Subject says it all, if you pass a speedtrap, do you flash your headlights at oncoming traffic to let them know what’s ahead?
Wonder if you can get in trouble for doing so?
Nope. I figure if they’re speeding, they’re taking their own risk of getting caught. It isn’t my problem.
Trap? What trap? If you’re driving over the posted limit, you’re speeding. If the cop behind the billboard catches you at it, well, that’s just your too bad.
No, I don’t flash my lights. (And I do occasionally speed, and if I happen to get busted, I’ll take my lumps and pay the ticket.)
I’ve seen a couple of people do this, usually on rather rural stretches of highway where “everybody speeds,” and honestly it didn’t occur to me til I saw the cop ahead that THAT’S why they were flashing their lights at me.
I don’t have a problem with it–there’s something rather charming about doing something nice for your fellow driver like telling 'em to avoid a speeding ticket–but it has never occurred to me to do it. I guess because when people flash their lights at me I assume for some reason that something is wrong with my vehicle, or that I’m doing something wrong. The “cop ahead” warning is not the first thing to cross my mind.
Does anyone know where this custom originated from? I have always been curious how it got started…
I know someone who got a ticket for it.
IMHO, it’s a courtesy that has fallen victim to technology and the passing of time.
This used to be a common practice but I don’t see it happen much anymore. It was most common in the days before CB radios and then died even more with the onset of radar detectors. Cars are also designed to run with their headlights on now so even if you did, it’s not as noticeable as it used to be. It’s also become so uncommon that many motorist wouldn’t have a clue what you were doing.
I have done it a few times. A couple of weeks ago, someone flashed them at me and there was indeed a cop staked out that I passed right after that.
I don’t buy that crap about speeders just deserve to be punished. Raise your hand if you never speed. :crickets chirping: Many roads have a speed limit that it too low for passenger cars in good weather. In some cases, you can’t even tell what the speed limit is. I have encountered two lane divided roads in rural areas that have speed limits of say, 20 mph for no particular reason.
There is such a thing as a speed trap two. I grew up on the Louisiana/Texas border and there was an abrupt change in speed limits between the too with little way for people not from the area to know. Combine that with the fact that the people actually being targeted had a license plate not from Texas or Louisiana. That is what you call a speed trap.
All the time.
A half-assed Westlaw search finds the result City of Warrensville Hts. v. Wason, 50 Ohio App.2d 21, 361 N.E.2d 546 (Ohio App. 8 Dist. Nov 24, 1976), which stands for the proposition that
And this comes after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the police AND recognizing the speeder’s excuse for the BS that is was:
AND, it further appears that the defendant was being a Class-A Douche (that’s a legal term) and still got away with it.
It appears that the elements of the “crime” of flashing lights are “presence of an illegal act which generates policeman’s duty to enforce law and interference with intent to impede performance of that duty.”
It does not appear that flashing one’s lights is either an illegal act, and it doesn’t appear that intent can be proven.
Now, I am not YOUR lawyer. You are not my client. I am not even A lawyer. I am some moron with a Westlaw account. This case is from OHIO. Your jurisdiction may vary. This may even not be the case in Ohio all the time. May cause drowsiness, anal leakage or attraction to ferrets. Do not taunt Happy Scrappy Hero Pup. Do not mix with patchouli. Void where prohibited by law.
That is a false dichotomy. Speeders are breaking the law and deserve whatever punishment the law allows if caught. I have sped (though not regularly) and if caught would deserve whatever punishment the law allowed.
There is no conflict between the two.
I used to, but recently the police around here have on some occations had another unit stationed looking for motorists that to it. Around here it’s legal to warn others about speed traps, but it’s not a legal use of your lights (flashing them is reserved for dangerous situations), so I signal my hand instead, I’m on a bike so it’s easy to see.
And yes, I speed.
There’s also the issue of speeding and speeding. I drove as much of my recent travels to celebrate Easter as practical at 70 miles an hour. The speed limit is 65. So, technically, I was speeding. And I’ll admit to not always slowing down to 40 mph or whatever in inactive construction zones where no one else is going 40 either. And there have been times when I’ve sped a little more than that just to keep up with the flow of traffic.
But I don’t speed. I don’t drive along at 80 miles an hour and creep up on people’s bumpers if they don’t drive as fast as I do. I don’t zigzag merrily through traffic. I don’t cut people off (well, usually).
People going significantly faster than the flow of traffic and doing various other things which piss me off should be discouraged, and one way of discouraging them is to give them tickets.
And if, one of these days, I find myself pulled over to recieve a ticket despite being someone who speeds a little who doesn’t fit my definition of deserving a ticket, I’ll suck it up and deal appropriately–by paying the ticket and probably at least temporarily changing my behavior.
ETA: But the primary reason I don’t warn people of speed traps is that it wouldn’t occur to me to do so.
I don’t do it because I have seen people get tickets for doing it. Though people do it to me all the time.
The first time this happened to me, I had no clue what it meant. I was driving along and a car did this to me. I remember thinking, “Wth. My head lights are on. What’s his problem?” I saw exactly what the problem was and the cop had no problem writing it out for me. It was my very first speeding ticket. Never forgot what the head lights meant after that day.
Nope. Fuck 'em.
I was just noticing that this seems to be really on the decline. When I first started driving, it was very common.
I don’t do it very much anymore, for the lame reason that I am usually driving rental cars and forget how to flash the lights now that they’re all automatic.
I always flash. Speed traps are the pentultimate sleazy law-enforcement trick.
However, my new car has daytime running lights, so it’s less effective, as flickster pointed out.
I find myself judging the oncoming traffic; if it’s someone yapping on a cell phone I don’t flash my lights.
The worst places IMO are the outskirts of small towns, the speed limit goes from 55 to 35 or 25 very quickly.
I’ve done it. The road to my house is curvy, and although I know where the speed limit changes, not everyone might. My mother once successfully fought a speeding ticket by showing the limit changes were too close to each other, basically causing drivers to have to slam on their brakes to drop the 10 mph in the time required.
I won’t do it if I’m driving through a school zone or on the highway, but hey, I figure it’s karma points. I’ve had people flash their lights at me to warn me, and I return the favor.
If I see a pack of cars and everyone’s moving at roughly the same speed, I’ll warn them, on the off-chance that the cop is going to pick one out of the crowd to make an example of (assuming, of course, that everyone is speeding a bit). The point of speeding tickets, ultimately, is to cut down on speeding- so if everyone slows down to the speed limit as a result of my flashing headlights, doesn’t that mean that I’ve cut down on speeding?
However, if I see one person, obviously and dangerously, speeding- screw 'em. That guy deserves a ticket, and I want him to get one.