Hacker News Reader

Not sure about the siren level, but police cars have definitely been leveraging the low wattage bright LED technology to make their cars light up like the worlds brightest red & blue Christmas tree. Seems like they're innovating also on different strobe patterns to see just what is most attention getting. Sometimes I wonder if it isn't counterproductive to make your car so violently visible that nobody can actually look directly at it. Especially for drunks that might actually be drawn towards all those pretty flashin' lights.

They seem to have gotten brighter when LEDs become common.

Here in the UK, there seems to be a tendency towards the use of light/sirens at any opportunity.

I live near to a busy road junction and have often witnessed situations where the sirens make matters worse because some drivers panic to get out of the way when, really, the best thing they should do is just keep moving forwards.