GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

S	1 

SENATE BILL 1072

Short Title:  EMS Vehicles.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Senator Hyde.
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Referred to:  Judiciary I.
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May 6, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO ALLOW STATE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT VEHICLES TO BE EQUIPPED WITH RED LIGHTS AND SIRENS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 20-130.1(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	The provisions of subsection (a) of this section do not apply to the following:
(1)	A police car;
(2)	A highway patrol car;
(3)	A vehicle owned by the Wildlife Resources Commission and operated exclusively for law-enforcement purposes;
(4)	An ambulance;
(5)	A vehicle used by an organ procurement organization or agency for the recovery and transportation of human tissues and organs for transplantation;
(6)	A fire-fighting vehicle;
(7)	A school bus;
(8)	A vehicle operated by any member of a municipal or rural fire department in the performance of his duties, regardless of whether members of that fire department are paid or voluntary;
(9)	A vehicle of a voluntary lifesaving organization (including the private vehicles of the members of such an organization) that has been officially approved by the local police authorities and which is manned or operated by members of that organization while answering an official call;
(10)	A vehicle operated by medical doctors or anesthetists in emergencies;
(11)	A motor vehicle used in law enforcement by the sheriff, or any salaried rural policeman in any county, regardless of whether or not the county owns the vehicle;
(11a)	A vehicle operated by the State Fire Marshal or his representatives in the performance of their duties, whether or not the State owns the vehicle;
(12)	A vehicle operated by any county fire marshal, assistant fire marshal, or emergency management coordinator in the performance of his duties, regardless of whether or not the county owns the vehicle;
(13)	Any lights that may be prescribed by the Interstate Commerce Commission;
(14)	A vehicle operated by a transplant coordinator who is an employee of an organ procurement organization or agency when the transplant coordinator is responding to a call to recover or transport human tissues or organs for transplantation; 
(15)	A vehicle operated by an emergency medical service as an emergency support vehicle; and
(16)	A State emergency management vehicle."
Sec. 2.  G.S. 20-125(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	Every vehicle owned and operated by a police department or by the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety including the State Highway Patrol or by the Wildlife Resources Commission or the Division of Marine Fisheries and used exclusively for law enforcement purposes, or by the Division of Emergency Management, or by a fire department, either municipal or rural, or by a fire patrol, whether such fire department or patrol be a paid organization or a voluntary association, vehicles used by an organ procurement organization or agency for the recovery and transportation of human tissues and organs for transplantation, and every ambulance or emergency medical service emergency support vehicle used for answering emergency calls, shall be equipped with special lights, bells, sirens, horns or exhaust whistles of a type approved by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles.
The operators of all such vehicles so equipped are hereby authorized to use such equipment at all times while engaged in the performance of their duties and services, both within their respective corporate limits and beyond.
In addition to the use of special equipment authorized and required by this subsection, the chief and assistant chiefs of any police department or of any fire department, whether the same be municipal or rural, paid or voluntary, county fire marshals, assistant fire marshals, transplant coordinators, and emergency management coordinators, are hereby authorized to use such special equipment on privately owned vehicles operated by them while actually engaged in the performance of their official or semiofficial duties or services either within or beyond their respective corporate limits.
And vehicles driven by law enforcement officers of the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles shall be equipped with a bell, siren, or exhaust whistle of a type approved by the Commissioner, and all vehicles owned and operated by the State Bureau of Investigation for the use of its agents and officers in the performance of their official duties may be equipped with special lights, bells, sirens, horns or exhaust whistles of a type approved by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles.
Every vehicle used or operated for law enforcement purposes by the sheriff or any salaried deputy sheriff or salaried rural policeman of any county, whether owned by the county or not, may be, but is not required to be, equipped with special lights, bells, sirens, horns or exhaust whistles of a type approved by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles.  Such special equipment shall not be operated or activated by any person except by a law enforcement officer while actively engaged in performing law enforcement duties.
In addition to the use of special equipment authorized and required by this subsection, the chief and assistant chiefs of each emergency rescue squad which is recognized or sponsored by any municipality or civil preparedness agency, are hereby authorized to use such special equipment on privately owned vehicles operated by them while actually engaged in their official or semiofficial duties or services either within or beyond the corporate limits of the municipality which recognizes or sponsors such organization."
Sec. 3.  This act is effective upon ratification.