A vehicle lighting system is provided primarily for use with emergency response vehicles. The lighting system includes luminescent alphanumeric characters affixed upon a planar vehicle mounting plate so as to emit light upwardly so as to be seen from the air. The vehicle lighting system also includes a light bar affixed to the planar plate. The light bar is positioned to illuminate light primarily horizontally so as to be seen by those on the ground. Preferably, the luminescent planar sheets are connected by wiring to the light bar so that luminescent planar sheet obtains power from the light bar. In addition, the light bar includes a light sensor electrically connected between the power source and luminescent planar sheets which automatically disables the luminescent panels when ambient light is above a predetermined threshold.