Evolution Of Police Lightbars Over The Years

By Author: Sunil Punjabi
Total Articles: 2565
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Like with all other aspects of motoring, even Police lightbars have evolved considerably and have come a long time over the ages. The modern Police lightbars are extremely advanced and are packed with a lot of technology that is sure to amaze anyone that does read about it. In fact, it might be hard to believe that such a simple component has evolved to such a large degree. If you do read about it, you will better understand as to what are the things that make the Police lightbars such an interesting aspect of the police car to discuss.

Back when they were still in the nascent stages, these lights used to just be a single rotating beam, normally red in color. Needless to say, these are really a far cry from the modern Police lightbars out there. Currently, the red beams are still present in the cluster, but they are not really alone. Although their physical aspects have come down significantly, they are a lot brighter than their previous counterparts. The size is another important thing that has changed continuously with the Police lightbars. This reduced size directly translates to ...
... increased performance.

The next generation of Police lightbars were actually in a bar form factor and had sirens and lights mounted in the same location to enable the motorist to hear and see and warning clearly. Again, the lights were massive in size and gradually, Police lightbars with red and blue tones started making an appearance. Although significantly better than the previous generation, they were still not really as good as they could be. There was still room for improvement, which was observed with newly designed police cruisers in the eighties and the nineties. In fact, engine power was at its peak in the seventies, but efficiency drove the design for the future designs.

The eighties witnessed massive blocks of lights being placed on the police cruisers in a linear fashion. This form of the Police lightbars was essentially the first time that an actual “bar” was observed on top of the police cruiser. Although the design was streamlined, it was still not particularly appealing to look at. The bulky design made it look very ungainly and subsequently, these kinds of Police lightbars were replaced with somewhat sleeker models in the nineties. Although sleek in design, they were still quite far behind from what the police cruisers made use of in the early 21st century.

The nineties did not witness much change in the technology of the Police lightbars, but there was a lot of change in the design of these components. Since it was important to have slim designs that did not alter the drag that much, it became vital to decrease size without compromising on performance. The big break came towards the end of the nineties or the start of the 21st century, when LED technology was put to use in the Police lightbars. This made a profound change and allowed for better light dissipation without adding as much to the appearance.

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