashing auxiliary light mounted in the windshield or on the dashboard at the front of the vehicle or 2 flashing red or combination red and white auxiliary lights mounted on the front of the vehicle above the front bumper and below the hood and one red auxiliary light mounted in the rear window area. In addition to the lights authorized under this subparagraph, the municipal officers or municipal official designated by the municipal officers, with the approval of the fire chief, may authorize an active member of a municipal or volunteer fire department to use one red light bar no more than 12 inches in length on the roof of the vehicle so that the light is visible to approaching traffic from the front and the rear of the vehicle. The light or lights may be displayed but may be used only while the member is en route to or at the scene of a fire or other emergency. A light mounted on the dashboard or in the windshield must be shielded so that the emitted light does not interfere with the operator’s vision. The use of lights may be revoked at any time by the fire chief.

(3) Members of an emergency medical service licensed by Maine Emergency Medical Services may display and use on a vehicle red or combination red and white flashing auxiliary lights and red auxiliary lights of the same proportion, in the same location and under the same conditions as those permitted municipal and volunteer firefighters, when authorized by the chief official of the emergency medical service. The use of lights may be revoked at any time by the chief official of the emergency medical service.

(4) A police vehicle may be equipped with, display and use red emergency lights. The red emergency lights may comprise up to 50% of the emergency lights used on the police vehicle.

(5) A municipality may authorize a harbor master or deputy harbor master appointed under Title 38, section 1 or 2, respectively, to use one red or combination red and white flashing auxiliary light mounted in the windshield or on the dashboard at the front of a vehicle or 2 flashing red or combination red and white auxiliary lights mounted on the front of the vehicle above the front bumper and below the hood and one red auxiliary light mounted in the rear window area. The light or lights may be displayed but may be used only while the harbor master or deputy harbor master is responding to a watercraft emergency. A light mounted on the dashboard or in the windshield must be shielded so that the emitted light does not interfere with the operator’s vision. The authorization for the use of lights may be revoked at any time by the municipality. [PL 2023, c. 131, §1 (AMD).]

(1) If a person other than the registered owner is operating the vehicle at the time of the violation of subsection 4 and is convicted of that violation, the registered owner may not be found in violation of this subsection.

(2) If the registered owner is a lessor of vehicles and at the time of the violation the vehicle was in the possession of a lessee and the lessor provides the investigation officer with a copy of the lease agreement containing the information required by section 254, the lessee, not the lessor, may be charged under this subsection.

(3) If the vehicle is operated using a dealer or transporter registration plate and at the time of the violation the vehicle was operated by any person other than the dealer or transporter and if the dealer or transporter provides the investigating officer with the name and address of the person who had control over the vehicle at the time of the violation, that person, not the dealer or transporter, may be charged under this subsection.

(4) If a report that the vehicle was stolen is given to a law enforcement officer or agency before the violation occurs or within a reasonable time after the violation occurs and an investigation determines the vehicle was stolen, the registered owner may not be charged under this subsection. [PL 1997, c. 162, §2 (NEW).]

(1) After coming to a complete stop; and

(2) When signaled by the school bus operator to proceed. [PL 1993, c. 683, Pt. A, §2 (NEW); PL 1993, c. 683, Pt. B, §5 (AFF).]