Judge Says You Can Warn Others About Speed Traps 457
cartechboy writes "Speeding is against the law, and yes, even going 5 mph over the speed limit is breaking the law. But everyone does it, right? What about when you see a cop? Some cops are ticketing people for notifying fellow motorists about speed traps. In Florida, Ryan Kintner simply flashed his high-beams to warning oncoming cars that there was a cop ahead. He was given a ticket for doing so. He went to court to fight the ticket, and a judge ruled that flashing lights are the equivalent of free speech, thus he had every right to flash his lights to warn oncoming cars."
FIRE! (Score:5, Interesting)
In Québec / canada (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: Common sense? In MY judiciary? (Score:5, Interesting)
the reason the cops will not be pleased, is because of the "totally not really a thing(tm)" ticket quotas they get slapped with when the local municipal govt overspends on its budget, like it always does.
the city of course asserts that no such ticket quotas happen, and that they are an urban legend, however, my dad was of the police bacon variety for 25 years, and speaks with authority that yes, ticket quotas are real, and that there are punishments for not meeting them.
if the goal of the policeman is to basically do a shakedown on people in the name of public safety, (when in reality, the posted speed limits have shit little to do with modern highway safety, and have even been shown to be a safety HAZARD when followed in many areas-- making the "safe" speed the same as that of the rest of the flow of traffic, not what is posted), then of course they will be upset when motorists are allowed to warn of said shakedowns.
it's simple.
city says "write this many tickets, or suffer consequences" (then lies about it to the public)
cop has strong incentive to write as many tickets as possible.
city has highway speed limits posted dating from the 1950s and 1960s, intended for 2 lane highways being enforced on multi-lane metro traffic arteries, and does not want to update them because they are lucrative.
cops now have motorists warning each other about the shakedowns going on, and will be more likely to fail at meeting the "mythical" ticket quotas.
of course, the cops have the "my word against yours" thing going on with city officials, and cant prove that they get defacto enforced penalties for not meeting the "supposed" quotas, and besides, even if treated seriously, who is going to investigate and rule on the matter? both parties that would normally perform that service have outstanding interest in the matter.
so, caught in that nasty legal limbo, with a "so totally not really a requirement, honest!" requirement that now may not be met, you can bet that local city cops with traffic radar guns are going to be be snitty about this.
from the sounds of it, this was not a municipal judge that decided this case.
that's the difference here.
Re:Free Speech HA! (Score:4, Interesting)
Mouth off to a cop and see how precious your fucking rights are in Amerikkka. Fags.
Mouthing off to a cop is pretty STUPID because there is *never* an upside to it. At best it is neutral if the cop decides to ignore you, but all other outcomes go down hill from there. It's best to just be respectful, stay calm and do what they tell you. You don't have to answer any questions or consent to any searches (and I suggest you not do either), but there is absolutely no sense in mouthing off.
Fine x Probability of Being Caught = Incentive (Score:5, Interesting)
Seems as though the police should actually want people to know about the speed traps. I mean, the ultimate goal for the police is to have everyone follow the law. If people know about an upcoming speed trap, then they'll slow down to the speed limit. If they don't know about the speed trap, then they'll continue to endanger those around them by driving too fast. </delightfully naive>
Of course, we all know that what the police really want is ticket revenue. The more law breakers there are, the more revenue they get, and hence they will try to stop people from warning others to obey the law. This system is rather broken.
You assume that the justice system is calibrated incorrectly. Ideally, the penalty for speeding is designed to disincentivize the behavior and is multiplied to make up for the discount from the low probability of getting caught. A 10% chance of a $200 ticket, for example, or a 5% chance of a $400 ticket. If you warn people where speed traps are, you change the chance of getting caught, which means the fine is no longer as effective a deterrent.
This was actually a big problem with red light cameras--they made more people get caught, which made the expected penalty MUCH higher than it should have been.
Vive la difference! (Score:2, Interesting)
...The difference is in this case you are warning people that they will get caught for breaking a law, and they will get caught in about a minute if they don't stop--as opposed to a more general "you shouldn't deal drugs because EVENTUALLY someone will catch you."
So ... if I see someone starting a fight in a bar, and I try and cool it down by shouting to him "Don't be an idiot! There's a cop outside in the street!" .... I should be done for... what, exactly?
Re:Good for the judge. (Score:5, Interesting)
Cops in Texas have been spreading the rumor that flashing headlights at another motorist is a gang challenge and could get you shot.
I shit you not.