Flashing Your Headlights To Warn Other Drivers: Free Speech OR Justified Ticket?

[Shadowrider]

I'll go against the grain here. I never warn others, so you are on your own.

What if they are just leaving a crime scene? What if they are loaded full of ammonium nitrate and diesel? I know it's not likely, but I want to give our LEOs every possible chance to catch the true criminals and if it happens from a minor traffic violation so much the better. Remember how Timothy McVeigh was caught? That's why...

 

[donner]

The original intent of traffic citations was to discourage unsafe driving.

exactly, i think the bigger issue is getting lost here. It's not whether you choose to warn others or not, but rather you should the government be allowed to ticket you for what basically breaks down to an act of expression.

 

[patrickcudd]

Or better yet how about they just raise all city/county taxes so everyone has to make up the difference? Speeding is ILLEGAL, thats why they write tickets for it.

No offense, but they should fire everyone that is dependent on fines for revenue to support them. The basic priciple of what you describe is so jacked up, if you can't see it, you never will!

If you are so lunchladyish that anything illegal should be heavily fined, you need to read the OK statutes to find out what is really illegal. If tickets were written for all these things everyone would be broke!

I break the law everyday in some fashion. My morals are not dictated by laws, but by what is right and wrong. If a law is wrong or set up to catch someone unsuspecting for revenue generation, then it should be ignored by all. In fact, I think it is immoral to not break that law!

 

[patrickcudd]

I'll go against the grain here. I never warn others, so you are on your own.

What if they are just leaving a crime scene? What if they are loaded full of ammonium nitrate and diesel? I know it's not likely, but I want to give our LEOs every possible chance to catch the true criminals and if it happens from a minor traffic violation so much the better. Remember how Timothy McVeigh was caught? That's why...

I love what-if's......

What if there was a driver that was tired due to the 20 hours of volunteer service helping newborn baby's eat that fell asleep and hit the cop writing a ticket to the guy you didn't flash?

Oh, and McViegh was caught for driving a vehicle without a tag and carrying a gun before it was legal to do so.........

 

[donner]

No offense, but they should fire everyone that is dependent on fines for revenue to support them. The basic priciple of what you describe is so jacked up, if you can't see it, you never will!

If you are so lunchladyish that anything illegal should be heavily fined, you need to read the OK statutes to find out what is really illegal. If tickets were written for all these things everyone would be broke!

Seems like this logic is what led the British to create the Stamp Act

 

[Shadowrider]

I love what-if's......

What if there was a driver that was tired due to the 20 hours of volunteer service helping newborn baby's eat that fell asleep and hit the cop writing a ticket to the guy you didn't flash?

Oh, and McViegh was caught for driving a vehicle without a tag and carrying a gun before it was legal to do so.........

Well IIRC that guy would be in violation for not merging into the other lane. And I know that McVeigh was initially stopped for a tag violation. So what if he would have been flashed and Trooper Hanger was working 4 or 5 miles down the road? Would McVeigh have taken an exit before that to avoid the stop if there were one available? We'll never know but it brings begs to my point.

I don't really care one way or the other as to whether it's actually against the law or not, but a free speech violation it surely is not.

 

[vvvvvvv]

So what if he would have been flashed and Trooper Hanger was working 4 or 5 miles down the road? Would McVeigh have taken an exit before that to avoid the stop if there were one available? We'll never know but it brings begs to my point.

For something that was so seemingly well-planned, that was a pretty stupid move. Perhaps he wanted to be caught.

 

[twoguns?]

My wife works at the PD in town as a dispatcher so I don't warn people when I know or see one of the guys here running traffic. Speeding tickets may be steep but they put food on my table and alot of other people's tables. Cities and counties depend on the income to bring in revenue. Its just a fact of life. I appreciate it when I am warned but I don't typically warn others.

Really???? I mean ..Really??
What about living on the budgets of the taxes they already charge us for?
Trying to help or protect the public is one thing...but revenue generation by writing traffic tickets...should be against the Law.

 

[Baron Driver]

Would you prefer they close the county jail and let all the thieves, domestic batterers, and habitual drunk drivers out? Guess what that "revenue" that you hate so much pays for?

 

[J.P.]

Do I like the "no flashing" law?
No.

However, arguing it as a 1st Amendment Right ain't likely to fly......the same way there are automobile exceptions to the 4th Amendment.
That's what I think.

I know it's not likely, but I want to give our LEOs every possible chance to catch the true criminals and if it happens from a minor traffic violation so much the better.

Right, but apparently not everyone agrees on what a "true criminal" is....