studville

Am I the only one that flashes their lights to warn other drivers when I see a cop(s) hanging out clocking people on the highway or in the city?

ZtotallynakedZ

My best friend got a ticket for that! She flashed oncoming traffic, and the car she flashed ended up being another police officer

subinf

I don't understand why that is illegal. Never made sense to me.

pebe

Hell no. If you are speeding, you get a ticket. I speed, I get a ticket.

fla-tls

I always appreciate it, but I understand that it's hard nowadays with HID's. It's not good on the headlight system to flash them like that.

whynot

what was the offense stated on the ticket?

moeronn

Improper use of High Beams? You aren't allowed to use high beams when an approaching vehicle is within 200' - at least in CA.

Chief F1 Fan

I always let people know about cops.

whynot

that might be the law here on the east coast as well, i don't know and never checked, but i never heard of it actually being enforced...

swclown

GIBSON6594

I do it too. There is this one cop that sits in the same spot everyday. It's a main road, but the speed limit is 30mph, so people are usuallly speeding on it. He just sits there and nails people. The dick of it is that the only reason he does it is so that he can win some award they give out for the guy who gives out the most tickets (per year I think).

LuvMyTSX

I've done it a few times, but most times the cop can still see me when I do it, and I don't want to get myself in trouble. I do appreciate it when someone warns me, though. I was saved from a ticket earlier this month by someone who flashed their lights for me. I slowed down just in time .

studville

It makes sense... but I usually turn my lights on and off. I wonder if they can bust you for that (during the daytime of course).

donde esta brakejob or stogie?

JediMindTricks

i'm not surprised that cops do that because my friend got a ticket from a cop, who was handing them out left and right to get some kind of award. (my friend went to court and got the ticket removed.)

but how do you know this particular cop is doing that?

whynot

handing out speeding tickets

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

I don't do it, but had it done to me. The proper way of doing it is to turn your lights on then off, or reverse if it's nighttime. I actually slowed down one time when a passing buss did it to me & sure enough there was a laser trap up ahead. I would have been nailed since I was the only car coming around the bend, & even the V1 would not have helped. I slowed down & saw the cop tagging me then the V1 went off.

GIBSON6594

I know people who know people

BustedJack

I do it everytime, but I turn it on and off rather than High Beam the on coming traffic. The cop that pulled me over was furious as I was still in his visual when I did it. He pulled me over and acted like he was god. I basically told him "It's dark, I saw you back there and I was just double checking to make sure if I had my lights on.... "
he didn't have anything to say and gave me a lecture on "you can't flash ppl to warn cops." I told him I wasn't flashing, I was checking to see if I have my lights turned on... it's at night.

Now I do it at a safe distance... but I always do it.

Whiskers

I do it...But I don't do it if a deer is in the road....Because a deer going through a windshield is kinda funny....

Schizm

I had heard of a case years ago about this. The guy ended up getting off because he was exercising his freedom of speech

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=1493749

BEETROOT

I always do it.

BustedJack

this is one of your NOT SO FUNNY jokes

michiamo

It's something like impeding law enforcement (basically interfering with a police investigation). I flashed my lights once to warn someone and the cop pulled me over and told me this. He gave me a warning and let me go, but he did tell me that he could have writtem me a ticket. I asked someone who was a cop and he said it was true. Now I make sure the cop's not looking before I give a courtesy flash, lol.

Whiskers

bgsm1th

I always do it...though I'm guessing only 5% of the people I do it for really know what it means.

phile

I'm still confused on this issue because I hear both stories - that it's illegal (obstruction of justice) and that it's legal (freedom of speech). Just to be safe, I don't do it, but I would really like to know the final answer! A friend of mine says it was overruled by the supreme court but I can't find any information on that on the internet. But if you google for the topic, you see some reports of small state courts overruling in favor of motorists who received tickets for such an offense.

01tl4tl

Since most of us with gen2 cars have seperate high beams - I see no issue of using them as needed. Whats the differance between flicking them on and off for twisty corners and doing same on freeway

Mostly its truckers who understand the light signals, them and good drivers. That leaves about 90 some percent on the road as clueless.

In the daytime, simply turn headlights on and then you can give a high beam flash to oncoming without lighting up you tailights- the giveaway to the cop behind you

At night- dont even think about the hi beams- nice guy trying to help, and you blind the oncoming driver- who then crashes into you and tells the cop- I dunno- there was a bright light- then was a bad sound- then nothin

The quick down to running lights and back up will do well

You can always tell the cop that you were reaching to adjust the dash lights and accidentally hit the headlight switch- no intention of doing anything but turning down the dash lights!

Always have a story ready for any situation!

01tl4tl

On second thought- the main headlights being HID- the off and on may be not so good for them- any other ideas on nightime signalling.. using the right blinker a few times???

Mike 350Z

Don't cars with HIDs and even bi-xenons like the newer BMWs also have separate "flash-to-pass" lights? That's what I hear anyway.

Crazy88

HAH this thread reminds me of when a LS430 goin south on IL-53 just below Lake Cook was obnoxiously flashing his lights (like 20 times) and sure enough past the ramp there was a State Police car taggin people.

If i remember to, i flash my lights.

Costco

I don't think most people notice. I do flash people in front of me when their headlights aren't on, but they either don't do jack or flip me off.

There's this overpass by my house that's like a hill. Once in a while the same cop will hide out at the bottom of the hill/overpass behind some bushes with the radar pointed right at you when you reach the crest. By then, its too late. He's stopped countless people there, its a 35 but EVERYONE always takes it at 40+

TSX 'R' US

I'll do it as long as I allready have my HID's on. If there's a car down the road from me during the night, I sometimes turn my fog lights off and on a few times to warn oncoming traffic...if they realize why I'm flashing my fog lights...

Hojo061782

That whole area is a speed trap. One time when I was going back to the suburbs from Rockford (from I-90), I took the I-290 extension toward I-355. I swear I saw about 20 state cop cars who had pulled people over. It's like a speeding sting operation where they place them all on an onramp and just nail a whole bunch of people.

fsttyms1

I always warn others about cops, and i really appreciate people who warn me

waTSX

I've done it to help people out, and had it done for me. Speed traps piss me off.

zigzagzig

i concur...everytime i flash, people just flash back thinking i was telling them to turn highbeams off. but i tell everyone possible

bigman

Thats why i flash my foglights a bunch of times.

SidS1045

Look, the reason they're there is to get people to slow down, riht? If you flash your lights at someone, they slow down, so it's all good, right?

Wrong.

Apparently the REAL reason they're there is to collect money. It's the same old story. They depend on drivers breaking the law to help balance the city budget, or something like that. Wouldn't it be just ducky if everyone obeyed the law and they didn't collect a dime? (Answering my own question: No, it wouldn't. They'd just lower the speed limit.)

Digits

what would happen if someone accidentally dropped a bunch of nails in some of the favorite cop spots? :gheylaugh:

Motohip

YEAH! I hate speed traps. I hate red light cameras. They don't care about people being safe, they care about collecting fines.