What should we do?

[Norman Byers, N.D.]

Today I was driving to church with Denise and saw a State trooper on the other side of the road waiting for speeders. As cars drove towards the tropper I flashed my lights to warn them that he was there.

How do you feel about doing this as Christians? I do have mixed feeling about it. They are breaking the law after all. At the same time if I can prevent someome from getting a ticket and having their insurance go up I'd like to help. Am I just enabling them to continue doing this or can the blinking of my lights actually help someone realize that they are speeding and slow down?

What thing ye?

Norman

[cricket]

To me, it just depends on why you are doing it. If you flash your lights whenever you think others are speeding--and not necessarily to help the avoid a ticket--you are doing a service to all mankind. If you are doing it to help them avoid the ticket--well, I think it is a disservice.

Just my 2 cents.

[aldona]

When you flash your lights at someone you are warning them that they are breaking the law and they need to slow down. Whether they do that because they simply want to avoid a ticket, or because they want to avoid causing an accident and killing someone, is up to them.

I think any police officer who complains about the above practice, or fines people who do likewise, is only lending weight to the theory that catching speeding motorists is not about road safety but simply about raising public revenue. In what other area of law would it be wrong to warn somebody that they are about to commit an offence and they had better cease & desist?

aldona

[Denise]

I agree Aldona. To me, I would flash my lights to warn them to slow down, if I remember. (I sometimes have a bad case of forgetfulness, lol, Norm can tell you that) Also, I care for that individual to be safe, and also to avoid a ticket. Sometimes, we can be foot leaded and not realize it, so why not help someone out to remind them, to avoid the consequences? That is my opinion. Denise :-) Luvs you Norman...

[Peter]

Quote:

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Today I was driving to church with Denise and saw a State trooper on the other side of the road waiting for speeders. As cars drove towards the tropper I flashed my lights to warn them that he was there.

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Once when I was a student in an SDA academy the city police put up a speed trap right in front of our school. We were painting the school so we painted a big sign in big RED letters. COPS AHEAD. One of us taped it over the fence a block ahead of the speed trap. Some citizen informed the cops of our sign 10 minutes later and the cops left. Later a young man came to us and told he we had saved him a ticket with that sign.

The next day the cops set up the speed trap again. We put up the sign. This time the cops were watching us. They left as soon as we put up the sign and we took down the sign. They did not come back while we were painting.

[Amelia]

In my part of the country, flashing headlights means something other than slow down. For passenger cars it means your headlights are off or brights on. For truckers it means its safe to pull into the lane.

[Amelia]

Flashing headlights may get you a ticket

You may think you are helping someone, but you're really a criminal who belongs in jail

NBC 3 WKYC.com

CLEVELAND -- Motorists who flash their lights to warn drivers of a speed trap may get a ticket.

It's against the law to flash a car's headlights without a legitimate reason. Cleveland police wrote over 500 tickets in the last year for a [convenient] law that's known as a "high beam" violation.

"Basically they are obstructing our duty and our job to enforce the law," said Lieutenant Robert Stitt with CPD Traffic Enforcement.

The fine for the violation is about $70.

Police say they don't specifically watch for light flashers but will cite them when they see them.

So, this means if the police are watching you, they may not actually see you, we guess...?

[Nicodema]

"you're really a criminal who belongs in jail"

Mere human opinion. Nothing objective or absolute about it at all. Doesn't affect either myself or Reality in the slightest.

[Norman Byers, N.D.]

Hi to everyone,

I thought about something else today it may or may not be relevant. What if you're in the car with your friend and you see a cruiser but they don't; do you tell them about it or just let them get a ticket?

Norman