Picture this, one day while driving on a highway, you spot a man in black and white under an overhead bridge with a radar gun. After passing, you immediately flash your headlights to warn oncoming drivers of the impending speed-trap that awaits them. Food for thought, is this actually an offense by law? Apparently a court in the United States has ruled that flashing your headlights, even to warn of stealthily hidden law enforcement, is protected speech.
It all started in a town at Ellisville, MO, where the authorities were trying to prosecute drivers who warned others of impending speed traps by flashing their headlights. However, U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey was with the town’s side by issuing an injunction against the town, stopping the prosecution of lookout drivers who help everybody drive as fast as possible without detection. The judge added that using headlights to communicate is protected speech.
This means that flashing the headlights to warn drivers on the opposite lane about the impending speed trap is a protected speech and authorities have no claim to stop you from doing this. However, that only applies in the United States – the country that was reported to possess one of the best judicial systems in the world.
Back to our context in Malaysia, flashing headlights could be another meaning – which drivers use to ask the driver doing 80km/h in the overtaking lane to please move out of the way. Is that another form of “protected speech”? I’m of the opinion that drivers should not need to be flashed in the first place, if they learn how not to road hog, yes?
[Source: http://www.atlredline.com/]
