Gets off with the alleged offence Trucker Arrested for Flashing His Headlights to Warn of Speed Trap; Beats it in Court – Latest.com freedom of speech still allowed in the States
You can get off here too, but it would be best not to have to argue it: Is it illegal to warn oncoming cars of a speed trap? - Telegraph The theory is that the prosecution would have to prove that the drivers you warned were in fact speeding. I can't see that an "improper use of headlights" argument would make much sense when so many cars now have lights on all the time, and a major proportion of motorists misuse headlight flashes anyway, using them as a "you have permission to pull out" for instance, instead of as a warning. I have been grateful on more than one occasion for others having flashed at me....because they have of course warned me of an impending dangerous part of the road, where it so happened that the police were carrying out activities to make it less dangerous.
The short Telegraph piece is not very helpful. The issue here is whether the person flashing their headlamps did so with the intention of thwarting or interfering with a police operation. If the prosecution can prove that, or the flasher admits it, then there may well have been an offence. In reality this is very rare, because flashing lights is not illegal in itself and any driver can flash their lights at any time including for the purpose of warning of some kind of possible or perceived hazard or problem. Cases reported in the media tend to be about drivers who, when questioned, have stated they were trying to thwart a police operation and have insisted they are entitled to do so. Which is a poorly thought out response!
all you have to say is you were aiming for the wipers n got the hl flash by mistake. and nothing more.
Itwould be vitally important not to say anything that could incriminate yourself, if pulled in for this, although the "trying to work the wipers" option sounds tempting - no good on a bike though! You have the right to remain silent, sort of, in the UK.... Anyway, it seems as if Plod, aware of the difficulty of proving various aspects, now resorts to booking people (for £30) for the simple offence of misusing their lights: Police fine motorists who flashed headlights near speed traps - Telegraph arguably, this penalty option could be used in most other cases that people now flash their headlights, and especially "yes, I give you permission to pull out". Why do so many now indicate to change lanes on a motorway, and then won't do so until someone flashes them? Who taught them that? It's certainly not in the highway code.
For over thirty years in the UK, lorry drivers have used their headlight flasher to indicate another lorry can pull out in front in order to overtake........It's usually a single long flash, sometimes a double flash. When a lorry wants to pull back in front of another, the trailing lorry indicates it is OK do do so with a double flash; sort of a long first flash followed by a quick flash....... I suspect motorists have cottoned onto the procedure and use it for cars overtaking..........I use it for lorries.
