$1,000 Fine for Flashing Headlights to Warn Motorists of Cops......... V

[Ponce]

That did happen to me.......the funny part is that I flashed my light to an incoming COP CAR ahahahhahahahah... I told them "Cop? what cop?, I was warning the cars about the deer that I saw by the road"....they didn't do anything LOL.
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He was surprised to receive a ticket for obstruction of justice - with it, a $1,000 fine. He fought it, calling his warning flash protected free speech. Although prosecutors dropped charges, Elli along with the ACLU filed a class action lawsuit against Ellisville for even handing out those types of tickets to begin with.

Legal director of the town's ACLU chapter, Tony Rothert, aptly pointed out:
Those who use their First Amendment rights to warn others to drive cautiously should not be punished for their message. After all, the purpose of traffic laws is to promote safety, not generate revenue.Florida, Ohio, Tennessee, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Utah have actually ruled that flashing lights is okay under the First Amendment. Arizona and Alaska strictly forbid the practice under any circumstance apparently because of safety. Who knew?

http://12160.info/forum/topics/1-000-fine-for-flashing-headlights-to-warn-motorists-of-cops

[madfranks]

How is warning people ahead of a speed trap "obstruction of justice?" They claim it's for safety, NOT revenue, so wouldn't slowing people down before they see the cops mean they are safer?

BTW, Ponce, I like your excuse about the deer; if I ever find myself in that situation I'm going to use the same excuse.

[Horn]

Although prosecutors dropped charges, Elli along with the ACLU filed a class action lawsuit against Ellisville for even handing out those types of tickets to begin with.

Thank goodness for the ACLU, without them there would be no deer in Arizona.

[Glass]

this is some crappy law down here as well. Some people flash and some don't. I do but I am always conscious that I might flash a copper coming the other way and get stung. IMO traffic stops are unconstitutional just about everywhere. We have these RBT's. Random Breath Testing. Big semi trucks with a whole big laboratory they drag around.

They block the road and make everyone blow in the machine. Then if you get anything close to 0.05 or above you get detained from 20 minutes. Then another test. Then they use a make believe chart that tells them how drunk you are which they then use to charge you many hundreds of dollars. I think the fines all went up at the start of July. I believe it is now $600 for 0.05, which is about 1 can of beer plus you loose 5 demerit points of which you get 12 for every 3 years so 4 per year.

I got done by an RBT perhaps 15 years ago. I basically stopped going out at night so I didn't have to go through the traffic stops. Now that I am not drinking I'm obviously not worried about being pinged but I refuse to give those wankers anything to do by driving through their road blocks. The other thing they do now is force DNA from you if they detect 0.05+. If I was running the show the first things to go would be traffic cameras and RBT's -> .

[MNeagle]

I like to flash my lights when it's daytime, but dark & raining so the other drivers will TURN ON YOUR LIGHTS!! Their visibility is so low, it's dangerous.