Do you flash your lights?

In Seminole county, FL, you can get a ticket

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-08-26/news/os-headlight-flash-cop-warning-20110826_1_speed-trap-florida-cops-ticket

Is flashing your headlights illegal or a free speech issue? SANFORD — Alexis Cason was on her way to school one morning when she spotted two Oviedo police officers on the side of the road. She flashed her headlights to warn other drivers about the speed trap ahead. Moments later, another cop pulled her over and wrote her a ticket, saying she'd just broken the law by flashing her lights. Law, she asked, what law? Cason, 22, challenged the ticket and won. A lawsuit filed this week claims that 2,900 motorists were ticketed — illegally — in Florida for the same thing from 2005 to 2010. An Oviedo law firm — the same one that persuaded a Seminole County judge to toss Cason's ticket — is asking a judge in Tallahassee to bar Florida cops from writing tickets when motorists flash their headlights. There is no Florida law that prohibits light-flashing, said Oviedo attorney J. Marcus Jones. He claims officers are simply twisting a law that was designed to prohibit drivers from adding after-market emergency lights to their vehicles. When officers write those tickets, he said, they violate a driver's constitutional right to free speech. If motorists want to flash their lights to warn about a speed trap ahead, they are free to do so, according to his suit.

I never have flashed my lights to warn others of a speed trap. If someone flashed their lights at me I probably wouldn't even think of it being a warning of cops ahead.

I have, however, heard of a friend getting ticketed for flashing to warn of a cop.

I quit flashing lights as a speed trap warning years ago. I will however flash lights to warn of an accident or traffic hazard ahead though.

I haven't much in awhile, but started again recently. This is due to a speed trap often set up in a spot along my commute where it drops from 45 to 35 but the common cruising speed often around 50 so it's easy to not slow down in time.

On I-95 in PA flashing high beams for speed traps are common.

I flash to let other drivers know that it is safe to change lanes, particularly for tractor trailers. I haven't flashed for a radar trap in a decade or more, mostly because cops are wise to the game and tend to set up where it won't work. Then again (knocking on wood now) my last speeding ticket was in 1974.

The practice of flashing lights as a warning of a speed trap has become much much much less common, but I still do it, and as I've witnessed, plenty of people still recognize why I'm doing it; they drop their speed PDQ. I agree it is a violation of free speech to prevent me from flashing lights for this reason, and if I got a ticket for it, I'd contest it in court without a doubt.

I usually flash and have always figured that, if pulled over for doing so, I would simply tell the officer that I was asking someone to turn off their high beams.

I did it yesterday, and got a nod of appreciation from the guy I warned.

I do it whenever I can, and, yes, it gets results & appreciation.

On the free speech issue, I read in C/D decades ago that a judge in New Hampshire threw out a ticket for flashing on the grounds that it was "a historic right of the American people to warn their fellow citizens of the presence of armed might."

Gotta love New England, and I say that as a lifelong Canadian citizen and loyal subject of Her Majesty.

I flash my headlamps to warn motorists of any obstruction that may ruin my fellow citizen's day. This may be a flock of deer around the bend, or it may be an officer waiting in ambush. I also tap my helmet to indicate other motorcyclists of cops ahead; most recognize the gesture and appreciate the heads up.

Truckers are always appreciative; we have a few speed traps in between here and my dad's place. Most drivers flash their parking lights in thanks.

Daytime running lights for the last 20 years in Canada have pretty much eliminated that here, I'm afraid.

Cops have squelched this pretty well through years of handing out bogus tickets to people who flash their lights. The usual ticket is for illegal flashing lights on the front of the vehicle. If you go to court, the ticket gets tossed. But the cops are happy either way. They've hassled you and intimidated you and taken up a lot of time from your life if you show up at court. If you don't show, they also get some money out of you.

Never for speed traps.

Are we talking about using emergency flashers or headlights?

I flash lights at trucks and tractor trailers so they know when to change lanes, I flash my high beams if there's a bad accident around a turn that I just passed, stuff like that. I haven't ever done it for a speed trap, people should learn their lesson and just not speed. It's not illegal though, and I won't get mad at people doing it.

I had someone flash lights at me as I was passing through a small town on the way to I-81 north of Harrisburg. I was so unused to it I didn't realize I was being warned about a cop/speed trap I was headed into. About 2 minutes later I had flashing red and blue lights behind me and immediately pulled over. I waited and waited for the cop to approach my car and write me a ticket (I was doing nearly 50 in a 35 zone). But thank heavens, there was a car BEHIND me when I THOUGHT I was being pulled over and he got the ticket, not me. We were both in Hondas and when I realized there was a car behind me and it was getting a ticket I still thought the cop might try to do a "two-fer".

I DON'T flash, if you are speeding, KARMA (CARMA?) says you deserve any ticket you get. Unless it's one of those stupid speed traps where the speed drops from 55 to 25 in the space of a block (happened to me in a small town in Texas).

I do it every time I see a speed trap, it has always been the right thing to do IMHO.

However if speed traps where put in areas where speed had been proven to be dangerous to others I might reconsider, never had to worry about that yet though.

I've always found cops opposition to flashing to be absurd. For it slows traffic down to the speed limit, which supposedly is the objective of the police.

Flash cars and they tend to slow down, looking for the trap. Only after they have found the trap do they speed back up. So you end up with a situation the police should be happy about, no one speeding.

The only reason they can actually be upset is if having people obey the law is not the objective. If the objective is actually to generate tickets, and thereby revenue.

Not that you'll ever get a cop to admit it of course.

I always flash my lights when I see a speed trap or any other hazard. I got a ticket for it once but the charge was withdrawn when I showed up in court.

I flash the high beams, which (a) deals with the DRL issue and (b) is easy with these new-fangled stalk-mounted switches.

I will sometimes give two flashes of the four-ways to thank somebody for indicating that I can lane-change in front of him (if a hand-wave is impractical.)

On two occasions, I have rapidly flashed people in front of me at night who forgot to put their headlights on, on the theory that even though I could (barely) see them, maybe the next person they encountered wouldn't. The first one was a guy in a dark grey Golf at twilight, and he was about as stealthy as an F-117. Disaster waiting to happen. It took a couple of tries, but he got the message (and put on his four-ways for a second to say thanks.)

I lived through the old nationwide 55mph days. I used to flash for traps, but don't really see the need for it anymore.

I got tagged with "fix it" ticket for flashing my lights once

EvanB wrote: I never have flashed my lights to warn others of a speed trap. If someone flashed their lights at me I probably wouldn't even think of it being a warning of cops ahead. I have, however, heard of a friend getting ticketed for flashing to warn of a cop.

Thanks a pantload! ;)

Streetwiseguy wrote: Daytime running lights for the last 20 years in Canada have pretty much eliminated that here, I'm afraid.

No it hasn't. Flash the beams. I always do it, and most around here do.

Flashing like that is common practice on the East Coast, though it is declining in the last 10 years or so. I do it, but I also keep an eye out for possible unmarked coppolas before doing it.