Flashing Headlights to Warn Other Drivers: A First Amendment Right

[joko104]

I have one older vehicle that has old style headlights - so low in brightness people think the alternator must be going out. However, on another car - very high performance from the factory - the factory headlights are so bright people constantly flash their lights at me. If I flip the high beams on back at them, It's like hitting them with twin aircraft search lights.

Sometimes police are reckless with their high beams. For example,when the pull hard over on the shoulder and turn on their high beams to blind whoever is in the car they stopped as a safety measure for the officers. Unfortunately, the can send their high beams DIRECTLY AT oncoming travel - as opposed to parallel to it as it the case if someone drives down the road with the high beams on.

This is exorbitantly dangerous - particularly for old folks and especially for elderly women who tend to have poor night vision anyway and those lights literally blind them completely and for many seconds.

One night coming back from HardRock (Tampa) they really had called out an army of highway cops and we came across that over and over. It was SO dangerous in relation to other drivers that them might wander into our lane (people literally weaving around after hitting those blinds in their face that we pulled in and got a motel room - though not much more than 1 hour from home.

 

[joko104]

What is MOST annoying isn't someone coming at you with high beams on, but someone following you with high beams on - and exactly at the distance where their headlights hit you from all 3 of your rear view mirrors.

 

[joko104]

I don't like speeders so I laugh when I see them speeding towards a cop.

A lot of really old people feel that way about speeders.

Personally, I'm more into freedom and liberty than the police state for the sake of a police state thing.

 

[sawyerloggingon]

A lot of really old people feel that way about speeders.

Personally, I'm more into freedom and liberty than the police state for the sake of a police state thing.

Speed kills.

 

[joko104]

Speed kills.

:violin

 

[Dragonfly]

Speed kills.

Then stay off the roads. :2razz:

 

[Dragonfly]

I've never done it, but I didn't realize that was something people even did. I wonder if it's an older generation thing?

Really?

Wow, thought it was commonly known. :3oops:

 

[Psychoclown]

I do it, but only after I know I'm out of sight of the cop in question, since as Maggie said, it is illegal in Illinois. Which is ridiculous. As others have said the alleged goal of speeding tickets is to get people to slow down. Flashing a warning at someone achieves that goal, but of course that means the local municipality doesn't get its $120 bucks, so they call it illegal because somebody has got to pay.

 

[grip]

To a certain degree I think it is more of an older generation thing. I've noticed that it's commonly known in people older than me, knowledge is hit-and-miss with people my age, and seems to be little known in people younger than me.

I rarely bother because it gets so little response anymore. The younger generations are too busy texting some repetitive drivel that's non interesting.

 

[radcen]

I rarely bother because it gets so little response anymore. The younger generations are too busy texting some repetitive drivel that's non interesting.

When I do it anymore (during the daytime) and the other driver is a younger driver, I often get a confused "What was that for?" look back at me.

 

[Captain Adverse]

I flash my lights under three circumstances:

1. To let an oncoming car know their high-beams might affect my night vision. (I reduce mine so as not to blind oncoming drivers).

2. To signal a trucker ahead of me at night that I intend to pass.

3. To let someone know there is a police roadblock or speed-trao ahead. I am not breaking any law, because I don't know if the persons I am signaling are speeding or doing anything else illegal. I just hate speed traps and roadblocks.

 

[Verthaine]

Flashing Headlights to Warn Other Drivers: A First Amendment Right | Lansing Legal Examiner | Lansing Michigan Personal Injury Lawyer


Are you doing something wrong or illegal when flashing lights to warn other drivers of a speed trap?



Do you flash lights to warn others?

I'm one of those type of people that if someone insists on doing something obviously stupid,I'm not going to stop them.
That's not to say I won't state may opinion on what they are about to do.
The message I convey by flashing my headlights is this.
"You better slow down bub,because if that cop that's usually down that hill you are about to reach while going 90mph busts your stupid ass,I'm going to laugh like crazy and say "good for you"".

 

[radcen]

Just for the sake of conversation: To be convicted of "obstruction of justice" wouldn't they have to prove that the other car was indeed speeding? Maybe I flashed my lights at a car that wasn't speeding, hence no crime was committed, and no justice obstructed.

 

[SapphireSpire]

I've never heard of flashing your headlights to warn of police. I've only flashed my
headlights to tell other drivers to turn off their high beams.

It doesn't seem fair to me that we're allowed to drive vehicles that are capable of
exceeding the speed limit only to give police an excuse to pull us over and give us
citations. If lawmakers were truly concerned about public safety they would require
all vehicles to have automatically programmed speed limiters that make it impossible
for any vehicle to exceed the speed limit, even if you floor the gas peddle.

Another useful safety device would be a forward sensor that limits your vehicle's
speed based on how close you are to the vehicle in front of you. This would
eliminate tailgating which is way too common in America.

 

[Superfly]

No, I do not flash to warn other drivers about speed traps. I guess I am a "goody two shoes" but this is the way I look at it. If somebody's driving fast enough to get a ticket, and they get caught, they should get the ticket. Maybe it'll make them slow down the next time. I am on the road all the time, and I have my children with me. I'd rather somebody have to pay a $100 ticket than to be driving recklessly and cause my family to be involved in a wreck.

I'm certainly not doing it for the cops' sake. I'm not a fan of the police.

I will, however, flash if there's an obstruction in the road, or a break down, or maybe a couple of deer. That makes most people slow down, because they think I'm warning them of cops, but actually I'm just warning them to slow down.

 

[Dragonfly]

I'd rather somebody have to pay a $100 ticket than to be driving recklessly and cause my family to be involved in a wreck.

Reckless driving and speeding are two completely different things.

A person texting while driving, or talking on their phone while driving could easily be a far more dangerous hazard than a person speeding.

It appears that some people here seem to equate "speeding" with going at least twice the posted limit.

There are notorious speed trap zones near me where the posted speeds go from 50, to 35, to 25 in a relatively short distance.
The cops obviously sit in the area where they can radar the cars right after they pass the sign showing 25 mph.

Anybody who lives in this area KNOWS that spot. And some others just like it. So the cops are getting the out-of-towners mostly.

 

[Oceandan]

Nope - I don't flash for cops. If i do that - it's to let someone know their lights aren't on.

LOL Not picking on you Aunt Spiker, I'm a literalist. "I don't flash for cops" has a slightly different connotation than "I don't flash my lights for cops".

I've never flashed for cops. I don't want to permanently scar them. (-;

Yes I warn folks when it's a speed trap. I don't do it when it's a legit place for them to be checking speeds. ie: interstate or highway when no speed limit change is abrupt.

 

[grip]

When I do it anymore (during the daytime) and the other driver is a younger driver, I often get a confused "What was that for?" look back at me.

The typical response used to be a wave and smile, headnod or flashing lights back. I often get people staring away as is to avoid eye contact with the nut flashing their headlights. Apparently when they see the hidden cop it doesn't occur what I was doing for them?

 

[Superfly]

Reckless driving and speeding are two completely different things.

Not true. Most every state has a limit, and once you exceed that limit, it is then considered reckless driving. Most states average around 20 to 25 mph over the speed limit as reckless driving. You may not consider it reckless, but the law does, and that's all I care about.

 

[lizzie]

Are you doing something wrong or illegal when flashing lights to warn other drivers of a speed trap?



Do you flash lights to warn others?

Yes, I do, and I don't think there is anything at all wrong with it.

 

[Woodman909]

I certainly do NOT alert other drivers. I envision alerting a drunk driver to avoid a police stop, then he/she goes on and kills somebody. I am responsible for every action I take behind the wheel. I do not expect anyone to give me a heads up so I can shirk my responsibility to drive intelligently, and I am not going to do it for anyone else.

I do not look at it as an obstruction of justice, I look at it as merely a stupid thing to do.

 

[Woodman909]

I used to do that sometimes, but no anymore. All the headlights on my car are automatic and I have discovered if I try to do anything manually in relation to them, I set off a chain reaction that requires a blue ribbon committee of the best engineers in the world to get them back into the proper functioning state again.

If you cannot control something as simple as headlights, perhaps your car is best left in the garage.

 

[Fisher]

If you cannot control something as simple as headlights, perhaps your car is best left in the garage.

They are not so simple. I thought maybe it was me but then one of my brothers said his mother in law has the same car and then commented "but when she lets me drive it she always makes me swear never to mess with the headlights".

 

[Woodman909]

What is MOST annoying isn't someone coming at you with high beams on, but someone following you with high beams on - and exactly at the distance where their headlights hit you from all 3 of your rear view mirrors.

That's when you release the bag of nails from the trunk

 

[Woodman909]

I've never heard of flashing your headlights to warn of police. I've only flashed my
headlights to tell other drivers to turn off their high beams.

It doesn't seem fair to me that we're allowed to drive vehicles that are capable of
exceeding the speed limit only to give police an excuse to pull us over and give us
citations. If lawmakers were truly concerned about public safety they would require
all vehicles to have automatically programmed speed limiters that make it impossible
for any vehicle to exceed the speed limit, even if you floor the gas peddle.

Another useful safety device would be a forward sensor that limits your vehicle's
speed based on how close you are to the vehicle in front of you. This would
eliminate tailgating which is way too common in America.

I suspect you work from home. Try spending 90 min drive to work every day and see if you don't push the limit every chance you get.