Flashing lights to warn others about the police

It depends on the circumstances. If I see people driving American cars approaching a hidden cop in one of the small municipalities I drive through, I'll warn them. If you are driving excessively fast, or a car with a fart cannon muffler, you'll get no help from me.

That's been my experience in the Albuquerque metro area, too: The only time flashing headlights mean anything is when someone forgot to turn theirs on at night, otherwise most local drivers are clueless as to what you're trying to tell them.

This practice seems to be dying. I rarely see this practice anymore and if I do its on the Interstate highways.

i do the same for truckers as you know most states have a move over or slow down for emergency or disabled vehicles along side the road . i slow down and flash mine to let trucker know its safe for him to move over . ever notice how many people pass by an ramp , never even giving second thought to people who might have to mash on their brakes to let merging traffic on to the highway . i like others quit flashing my lights (about police ) years ago . if your speeding you are on your own. i agree works well at 4 way stops.
mike

Yes for hazards ahead or to signal trucks it's safe to come back over. Occasionally with flash those that are driving at twilight or later without lights on.

I flash my lights when there are no police around to slow down the speeders.

Comrade Fuccowie

"If you are driving excessively fast, or a car with a fart cannon muffler, you'll get no help from me."
Isn't it great though?..They probably pay 3 to 4 times the cost of a regular muffler to get this sound.

True and I agree. Also in most countries that have traffic laws using left lane (on multi-lane highways) is (supposed to be) for passing only ... but then you have these Sunday drivers who just don't get it and keep blocking the whole traffic... there is a ticket for that too!
Autobahns also have required minimal speed limits rather than max speed limits (mostly they don't have those).

right, this is another great use of high beams in city, very commonly used in my area (north-east NJ) and VERY helpful on some "congested" 4-way stops. even cops use them this way

I find these types of ordinances fascinating for their hypocrisy - remember Paul Revere, one if by land, two if by sea? I suspect that the ordinances prohibiting warning others of armed authority in the area wouldn't hold up to a serious free speech legal challenge. Ironic that the sort of communication that helped lead to our country's founding would now be illegal...

Sadly, I rarely see anyone else warning others. I know I appreciate it.

but the cops are being more tricky...

I do a far amount of driving and I have a deep respect for the truckers. After all they are bigger than me. I will turn my lights on/off or use 4 ways to let them know they can move over or it's clear to come out in my lane so they can continue the speed they are going. The average 4 wheeler has no clue.
I won't flash my lights to warn of a speed trap. The speeders deserve what they get.

I still flash my lights when finding a police car laying a trap. I believe that to be underhanded & just another way for the raising of revenue.

When we find speeders who consistently break reasonable speed limits, we should revoke their licenses for, say, 6 months. If they do it again - 1 year. If they do it a third time - life!

I don't believe it is illegal to flash your lights under ANY circumstance.

Fred

In my area the practice has prettily died out ,and as they say most drivers have no idea what it is about.

Well as you know the constitutional right to free speech unimpeded by government is not absolute. There are limited exceptions that have held up in court
http://www.csulb.edu/~jvancamp/freedom1.html
(including sedition, which Paul Revere himself would have been accused of) though I don't find flashing to warn of police enforcement among them. Even the exceptions that have held up in court, as that website points out, are controversial. I agree you could make a good free-speech case fighting a ticket for flashing other drivers over police presence, but it would get expensive as you would lose in lower courts and have to keep appealing to get a chance to have the law overturned.

I still flash mine when I see an obvious speed trap, though I usually wait until I am far enough from them (and the chase vehicles) so that I don't get a ticket myself.
As far as I'm concerned , there are far too many cities & towns using Police to fill their coffers...it has nothing to do with safety...

Whenever I see communities hire a large number of new officers to "protect the citizens", you can be sure that within six months you will see a lot more of them sitting along the side of the road with bright shiny new radar guns.....

I wonder how often flashing people innocently (like a previous poster mentioned some scenarios) has been misconstrued as "interfering" with the police and the motorist was subsequently ticketed?

(flashing to pass someone, signaling to let truckers merge in fron of you, flashing at a 4-way stop sign to sgnal another motorist to go ahead, etc.)

If flashing lights is interfering with police, than practically anything you do on the road to affect other drivers is also interfering with police. Flashing lights to let morons who have their lights turned off at night would also be interfering with police. After all, informing them to turn on their lights and enhance the safety of everybody else on the road is depriving the police of the opportunity to write tickets. I'm glad that so many have once again put government control and subjugation over safety on the road.

believe many got flashed by speed cameras, so, others deserve some, plus points.

I do in the suburb and city. When it rain, to tell people to turn their headlight on esp. when they have it on auto. Which doesn't turn on by itself when it rain in daytime

... but its not limited to speed traps:

* Speed trap ahead (Warning! pay attention)
* Deer in the road ahead (Warning! slow down)
* Accident ahead (Warning! slow down)
* Black ice ahead (Warning! slow down)
and so on

As a motorist I always appreciate the same.

Agreed. That's why if you get pulled over for flashing your lights, it makes sense to just tell them that you were letting someone know they had their high beams on, didn't have their lights on, saw a vehicle that appeared to have fuel spilling from their gas tank because they left the gas cap off, etc... whatever fits.

I've turned in money that I've found on the floor in a department store and returned extra money that was counted out to me as change in error (both were significant amounts)... but if the government will resort to dishonest practices to take my money, then I will be forced to play by the same rules and do the same to keep it.

Not surprising. European drivers are held to a higher standard and consequently are able to drive at higher speeds, etc. I really wish we adopted the same system over here. We think we're so far ahead of everyone else in this country but we're in the automotive Dark Ages over here as compared to Europe. Even their headlamps are better... they've had the superior H4 headlamps over there for years, long before they became legal for use in cars over here.

When I run into a traffic backup on a highway, one of the first things I do as I'm braking is turn on my hazard flashers to warn the traffic behind me, and I almost never see anyone else do it. When a friend of mine was over in Germany, he ran into a backup on the Autobahn and said that as he came around the curve there was a long line of cars... all with their hazard flashers on. He said he thought of me when he saw it.

I can only imagine... must have been a thing of beauty.

I still flash to warn others.
I appreciate the same gesture.
I always have my radar detector too.

Do many of the younger drivers now days even know what it means?

So if they ticket for this, what does it say on the ticket?

I used to sign them up all the time for defective equipment. Had one guy griped to the judge about it, so we amended the charge to party to an offense.

First, I think it's completely wrong. Why should I help somebody endanger me and my family. Every vehicle out there has a speedometer and everyone here has a GPS. Just follow the law.

Second, people don't know where their headlights are. Every car I've had for ten years has automatic headlights. It's not just warning about police. They also don't blink their lights to allow trucks to move over, not do they turn them off when turning around in a driveway.

Many years ago, I've got a ticket in Switzerland for doing just that. What p...ed me off was that I realized (too late) that the car I was trying to warn about a radar was a ... 2CV (a car totally unable to exceed the speed limit on that main road).

Don't want a ticket for flashing my lights so I very seldom do it. I will do it if there is a truck coming and no one else.

I used to flash my headlights when I was younger and had a heavy foot.
Now that I have slowed down. I don't flash anymore.

I was a passenger in a friends car when he flashed his lights after we passed a trooper hiding behind some barrier he came after us and gave my friend a ticket we tried talking our way out of it saying he tried to signal before changing lanes and pulled the lever instead. This was in NYC.

Maybe we don't have a law against flashing headlights in Texas.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthw...

I flash all the time!

I was reading a news article where the past Shell CEO stated $5 per gallon gas is not far away. I wonder how many people will speed when it does?

Myself, I don't need to pad the gas companies profit margins by speeding around with a lead foot. Not to mention filling the government coffers, insurance hikes etc.

I like my money in my account, not theirs.

Some of the comments didn't quite sound accurate. For example, I'm pretty sure that the states that I frequently drive in do not have laws preventing people from flashing their high beams.

It appears to be varied state to state:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlight_flashing#United_State...

Why warn a driver whose driving like a moron! Maybe the fines should be way up there, maybe it would slow these folks down. Not! Ever notice when these guys/gals pass you that you pull up behind them at the next stop light? Hmmmmmmmm!

Norm

Right on!!

and you won't have to worry about cops in the area.

Maybe you don't have deer in your neck of the woods, or accidents where as a courtesy you'd warn your fellow driver.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Headlight_fla...

In the United States, the legality of headlight flashing varies from state to state. Historically, law enforcement officers give citations for headlight flashing under three types of laws: (1) laws prohibiting a person from obstructing a police investigation, (2) laws prohibiting a person from having flashing lights on their vehicle, and (3) laws prohibiting shining a vehicle’s high beams at oncoming traffic. The specific language of each law varies by state along with courts’ holdings on whether their respective laws prohibit headlight flashing. Additionally, although not legally binding, the state driver’s manual of some states suggests flashing high beams under specific scenarios (e.g. if an oncoming vehicle is using its high beams, driver’s manuals suggest a motorist flash his or her high beams).[20][21]

In Alaska, a State Trooper has probable cause to stop a driver who flashes a vehicle’s high beams based upon a violation of 13 AAC 04.020(e)(1).[22]

In Arizona, flashing high beams or headlights is a violation of A.R.S. Section 28-942.1 (Failure to Dim Headlights).[23]

In California, headlight flashing is legal in some situations and illegal in others. It is legal for a driver to flash his headlights to indicate intention to pass on a road which does not allow passing on the right. However, headlight flashing on multiple-lane highways is illegal.[7]

Florida state statute indicates that "flashing lights are prohibited on vehicles except as a means of indicating a right or left turn, to change lanes, or to indicate that the vehicle is lawfully stopped or disabled upon the highway".[24] This has been used as a basis for issuing a moving violation with a $90 fine to drivers who flash their headlights to warn oncoming drivers of speed traps; some police and at least one journalist believes that the law applied to those who manually flash their high beams.[24]

In Maryland, police officers ticket drivers for flashing car headlights under a law which prohibits driving in a vehicle with flashing lights and laws prohibiting "obstructing a police investigation".[12] The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland challenges the current interpretation of the law, contending the law refers to an adjective and not a verb; automatic flashing lights on non-emergency vehicles are illegal, but the act by a driver of flashing a vehicle's headlamps is not.[12] Though ticketing was common in the 1990s, Maryland and Washington, D.C. police say that flashing one's headlights was not against the law in either place.[25]

In Massachusetts, the practice of headlight flashing is technically not forbidden. A clever police officer though can ask a motorist if they were flashing their lights to warn oncoming motorists of police. If the motorist says no, the officer can ask if the vehicle has defective lights—which is a violation of Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 90, Section 7.[26]

In New Jersey, drivers are allowed to flash their headlights to warn approaching drivers about a speed trap ahead.[27] In 1999, The Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division held that a statute limiting how far high beams may project is not violated when a motorist flashes his or her high beams to warn oncoming motorists of radar. The Court also concluded that a stop by a police officer based upon high beam flashing is also improper.[28]

In New York, headlight flashing is not illegal. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 375 [3] requires that headlamps "shall be operated so that dazzling light does not interfere with the driver of the approaching vehicle".[29] In 1994, New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division held that flipping or flicking high beams at approaching vehicles is insufficient to cause the "dazzling lights" prohibited under New York Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 375 [3].[30] In 2009, the New York Supreme Court held that the flashing of lights alone is not a violation of New York Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 375 [3], that stopping a vehicle based upon that is illegal, and all evidence gather as a result of the illegal stop should be suppressed.[31]

In North Dakota, when an oncoming vehicle is within 500 feet, high-beam flashing for any length of time (including momentary flashes) and for any purpose at night is illegal under N.D.C.C. Section 39-21-21.[32]

In Ohio, courts have held that the act of flashing one's headlights so as to alert oncoming drivers of a radar trap does not constitute the offense of obstructing a police officer in the performance of his duties, where there was no proof that the warned vehicles were speeding prior to the warning.[33][34] In another case, where a driver received a citation under an ordinance prohibiting flashing lights on a vehicle, a court held that the ordinance referred to the noun of flashing lights and did not prohibit the verb of flashing the headlights on a vehicle.[35] In a difference case, a court held that a momentary flick of the high beams is not a violation of Ohio R.C. 4513.15[36] (which prohibits drivers from aiming glaring rays into the eyes of oncoming drivers).[37]

In Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has ruled that flashing one's highbeams during the day to warn of speed traps is legal.[38][39]

In Tennessee, flashing headlights to warn oncoming traffic of a police car ahead is protected free speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.[40]

In Virginia, headlight flashing to warn of police activity is not illegal, even though other evasion techniques like radar detectors are outlawed.[41]

In Washington, high beam flashing is illegal.[42] Washington law prohibits flashing one's high beams within 400 feet of another vehicle, including using them to signal for any reason.[43] Under section 46.37.230 of the Revised Code of Washington, flashing one's headlights illegally may result in a $124 traffic infraction.[44]

In Wisconsin, the law allows a vehicle operator to intermittently flash a vehicle’s highbeam headlamps at an oncoming vehicle whose highbeam headlamps are lit.[45][46]

Jamaica

On some occasions, motorists who flashed their headlights to warn of police activity have unwittingly helped fugitives evade police. In 2008, one of Jamaica's most wanted men went around police checkpoints which had been set up on his most likely routes after a driver had flashed his headlights to warn of police ahead.[47] Drivers were warned that flashing headlights may result in "unwittingly facilitating criminal activity".[47]
[edit] Australia

Headlight flashing to warn drivers of traffic enforcement cameras is illegal in the Australian State of Queensland, carrying a $30 fine and one demerit point, or a $1500 fine if the fine is unsuccessfully challenged in court.[48] Officers may either fine a driver for improper use of headlights, or may even arrest and prosecute for hindering police.[48]
[edit] Canada

In Ontario, the Highway Traffic Act prohibits "flashing head beams".[49] Some have brought tickets to court, claiming the law only regulates the use of alternating lights in an attempt to impersonate emergency and law enforcement vehicles, and not a driver's manually flashing his car's headlamps to communicate with other drivers.[49]
[edit] United Kingdom

Though not all of its rules represent law, the Highway Code states "Only flash your headlights to let other road users know that you are there. Do not flash your headlights in an attempt to intimidate other road users".[1]
[edit] References

In Texas, it's rare to see someone flash there lights for a speed trap.

Truckers usually look for the headlights going off then back on as a sign it is clear to move over. I can't help them any more as my lights are always on with my current vehicle.

Truckers usually look for the headlights going off then back on as a sign it is clear to move over. I can't help them any more as my lights are always on with my current vehicle.

in Pennsylvania. You usually see it happening on open highways in PA when a state cop is parked along the road setting a radar trap.

But you're right, it isn't very common any more. At least not as much as when I started driving many, many years ago.

Someone mentioned getting ticketed for flashing a slow driver to get out of the way on the interstate. I didn't know THAT was illegal. I still do that to try and get people's attention when they're hogging the fast lane but it never seems to work like it's supposed to. Not many watch their rear-view mirrors, it seems (or maybe they don't really understand)!

Slowing traffic down could be done just by being visible. But the requirement for money and quotas make the traps exist.

Tickets for flashing lights.. its the power over u as they pull you over.

I never do it, Because i was told its illegal, but you would have to flash your lights constantly in New York...lol

I dont flash my lights anymore, because I believe that there are too many that dont deserve being warned. It seems everybody speeds, and it is intentional. It is so easy for the law to write tickets anymore. Just pick one, they all are speeding! So, I dont believe in protecting law breakers!

I dont see much of that in IL...
But I do it all the time.
(Since I have flip of lights, I flash the foggies)

I know truckers did it to let fellow truckers know there was a Smokey up ahead. Not sure if they still do it. There are so many ways to communicate and CB Channel 19 was pretty active for a long time.

I know I don't do it any more.