Flashing in public - Free speech or ticket offense?

• Apple

  

  No... not flashing body parts, flashing your head lights to warn about a speed trap ahead.
  
  A guy in Florida recently won a challenge in court when he was ticketed for flashing his lights. Now he is taking a class action suit against Florida which could mean a big pay-out to the thousands of others who were wrongfully issued tickets for flashing too.
  http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110919/NEWS01/109190315/Class-action-suit-challenges-tickets-headlight-flashing
  
  I say flashing your lights helps people to slow down their speed and promotes public safety, which should be the ultimate goal of state troopers, not a moving violation which only serves to fill the state's coffers.
  
  This was a topic on AM640 this morning as I drove down 30 out of Canton. Thought I'd ask how the OC feels about it.
• wildcats20

  

  I will do it when I notice a person is flying and the cop I passed was hiding. But other than that, not usually.
• Con_Alma

  Depending on the situation, flashing ones brights can be a hazardous action.
• oberhaus

  

  I will do it while trucking to other trucks. Not when I'm in my personal vehicle. Truckers get picked on enough they dont need speeding tickets too.
• Apple

  

  Should it be against the law to flash your lights?
• wildcats20

  

  Apple;936531 wrote:Should it be against the law to flash your lights?

  No.
• Con_Alma

  Apple;936531 wrote:Should it be against the law to flash your lights?

  I think so but would consider all the information seeing how I don't know that I have it all.
  
  I'd rather see the guy fighting it put that same effort into what he believes the speed limits should be and then fight to have them enforced.
• justincredible

  

  Apple;936531 wrote:Should it be against the law to flash your lights?

  No way.
• dlazz

  In Ohio, flashing your brights to warn of a cop is legal.
• Con_Alma

  I don't get the free speech arguement. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
  
  Free speech doesn't exist in all scenarios as we well know...especially when safety is a factor. It shouldn't necessarily be OK for people on shared, community property which exists for a specific purpose to freely express themselves whenever they so choose.
  
  
  What makes our roadways safe is that we have en expectation that people are going to do certain things. Those things are defined for us.
  
  I really don't care if it is or is not illegal but whatever is determined I hope is enforced or freely permitted without some ridiculous interpretation that bypasses the intent of the ruling.
• Quint

  

  For those hoping for a thread not on flashing vehicle headlights. . .
  
  http://ladythrills.blogspot.com/2009/03/florida-panthers-woman-bares-breasts.html
  
  NSFW
• Apple

  

  Con_Alma;936552 wrote:I don't get the free speech arguement. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
  
  Free speech doesn't exist in all scenarios as we well know...especially when safety is a factor. It shouldn't necessarily be OK for people on shared, community property which exists for a specific purpose to freely express themselves whenever they so choose.
  
  
  What makes our roadways safe is that we have en expectation that people are going to do certain things. Those things are defined for us.
  
  I really don't care if it is or is not illegal but whatever is determined I hope is enforced or freely permitted without some ridiculous interpretation that bypasses the intent of the ruling.

  Someone commented on the radio this morning that if drivers are not allowed to warn on-coming traffic that there is speed enforcement located ahead, then the state should not be allowed to put up signs warning of "speed enforcement", or "radar enforced" either.
  
  Maybe when people say "freedom of speech", they really mean "freedom to communicate".
• Con_Alma

  Apple;936571 wrote:Someone commented on the radio this morning that if drivers are not allowed to warn on-coming traffic that there is speed enforcement located ahead, then the state should not be allowed to put up signs warning of "speed enforcement", or "radar enforced" either.
  
  Maybe when people say "freedom of speech", they really mean "freedom to communicate".

  Maybe the State shouldn't be permitted to do so either. Maybe this will force the issue of clarifying what should and shouldn't be permitted on shared transportation areas as far as communications goes.
  
  What's important is that we all know what is and isn't appropriate for both ourselves and others safety no matter if it's "speech" or "communication". At the end of the day what people are truly upset about is not speech or communication but rather being able to more easily break the rules of the road whatever they are.
  
  Make the speed whatever is deemed appropriate but there will always be a few people who think that it's too slow. To afford those people the ability to get around the rules in the name of speech or communication really shouldn't be the goal. Should it?
• queencitybuckeye

  If I flash my lights, the effect will be for some cars that were speeding to slow down. Isn't that the goal of the police presence? The only argument I would see (and one they would never admit to) is that it reduces revenue. Not even close to a good enough reason for it to be illegal IMO.
• Con_Alma

  There are many reason for people to flash their lights.
  
  Reminding someone to turn their lights on
  
  Reminding someone to turn their high beams off.
  
  Letting someone know your are coming around a tight, narrow turn are just a few off the top of my head.
  
  Notifying someone that they are speeding and a police cruiser is enforcing the speed up ahead isn't really a good use of flashing the lights in my opinion.
  
  The illegality of it probably is no doubt going to be difficult to enforce but, again the freedom of speech issue will be interesting to see argued.
• tk421

  

  Why would I warn anyone else of a cop waiting for them? If they are speeding, they get whatever they deserve.
• WebFire

  tk421;936649 wrote:Why would I warn anyone else of a cop waiting for them? If they are speeding, they get whatever they deserve.

  My take as well.
• FatHobbit

  

  Quint;936556 wrote:For those hoping for a thread not on flashing vehicle headlights. . .
  
  http://ladythrills.blogspot.com/2009/03/florida-panthers-woman-bares-breasts.html
  
  NSFW

  best post on this thread
• FatHobbit

  

  I always flash my lights when I see a cop.
• queencitybuckeye

  Con_Alma;936611 wrote: Notifying someone that they are speeding and a police cruiser is enforcing the speed up ahead isn't really a good use of flashing the lights in my opinion.
  

  While I don't necessarily disagree, my feeling is that laws should come from the other point of view, that an action should be legal unless there is a compelling reason for it not to be. I don't see one here.
• georgemc80

  Similar issue, although I didn't believe it...
  
  I put a quarter in a meter for a stranger just before it expired and the meter maid told me she could write me a ticket and that I was not allowed to that. I laughed and walked off....
  
  If she wasn't standing there watching it count down, I wouldn't have thought twice about it.
• I Wear Pants

  No way should this be illegal. The goal of the police sitting there is to make people go "oh shit" and slow down or remember to go the speed limit. Me flashing my lights at someone and them slowing down does the same damn thing.
• I Wear Pants

  georgemc80;936714 wrote:Similar issue, although I didn't believe it...
  
  I put a quarter in a meter for a stranger just before it expired and the meter maid told me she could write me a ticket and that I was not allowed to that. I laughed and walked off....
  
  If she wasn't standing there watching it count down, I wouldn't have thought twice about it.

  Another really stupid fucking law.
• adog

  This thread made me laugh..one morning last week, I was coming into the town I work in and a state patrol was sitting in a drive (one where I see them sit a lot) and the car in front of me flashed his lights to warn the oncoming car that a police car was ahead....problem was the oncoming car flashed their lights back and when I passed the oncoming car, I saw that it was another state patrol car.........had to laugh
• Iliketurtles

  

  Quint;936556 wrote:For those hoping for a thread not on flashing vehicle headlights. . .
  
  http://ladythrills.blogspot.com/2009/03/florida-panthers-woman-bares-breasts.html
  
  NSFW

  Now this is what the thread should be about!
  
  As for flashing headlights. I don't really care one way or another.