Police stops — Connecticut Permit Test

A police vehicle stopping a driver will use a visual signal of flashing blue, or flashing blue and red lights, or an audible signal.

Knowing the colors is how a driver tells a real stop from someone else's emergency behind them.

Police vehicles attempting to stop drivers will do so by means of a visual, flashing blue or flashing blue and red lights, or audible signal.

When you are being stopped, drive as close as is safely practical to the right-hand edge or curb, clear of any intersection, then stop and park.

Stopping in the intersection leaves the officer standing in cross traffic, which is the risk they are asking you to avoid.

Drive as close as is safely practical to the right-hand edge or curb of the road, clear of any intersection, stop, and park.

Drivers should keep their hands on the steering wheel and passengers should keep their hands in plain view.

An officer approaching a car is watching hands, and hands they can see are what keeps the stop calm.

Drivers should keep their hands on the steering wheel and passengers should keep their hands in plain view.

Get your driver license and vehicle registration out only when the officer requests them, keep the doors closed as the officer approaches, and stay in the vehicle unless asked to get out.

Reaching into the glove box before you are asked looks from outside exactly like reaching for something else.

Obtain your driver license and/or vehicle registration only when requested.

At night, turn on the vehicle's interior light after stopping and before the officer approaches.

The light shows the officer the inside of the car from a distance, which is the thing they cannot otherwise know.

If at night, turn on the vehicle's interior light after stopping and before the officer approaches.

If enforcement action is taken that you disagree with, do not argue with the officer at the scene; traffic violations and traffic crimes are decided in court.

The roadside is not where the decision is made, and arguing there changes nothing except how the stop goes.

Traffic violations and traffic crimes charged against you are decided in court.

What lights does a Connecticut police vehicle use to stop a driver?

Flashing blue, or flashing blue and red. Knowing the colors is how a driver tells a real stop from someone else's emergency behind them. Connecticut Driver's Manual, p.35: “Police vehicles attempting to stop drivers will do so by means of a visual, flashing blue or flashing blue and red lights, or audible signal.”