FL judge: Warning others of speed traps is free speech
Another installment of an old controversy. I am a "flasher" (of headlights) myself -- but I don't do it as systematically as this guy did
"A judge in Florida ruled on Tuesday that flashing one's headlights to warn other drivers of speed traps set by police is protected by the First Amendment.
Ryan Kintner of Lake Mary, Fla. was pulled over and cited by a police officer in an unmarked car for doing just that. Kintner was at home when he saw a deputy park along a street and being using his radar gun. He got in his car, drove a little ways away and parked his vehicle so he could flash his lights at oncoming traffic to warn them. ...
Kintner, however, was not going down without a fight. He took his case to court, suing the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, with Attorney J. Marcus Jones arguing that ... 'Flashing your headlights is expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment.'"
Source
16 comments:
Flashing headlights at on-coming cares to warn of an officer's radar ahead does, in fact, accomplish what the officer's primary job is...to slow folks down. Unless the officer and his agency consider his job to make money for the courts by using the radar to catch people after the begin speeding, not to just prevent them from speeding.
So, based on that judges ruling, can't one say that murder or rape is also an "expressive conduct"?
BTW Anon 12:59, the courts don't get the money collected from traffic fines. That goes to the local govt.
Yes, we are a nation of laws. But in reality, we are more a nation of fools than laws.
Virginia has banned all raidar detectors
I spent quite a few years in Korea and all the drivers there flash their lights to warn of speed traps. At the time, I wondered why that hadn't caught on in the USA. Now, it seems it is although the government is upset that they're not getting the revenue they otherwise would. It should be a no-brainer that it is legal and as another commenter noted, it accomplishes the mission of slowing people down. To equate that with condoning murder or rape is just ridiculous.
I thought it was well known that excessive speed affects drivers' moral judgement causing them to rape and murder wherever they can!
Anon 2:07:
BTW Anon 12:59, the courts don't get the money collected from traffic fines. That goes to the local govt.
Not in Florida. In Florida a percentage of certain traffic fines goes to the state government, and not the local government. Tickets written by state police are divided up as well.
In addition, while you do make the distinction of "fines" going to local governments, the fact is that court costs which can be assessed even if there is no fine or points go to funding the courts, and not into the general operating budget of a government.
The cry was "it's obstruction of justice!". Than you better start arresting the folks at one of the radio stations around here. They are ALWAYS announcing where police checkpoints are gonna be. The standard argument is, the folks that are breaking the law are gonna avoid based on the station's announcement. The answer: the police TELL us to announce it! Go figure.
Audiences at a graduation ceremony were left aghast when Congressman Barney Frank told a black degree recipient that his graduation gown finally gave him a hoodie that he could wear 'and no one will shoot at you'.
The Democrat made the controversial remarks while speaking at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth graduation on Sunday.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2151313/Barney-Frank-shocks-graduation-ceremony-telling-black-student-You-wear-sort-hoodie-shoot-you.html#ixzz1wCth2Tao
This is great news. Police departments can now hire, at minimal expense, "light flashers" in place of valuable police officers and thereby reduce dangerously fast traffic whilst also freeing up their officers for more important work.
Great, great news indeed. I wonder how long it will take?
There are still good judges left, it seems. Bravo.
99pct of drivers don't even know what some moron flashing their lights is trying to tell them anyways.
Heck, I will flash my lights, court ruling or no- it's just manners! There was a similar situation when I was at the University of Cincinnati (years ago), the college meter maids were fining people who put nickels in parking meters for cars that weren't their own on campus(something I routinely did, anyway- I reckon I'm just ornery that way)! Don't get in between a government and a revenue source, it is more dangerous than being between a mama grizzley and her cubs!
The courts, lately (to their credit) have been affirming individual rights in these small ways, I hope it is the beginning of a trend, and that the pendulum is slowly beginning to swing back toward individual freedom...
Just to be clear, the police were acting within the law. There is a Florida Statute that only allows emergency vehicles (including tow trucks) to have flashing lights.
The State Police had gotten legal guidance that flashing lights - even if to warn other motorists of a speed trap - was illegal.
The police were acting in good faith and within the law.
A judge ruled differently and so the issue is out the window.
The problem is not the police, per se, but a badly written law that legislators refused to fix even though they knew it was an issue for the last 30 years.
Hey, Lawyer Joe (anon 4:28)
Switching from low beam to high beam, or turning your lights on and off once or twice, is not the same as having a dedicated flashing light. They really have nothing to do with one another. Any legal guidance to the contrary shouldn't make any sense to anybody but asshole lawyers. The intent of the law is clear, however badly that can be twisted by lawyers.
Anon 11:42,
I won't respond to your jibe, but will say this: the law had been in force and in use for decades. Previous judges had upheld the idea that flashing lights was illegal. In addition, the law didn't require a "dedicated flashing light" it only required that lights were flashed or "turned off and on rapidly."
The legislature knew of this issue for a long time and refused to address it.
So what are the police doing about the flashing lights of UFOs?
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