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My husband has always performed the small courtesy of flashing his headlights when he sees state troopers parked and waiting for the unwary drivers going in the opposite direction. He learned to do that from his Dad, and I assume in many parts of the country, this is a standard driving behavior.
Well, don't try this if you drive in Florida:
Campbell says, "I was coming up the Veterans Expressway and I notice two Florida Highway Patrol Cars sitting on the side of the road in the median, with lights off."
Campbell says he did what he always does: flashed his lights on and off to warn drivers coming from the other direction that there was speed trap ahead.
According to Campbell, 60 seconds after passing the trooper, "They were on my tail and they pulled me over."
Campbell says the FHP trooper wrote him a ticket for improper flashing of high beams. Campbell says the trooper told him what he had done was illegal.
They use to advertise the location of Alaska State Troopers on the radio. Drivers that spotted the State Troopers would call in to the radio station and report their location. This had the approval of the State Troopers. They figured that if people knew where they were they would adhere to the speed limit in that area.
I'm sure the government would argue that disrupting the enforcement of laws that exist to punish unsafe driving behavior is something that should be discouraged.
How is it condoning unsafe driving if you're asking others to slow down?
I'm pretty certain flashing the lights to warn of police is illegal in every state. You are interfering with law enforcement. It would be similar to putting a hat over a red light camera.
Now, once you get the ticket, I bet you could fight it and win. I had a friend who fought and won a ticket for cutting through a gas station parking lot. He told the judge that he decided the prices were too high and wanted to go to another gas station. He won.
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". Source: Title XXIII, Chapter 316, Rule 2397, Subsection 7.
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).
Flashing high beams may be an attempt of one driver to communicate with another driver, but the actual message being conveyed is unclear.
Flashing high beams at an approaching vehicle has been used to attempt to communicate:
The approaching vehicle's high beams are on, and they need to set them to low beams;
An obstacle or critter may be in the approaching vehicle's path;
There is a problem with the approaching vehicle (a headlight is burned out, or not on, etc.); or
To warn people of checkpoints or law enforcement activity ahead.
Flashing high beams at a vehicle in front of you, traveling in the same direction, has been used in attempt to communicate:
That the vehicle in front needs to pull over and let you pass;
To signal when an overtaking vehicle has passed and is clear to pull over; or
As a form of aggressive driving;
What is actually being communicated is never clear, and left up to the recipient to guess at its meaning.
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