Amber Beacons in Serbia: Who Can Use Them and Do They Allow Drivers to Pass a Red Light?

The rules governing amber warning beacons have recently become a widely discussed topic in Serbia. Particular attention has been given to claims that a driver transporting a seriously injured person or a woman in labour may activate an amber beacon and drive through a red light.

However, the warning function of an amber beacon must be distinguished from a legal right of way. Activating one does not turn a private car into an emergency vehicle or release its driver from the obligation to obey traffic lights.

When can an amber beacon be used?

Under Serbia’s current Road Traffic Safety Act, amber rotating or flashing lights are used by vehicles performing work or other activities on or near a road. These include roadside-assistance and towing vehicles, abnormal-load transports, tractors, certain working machines and some private-security vehicles.

An amber beacon may also be used to warn road users about a vehicle forced to stop, a traffic collision, an event taking place on the road or another obstruction. Approaching drivers must increase their level of caution and adjust their speed. The law states that amber lights may only be used in the situations specifically permitted by legislation.

A portable amber beacon may therefore improve the visibility of a broken-down vehicle in a dangerous location. It is an additional warning device and does not replace hazard lights, a reflective vest, a warning triangle or other legally required precautions.

Does an amber beacon give a vehicle priority?

No. An amber beacon warns other road users of a hazard, but it does not provide a right of way.

Priority vehicles include the police, emergency medical services, fire brigades and certain military or government vehicles when they use the prescribed blue warning lights and audible signals. A private car displaying an amber beacon does not become a priority vehicle.

Serbian law states that a red traffic light prohibits vehicles from proceeding. An amber beacon does not cancel this obligation.

What if a passenger’s life is in danger?

Recent media reports included the view that a driver may pass a red light when doing so is necessary to save someone’s life. Legally, however, this should not be interpreted as an automatic exemption.

Serbia’s Law on Misdemeanours recognises the defence of extreme necessity. An act may not constitute an offence when it was required to eliminate an immediate danger that was not caused by the offender, could not have been avoided in another way, and did not cause greater harm than the harm being prevented.

A court may therefore decide, after examining an individual case, that the driver acted out of extreme necessity. The presence of an amber beacon does not by itself make driving through a red light lawful.

The driver would need to demonstrate that there was a genuine and immediate threat to life, that no safer alternative was available and that the manoeuvre did not create a greater danger for other road users.

What are the penalties?

Using an amber rotating or flashing light outside the situations permitted by law may result in a fine of between 10,000 and 20,000 Serbian dinars for an individual.

Driving through a red light carries a fine of between 20,000 and 40,000 dinars or up to 30 days in prison. The driver may also receive six penalty points and a driving ban of at least three months.

Penalties can be substantially more serious if the offence creates an immediate danger or causes a traffic collision.

What should drivers remember?

An amber beacon can improve the visibility of a broken-down or dangerously positioned vehicle and alert other road users to a hazard. It does not provide priority, permit speeding or automatically authorise a driver to pass a red traffic light.

In a serious medical emergency, the safest course of action is to contact the emergency medical service immediately and follow the dispatcher’s instructions. Driving through red lights independently may place the patient, the driver and other road users at even greater risk.