2 Q's, Do you flash (poll)? Cops running radar w/o lights...

aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Last night on a Burger King run (using up X-mas cards), SUV flashed his lights at me, the driver's code that there is a cop running radar/speed patrol ahead. I slowed down, and sure enough cop sitting off the road, radar in hand.
The poll is asking do you alerts other drivers that there are cops ahead? (For cars it's flashing your brights, motorcycles during the day is patting your helmet/head).
Definitely would have been busted for at least the 60mph in the 45 I was going (well it's a 55mph road that's under construction, so it's 45mph, but there's not been work done in forever).
The second question is dealing with cops running radar, without any lights on, specifically their parking lights. I've noticed this nasty trend only recently that they are completely blacked out. Before I could easily spot the cops with the parking lights at night and slow down in time. I didn't see this cop till I was right on him.
I've tried searching online for this, most annoying answers have been on cops boards with a common answer a cop in a hat can do anything to uphold the law (no, actually not really). But some say it is entrapment, a cop car must be visible (why a cop can't post up outside a bar and bust DUI's before they leave the parking lot). Some say it's by state law, in that if there are in the median or in lanes of travel they must have lights on.
My issue, is if they didn't have to have their parking lights, why do some cops have them on, and others don't?
 
reefraff

reefraff

Active Member
Heck, the Nevada highway patrol used to park in the bar ditch lights off to crack people. Around here I've seen MC cops use the gun and radioing a couple cars parked further down to nail people. All's fair in love, war and speeding tickets.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

I do flash to warn when I even notice the cops...Truth is I seldom even notice, because I am law abiding by nature, so looking for the police is not something I scan for...My X however was always pointing them out to me.
If you obey the speed limit by no more than under 5 miles over, ( in a 45..I do 49) they don't bother you as a rule. The only people who need to SEE the cops are those who are breaking the law.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
I use to alert people all the time....still do once in a while, BUT, I will never have a car w/o cruise control again, and I will NEVER speed....reason for this is NOT because I am a perfect law abiding person, BUT $175 for 5 miles over the speed limit is nowhere worth it to me....I work too hard, and USE TO (YAY) depend on every penny to survive
I have not gotten a ticket in over 10 years :)
CHOICE WAS SIMPLE...feed my children.....or speed DUHHHH
 
tangman99

tangman99

Active Member
Even being ex-LEO I flash my lights. Simply for the reason that 90% of the time, these are set up to make the non-existing "quotas" you hear about. I always thought they were a waste of time and resources. Now there were times when these were setup at locations that were flagged as being a high accident area to try and slow people down. They don't work though. Not sure what recent laws are but in the late 80's in Florida you had to be visible meaning you could not be completely hidded behind something. Parking lights were not required that I ever knew. When you see them with parking lights on, they probably just have the car running so they have heat or AC. The only worthwhile setup was DUI checkpoints but it's like fishing. You can't catch them all.
 
lovethesea

lovethesea

Active Member
I flash carefully......once my hubby did it to a car and 2 cars back from that car was a cop.
He either didn't see it or ignored it.
Also flash carefully here because our municpalities LOVE the unmarked cars..
 
socal57che

socal57che

Active Member
I flash.

In Mo, they used to be required to have a certain number of lights on. Parking lights met that requirement. I'm not sure if that rule still applies either. I did a couple ride-alongs with my cousin deputies. Their mom was a dispatcher. It could easily vary state to state, too.
 
fishtaco

fishtaco

Active Member
I don't do a whole lot of speeding since I got busted jumping to lightspeed while passing a string of 5 RV's on a long straight road. Trust me when I say you don't ever want to talk to a judge about something like that or pay the fine. These days when I want to go fast I save it for trackdays or autocross courses.
Fishtaco
 
veni vidi vici

veni vidi vici

Active Member
In some states its illegal to flash,you can be ticketed for interfering with a investigation.However i still sytart flashig usually before i even pass the squad car."Put the donut down and go harass criminals." I really bugs me that the police have been converted into revenue generators instead and harassing the general public for monetary gain.I think they could be more useful in other capacity's.
 
reefraff

reefraff

Active Member
Originally Posted by TangMan99
http:///forum/post/3235196
Even being ex-LEO I flash my lights. Simply for the reason that 90% of the time, these are set up to make the non-existing "quotas" you hear about. I always thought they were a waste of time and resources. Now there were times when these were setup at locations that were flagged as being a high accident area to try and slow people down. They don't work though. Not sure what recent laws are but in the late 80's in Florida you had to be visible meaning you could not be completely hidded behind something. Parking lights were not required that I ever knew. When you see them with parking lights on, they probably just have the car running so they have heat or AC. The only worthwhile setup was DUI checkpoints but it's like fishing. You can't catch them all.
Sometimes the cops hang on the street that runs past my old house which is by the elementary and middle schools. I wont flash there because there are too many idiots that thing it's OK to do 40 in a 25.
 
reefraff

reefraff

Active Member
Originally Posted by Veni Vidi Vici
http:///forum/post/3235246
In some states its illegal to flash,you can be ticketed for interfering with a investigation.However i still sytart flashig usually before i even pass the squad car."Put the donut down and go harass criminals." I really bugs me that the police have been converted into revenue generators instead and harassing the general public for monetary gain.I think they could be more useful in other capacity's.
I wonder if anyone has been ticketed for that. It would be really easy to beat. How you going to prove intent?
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Originally Posted by jennythebugg
http:///forum/post/3235198
i flash

Originally Posted by socal57che
http:///forum/post/3235224
I flash.

I knew you two would get it

Originally Posted by TangMan99
http:///forum/post/3235196
Even being ex-LEO I flash my lights. Simply for the reason that 90% of the time, these are set up to make the non-existing "quotas" you hear about. I always thought they were a waste of time and resources. Now there were times when these were setup at locations that were flagged as being a high accident area to try and slow people down. They don't work though. Not sure what recent laws are but in the late 80's in Florida you had to be visible meaning you could not be completely hidded behind something. Parking lights were not required that I ever knew. When you see them with parking lights on, they probably just have the car running so they have heat or AC. The only worthwhile setup was DUI checkpoints but it's like fishing. You can't catch them all.

Originally Posted by socal57che
http:///forum/post/3235224
In Mo, they used to be required to have a certain number of lights on. Parking lights met that requirement. I'm not sure if that rule still applies either. I did a couple ride-alongs with my cousin deputies. Their mom was a dispatcher. It could easily vary state to state, too.
I think where myself and others may be getting the parking lights thing, is from the rules that apply to us. An occupied car that is parked (I'm unsure if it has to be running or not) has to at least have it's parking lights on. I've been with my old roommate sitting at a gas station waiting for his brother to come out, and had a cop tell to at least have our parking lights on. I mean it sorta figures out that's why every car has the ability to run just parking lights. They wouldn't have them if they weren't required some how.
Tang, that is quite interesting about the FHP and being visible. In my many travels in the State, I've only ever once seen FHP's 'hidden.' It was in Palm Beach, the one cop was running radar on the overpass (the guardrail blocking view of him), and 5 or so more on the exit ramp waiting to bust. The others have always been in the median, in the "Authorized U-turn Only" areas, or under and overpass in the concrete median, etc.
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Originally Posted by Veni Vidi Vici
http:///forum/post/3235246
In some states its illegal to flash,you can be ticketed for interfering with a investigation.However i still sytart flashig usually before i even pass the squad car."Put the donut down and go harass criminals." I really bugs me that the police have been converted into revenue generators instead and harassing the general public for monetary gain.I think they could be more useful in other capacity's.

Originally Posted by reefraff
http:///forum/post/3235252
I wonder if anyone has been ticketed for that. It would be really easy to beat. How you going to prove intent?
For what I've read online, it would depend on the mood of the cop. If he wanted to make it hurt, it would be Obstruction, Interfering with governmental entity, and Failure to Dim (since you do use your brights to flash). I don't think the Obstruction would stick as no crimes have been committed yet? Though either failure to dim or multiple beam lighting equipment would stick.
Some people have been ticketed. There was a case in Pa, it actually went all the way to the Penn. Supreme Court, where it was overturned because they were ticketed during the day.
Others have been overturned in court of the 1st Amendment, saying that it was free speech to warn of police radar and that the agency got other cars to voluntarily comply with the laws just by being there so there was no reason for them to care if the car was warning others.
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3235138
If you obey the speed limit by no more than under 5 miles over, ( in a 45..I do 49) they don't bother you as a rule. The only people who need to SEE the cops are those who are breaking the law.

Originally Posted by Fishtaco
http:///forum/post/3235240
I don't do a whole lot of speeding since I got busted jumping to lightspeed while passing a string of 5 RV's on a long straight road. Trust me when I say you don't ever want to talk to a judge about something like that or pay the fine. These days when I want to go fast I save it for trackdays or autocross courses.
I think my thing is, I'm just not sure I agree with the speed limits
. Most of them are artificially low, save for school zones, etc, and they cater to the bottom 5%. The very idea of a flat limit is appalling. That we can go the same speed at any time of day, in any condition (well almost). That someone whose just gotten their license, or an 85 year old, has the same limit as myself?
 
jackri

jackri

Active Member
Well on the autobahn it's the slow people that cause as many problems as the excessively fast. So if grandma can only go 35mph and you can go 100mph that makes a very bad mix.
I've actually come up on someone on the interstate -- I was doing 75mph and they were doing 35-40 and I almost rear ended them with no one else around. It was dusk and I saw lights up ahead -- and generally people move with you at close to the same speed. Anyways took my eyes off to the side and then back in front of me and BOOM they were RIGHT there before I knew it.
You just have to have everyone moving roughly the same speed for everyone's safety not the "oh I'm a better driver than everyone else so I can go faster".
 
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