Road Safety

Vehicles that Can Be Recognized by the SAAQ

The SAAQ may authorize the following vehicles to be equipped with flashing or rotating amber lights:

• vehicles used to intercept road vehicles under the powers conferred by a law or regulation;
• vehicles that are required to travel at a reduced speed or make repeated stops as part of public service work;
• vehicles used by a security agency for purposes of enforcing a municipal by-law related to road traffic or to ease the movement of traffic in an emergency situation;
• vehicles used by a security agency for patrol purposes in a shopping or industrial centre;
• vehicles owned by a municipality that are used to enforce a municipal by-law that relates strictly to road traffic;
• vehicles that are required to be equipped with flashing or rotating lights under a provincial or federal law or regulation;
• vehicles with a net weight of over 3,000 kg that tow a trailer or semi-trailer equipped with a permanently fixed tank, that is not a fuel tank used by equipment (amber lights can be used only when loading or unloading on the shoulder of a road);
• vehicles used by a media and that are owned by a newspaper or individual licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to operate a broadcasting company. These vehicles must display the name of the company (amber lights can be used only when the motor vehicle is parked at the scene of an incident related to vehicular traffic).

To obtain authorization to equip one or more vehicles with amber flashing or rotating lights, an application must be filed with the SAAQ.

Note: Applications to authorize, recognize and replace flashing or rotating amber lights require 10 business days to process.