FLORIDA Judge Rules Flashing Lights For Speed Trap Warning
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.....IS COVERED UNDER FREE SPEECH!
Florida judge rules flashing lights for speed trap warning is covered under free speech
Count this one as a big victory for motorists. A Florida man has won his First Amendment case against the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, who wrongfully ticketed him for flashing his lights to warn other drivers of a speed trap. According to the Orlando Sentinel, a Circuit Court judge not only said that the deputy who ticketed Ryan Kintner had misapplied a state law banning aftermarket flashing emergency lights, but also ruled that flashing your lights to communicate with other drivers qualifies as constitutionally protected speech.
But this victory for Kintner is just a stepping stone towards a larger case. According to the report, his attorney has filed a class action lawsuit that charges the Florida Highway Patrol with willfully violating a 2005 court order prohibiting the police from ticketing motorists for flashing their brights. The report says that case has a hearing scheduled for next month, so this is certainly not the last we'll hear on the issue.
I do this ALL the time in warning other motorists that a speed trap is up ahead. If this form of free speech is stopped or you can be ticketed. What's to stop the courts from saying you can't warn a other motorists that they don't have their headlights on etc. We must be free to express ourselves out on the road for safety sakes and our pocketbooks.
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*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
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On a somewhat-related note, I remember a story going around here awhile back that gang members were using the flashing-headlight thing as an initiation for new members; they'd drive with their lights off and if you flashed them - boom, shot. Could've just been a rumor but who knows in this (sometimes) fucked up city.
Anyway, YES to free speech!
Let's hope this freedom remains in *ahem* other areas as well
I was driving with some Florida Locals with me in my car (In Florida), I flashed my headlights to some oncoming traffic to warn other cars about a speed trap ahead, they were like "Damn, you can't do that shit here, they will lock your ass up, this ain't 'Canada'!"
I smiled when I read that same article a week ago, and sent it to these same folks who once told me that.
In many other countries/areas I see people flash their cars headlights in warning all the time. It's just courtesy. I don't see it much in Florida State. But I hope that changes now.
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