Veteran commenter Tim LeVier updates an older Ethics Alarms post about the ethics and law regarding the practice of flashing headlights at oncoming cars on the highway to warn them of speed traps. Police had been ticketing the flashers; I said that this was wrong, there being no law against the practice, but that warning law-breakers of a police presence was poor citizenship and unethical nonetheless.

I still feel that way, but insufficiently considered other reasons, ethical ones, that might prompt the same conduct. Tim, while pointing us to a more recent story on the topic, remedies my failure….as he has before. As usual, I am grateful.

Here is his Comment of the Day on Look Out! There’s a Speed Trap Ahead!:

“…A couple of points:
“1) …giving him a ticket that read “improper flashing of high-beams.”

“I actually agree with this kind of ticket if someone is flashing their high beams at on-coming traffic, especially at night when it would impair their vision. If people are going to flash their lights, it needs to be from “off” to “low-beams”. During the day, the beam setting might be indistinguishable and thus, un-ticketable.

“2) Ruskin says “It’s illegal because you’re warning someone,” he explained. “It’s the same thing as saying, ‘run, here comes the cops,’ You’re obstructing a cop from doing his lawful duty.”

“So, under his premise here, if I’m walking down a street and I see a cop walking my way and I tell another guy to run into a shop, I’ve committed a crime? Even though that guy did nothing wrong and wasn’t wanted by police? It’s now illegal to provide “fair warning”? I don’t know about you, but when red-light cameras are set up, a sign must be posted before the intersection to give “fair warning”.

“3) Ruskin says “He is warning people who are speeding to slow down. His intent is to impede the police.”

“He is warning people. Yes. Can’t argue that. But you can’t say that he is only targeting law breakers. He has no way of knowing whether oncoming traffic is speeding or not. Additionally, he has no way of targeting certain cars that are speeding and not others.

“Other people he is warning are people who are driving the speed limit but were contemplating going faster. He’s also warning people who are driving too slow (as a hazard) to speed up. He’s warning people who were thinking of making an illegal pass not to do it and he’s warning people that might be startled by the presence of a speed trap not to be surprised and jerk the wheel.

“He’s doing more social good to correct driving behaviors than the one cop sitting back from the road.

“4) If you take away people’s right to communicate with others so that cops have an easier job, then you’ve taken away their ability to communicate when cops aren’t around.”