For The Love Of Port

I am all for warning drivers of law enforcement down the road. Gives drivers a chance to slow down without slamming on the brakes when they see a cruiser out of no where. Not to mention saving each other from getting tickets.

Personally, I'm against it.
Every year, in my opinion, the drivers are getting worse and worse. Laying down the law can only be a good thing.

Here's what is odd. I've searched both published and unpublished rulings for this case and found nothing in the 11th District Appeal Court log for it. So A little more digging found out this was only a preliminary injunction. Which means it hasn't gone to trial yet and no final ruling has been made. Much ado about nothing here at the moment.

Also when you read the section the driver was cited for, it doesn't apply to headlights. It's for

Any lighted lamp or illuminating device upon a motor vehicle other than headlamps, spotlamps, front direction signals or auxiliary lamps which projects a beam of light of an intensity greater than three hundred (300) candlepower shall be so directed that no part of the beam will strike the level of the roadway on which the vehicle stands at a distance of more than seventy-five (75) feet from the vehicle. Alternately flashing warning signals may be used on school buses when used for school purposes and on motor vehicles when used to transport United States mail from post offices to boxes of addressees thereof and on emergency vehicles as defined in Section 300.010 of this Title and on buses owned or operated by churches, mosques, synagogues, temples or other houses of worship and on commercial passenger transport vehicles that are stopped to load or unload passengers, but are prohibited on other motor vehicles, motorcycles and motor-drawn vehicles except as a means for indicating a right or left turn.

(bolding added).

I can guarantee you the legislative intent and/or definition of "warning signals" does not include manually flashing your high-beams at other cars a few times. Sounds like the cops cited him for the wrong section and he's taking them to task, rightfully.

Andy Velebil wrote:Here's what is odd. I've searched both published and unpublished rulings for this case and found nothing in the 11th District Appeal Court log for it. So A little more digging found out this was only a preliminary injunction. Which means it hasn't gone to trial yet and no final ruling has been made. Much ado about nothing here at the moment.

Also when you read the section the driver was cited for, it doesn't apply to headlights. It's for

Any lighted lamp or illuminating device upon a motor vehicle other than headlamps, spotlamps, front direction signals or auxiliary lamps which projects a beam of light of an intensity greater than three hundred (300) candlepower shall be so directed that no part of the beam will strike the level of the roadway on which the vehicle stands at a distance of more than seventy-five (75) feet from the vehicle. Alternately flashing warning signals may be used on school buses when used for school purposes and on motor vehicles when used to transport United States mail from post offices to boxes of addressees thereof and on emergency vehicles as defined in Section 300.010 of this Title and on buses owned or operated by churches, mosques, synagogues, temples or other houses of worship and on commercial passenger transport vehicles that are stopped to load or unload passengers, but are prohibited on other motor vehicles, motorcycles and motor-drawn vehicles except as a means for indicating a right or left turn.

(bolding added).

I can guarantee you the legislative intent and/or definition of "warning signals" does not include manually flashing your high-beams at other cars a few times. Sounds like the cops cited him for the wrong section and he's taking them to task, rightfully.

That section seems to outlaw the hazard lights (all four turn signals flashing) found on most cars as there does not seem to be any exception for vehicles stopped on or near the roadway.

Peter,

No it doesn't. Not intended at you, but this is where the general masses get in trouble reading and interpreting most states vehicle codes as they are usually written in a complicated matter that requires an understanding of how certain words are defined in the code itself, legislative intent, and other things. Unlike most easy to read, straight forward penal codes which are written at about the 6th grade level, LOL. You should see most of the people I work with try and figure out the vehicle code. I'm lucky, or unlucky really, to have spent so many years working traffic that I've finally got a good understanding of how to interpret vehicle codes.

What this code is referring to is other lights, such as the top mounted flashing warning lights on school busses, emergency lights on ambulances, a flashing light installed on a buggy, etc. It has nothing to do with emergency 4-way flashers on a car, used when you break down. That is governed by federal laws and why all vehicles have them.