2006 Minnesota Statutes

169.68 HORN, SIREN.
(a) Every motor vehicle when operated upon a highway must be equipped with a horn in
good working order and capable of emitting sound audible under normal conditions from a
distance of not less than 200 feet. However, the horn or other warning device must not emit
an unreasonably loud or harsh sound or a whistle. The driver of a motor vehicle shall, when
reasonably necessary to insure safe operation, give audible warning with the horn, but shall not
otherwise use the horn when upon a highway.
(b) A vehicle must not be equipped with, and a person shall not use upon a vehicle, any siren,
whistle, or bell, except as otherwise permitted in this section.
(c) It is permissible, but not required, for any commercial vehicle to be equipped with a theft
alarm signal device, so arranged that it cannot be used by the driver as an ordinary warning signal.
(d) All authorized emergency vehicles must be equipped with a siren capable of emitting
sound audible under normal conditions from a distance of not less than 500 feet and of a type
conforming to the federal certification standards for sirens, as determined by the General Services
Administration. However, the siren must not be used except when the vehicle is operated in
response to an emergency call or in the immediate pursuit of an actual or suspected violator of
the law, in which latter events the driver of the vehicle shall sound the siren when necessary to
warn pedestrians and other drivers of the vehicle's approach.
History: (2720-257) 1937 c 464 s 107; 1971 c 491 s 24; 1986 c 444; 2000 c 426 s 26