when was the last time you were alerted you to a speed trap?

You know the behavior I'm talking about. You're driving down a four-lane and cars in the opposite direction flash their headlights. It's a signal that there's a speed trap up ahead.

I moved back to central Florida after 20+ years in Tennessee, most recently in Nashville which has been hailed as one of the most "hospitable" cities in the nation according to a story I heard on NPR some years ago. A team of sociologists (there's an image for you) developed a set of social exchanges and rated the "hospitable quotient" in different cities. A typical social exchange used in the study was asking directions from a stranger -- in other words, a *solicited* social exchange.

When someone driving on the opposite side of the road flashes their headlights to alert you of a speed trap, it's an *unsolicited* hospitable exchange. The people in their cars receiving the message will never know who you are or be able to thank you. A solicited hospitable exchange has the immediacy of being face-to-face. When you give good directions to a stranger there's a normative framework -- you are VERY inclined to give assistance to a stranger who is standing in front of you, wide-eyed and lost.

My point is, alerting drivers to an oncoming speed trap is a *selfless* act of kindness, whereas giving good directions demands a hospitable response even if you are disinclined. Furthermore, the act of alerting drivers to a speed trap carries a risk, as you might also be flashing your lights at a traffic officer who could ticket you.

During my Nashville years I rarely saw this phenomena, and believe me, I looked for it as I was always late and drove fast cars. When I did notice someone giving the signal, it was usually one lone flasher in a giant herd of commuters. Often I thought that it was remarkable that so few people in the most "hospitable" city in the nation, participated in this form of driver solidarity.

Here in central Florida, if there's a speed trap up ahead, every other oncoming car will flash you. It's an amazing feeling, to be the driver in the other lane receiving this anonymous tip. To me, this is one of those strange and beautiful things that make life special. Strangers doing strangers a meaningful act of kindness, unsolicited, and with person risk. This little gesture says to me that we are indeed, in this together. We don't live in Hobbes' State Of Nature where life is "nasty, brutish and short." Given the opportunity (of a cop hiding in the median), we reach out to strangers across FOUR LANES OF TRAFFIC.

To me, this is a beautiful thing.

:rofl:

I'm only half serious.

On the open highway it's not a big deal, but frankly, I'd be more likely to stand beside the cop with the radar gun in a lot of settings. Too many wacko drivers out there. I'm usually on the side of the cops on this. I'm on the road so much that my chances of a serious accident are higher than the average person's, and after watching spoiled idiots swerving one ton SUVs through crowded streets or speeding twice the limit through school zones I just don't have much sympathy. I wish there were more traffic cops. You usually have to be doing ten mph over the limit to even get their attention, anyway.

The rushers, is what I call them. Looking for every little 'edge', taking short cuts, cutting people off, etc. Nearly missing a fender, etc. One doesn't have to be spending to drive in such a manor.

Very little is done about these behaviors. Kinda hard to set up a 'trap' and catch a bunch of folks. Enough to make the 'trap' wirth while. Yet it's THAT kind of problem that is causing insurance rates to go up. Where a speed trap happens on an open road and less congestion...

I rather the cops spend more time setting in dangrous areas, curtailing some serious stuff, then setting up a sped trap.

Last month I seen a bold guy pull a really nasty stunt. I was in the right lane, first person at a red light. he comes up beside me in the rt. turning lane and stops. When the light turns green, he gets in front of me. I figure he did a 'boo boo." Then I seen him pull the exact same stunt several more times.

"Disobeying or disregarding a traffic control device". Ticketable in every state in the union. He'll get his. What an asshole.

And I don't really have a problem with people taking an extra 8-10 mph in a non-residential area. I do dislike speed traps set up only to pad ticket quotas. But I'd still rather see more traffic cops on the road, and most speed traps I see are meant to catch people exceeding the norm, not just exceeding the speed limit. I'd like to see more in school zones, too.

red lights, rather than those going 10-11 mph over the speed limit. Much more dangerous.
Multiple times I have actually witnessed a cop car sitting at the intersection while someone ran the red light, and the cop didn't even go after the fokker. But they set up speed traps all over the place in this town. REALLY pisses me off.

I am so sick of the huge number of people who run red lights!

where did you see this superlight suv?

A honda civic weighs more than one ton. Most Suvs weigh 2.5-3 tons.

room to enter your lane if front of yourself.... I will always try to let other drivers know about cops with radar....its a common courtesy

I hate speeders climbing up my tailpipe, though. I generally stick to the right and within 5 MPH of the speed limit. If 75 is too slow for them, that's their problem and if they get nailed for speeding, that's peachy by me.

on the other hand... i've been known to tap my brakes for tailgaiters. :evilgrin:

even here in NY, on long island. I have flashed my lights when i see a speed trap. and others have flashed their lights at me alerting me (and others) as well

The only exceptions are high-pedestrian areas. It's too dangerous for someone to be speeding when there's a strong likelihood that a person will be in the road.

flash your lights regardless of a speed trap. it will have the same effect. :evilgrin:

except I will flash my lights if oncoming traffic is on its way to a safety hazard in their lane.

Anything that helps keep victims out of the hands of the rapists in the state police is a good thing.

I'm in PA and get "flashed" all the time. Of course, out where I live, it's usually to warn of deer ahead.

a rapist? man, Pennsylvania is a ROUGH state!

seriously though... the RISK of being caught is part of the beauty of this.

it's a personal thing tho... just wanted to share how *this made ME feel.* i'll take any gesture of kindness in the world these days.

56mph... busted, but that was 14 years ago...

or a gesture of solidarity among criminals?

I think it would be a kinder world if we all took our time instead of hurry, hurry, hurry.

hint: there's no "right" answer... the "test" measures nothing. rather, it's used as a means to deciper one's moral strategy.

because it had been so long. Luckily, I saw the cop as I was cresting the hill.

I always appreciated the truckers who will flash for the traps as well as that you're clear to re-enter the lane after passing. :)

if you're alert, you can tell where the traps are regardless of the kindness of strangers. when you see people ahead of you with brake lights on, it's a good idea to brake as well, because if it's not a speed trap, it might be debris in the road... or an accident.

I always try to do it too. It's a courtesy.

You can blatantly run a red light in front of one of them and they just don't care. Speed traps? Are you kidding?
:rofl:

that's the assumption at least.

are you in maine? for some reason, that fits perfectly with my imagined version of maine.

We've got the Bostonians beat hands down for terrible drivers.

"hester"

maine is on my list of "must live there before i die."

We've got "quirky" down to a Northeastern art form. :eyes:

:P

"the other side" of the family are Maine-sters. i LOVE the accent because i grew up with people i dearly love who spoke it. also, the northern shore really captures my imagination. the fantasy is, spending a year of seasons on an island... writing, cooking and being with a special someone.

ahhhhhhhhhhh. :)

So would you also warn drug dealers there is a cop walking down the street? Would you warn someone beating their husband or wife that the cops are coming as a "selfless" act of "kindness?"

If someone is breaking the law, any law the police deserve the right to enforce the law. You seem to think you are "in this together" with people are are breaking the law, I'd hardly call that as you put it "a beautiful thing."

of a speed trap and then you'd be having a positive impact on the world according to your personal ethical strategy. that's cool too.

Good lord, man. You're equating driving 35 mph in a 30 to drug dealing.

Damn. I'll bet you snitched on your older sister when she came home after curfew. Just protecting her from herself, right?

:puke:

are we in this together? or not? is my neighbor my friend or my enemy?

The only thing more annoying than cops setting up blind speed traps is their ability to pull you over for not "clicking" your safety belt.

This is a button issue for me.

Flash those headlights. "Beware the speed trap!"

after passing the police car you warned them about? I guess they are your enemy, huh?

but, just to clarify -- i NEVER SEE speed traps in residential, pedestrian areas. it's always in the suburbs on those lonely feeder roads.

The first is a victimless "crime" and should not be against the law.

The second is ludicrous.

So you believe that cops should be able to do anything they want if it is about "enforcing the law, any law" even if the law is unjust. You have more faith in them than I do.

would be yourself. Speeding can cause others victims to be hurt. I didn't say police should be able to do anything, just don't see why anyone would warn criminals as to their presence.

Wow. This reminds me of the scene in Blazing Saddles where the Harvey Korman character "Hedley Lamarr" shoots the guy for chewing gum while waiting in line because he didn't have enough for everyone. "Wow, is he STRICT!"


RGBolen, please...try and understand this.... What the OP'r is referring to is a friendly gesture common all over this country ( I know cause i have driven in every state in the country except Alaska, and over 1.5 million miles of it accident free) and it's intent is more of "Hey, check your speedometer, there is a cop ahead" as opposed to "Watch out all of you doing 110 in a school zone, there is a cop ahead".

People who speed aren't criminals. Criminal speeding is an entirely different matter altogether and it usually means in excess of 20 over the limit.

BTW, there is something called the "75th percentile rule" that is recognized by most law enforcement personnel. What that means is the safest speed to travel is that speed which 75 percent of traffic is traveling REGARDLESS OF THE SPEED LIMIT. If everyone around you is doing 80 on a 65 MPH limit freeway the safest speed is 80. Going slower makes YOU the hazard.

Marijuana's societal benefits far outweigh any downsides and I am demonstrably advancing the public welfare by not clogging the jails.

speeders and warning others of a "speed trap", i.e., a stretch of road that has a dramatic drop in its speed limit in order to increase revenue.

I see no problem with alerting others regarding the latter.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiight....

Lighten up Francis....

Oh, and fuck the po-lice...

and kill someone they know. OK, sure they are different.

Speeding is not even a crime - it is a moving violation. (Excessive speeding IS a crime, however.)

There's a gigantic gap between the two instances. Sorry, but your moral righteousness is not appreciated, nor warranted.

Typically it only takes a couple of flashes.

I hope it doesn't upset any oncoming drivers.

:evilgrin:

:evilgrin:

And I slow down to make sure my speedometer is reading correctly.

i'm not an inveterate speeder, but i can be absentminded.

1) To let merging vehicles (especially 18-wheelers) know that there's enough room to enter

2) On a highway with no passing lane, to let the driver behind me know that it's clear to pass me (this I see alot more in Mexico, but that may be because there aren't so many small highways here in Cali).

Up around Oakland, there were some murders that were apparently gang initiations. Basically, the gang members would drive around at night with their brights on, and the first car that flashed their headlights at them would be targetted. So I don't even bother flashing my headlights to tell other people their brights are on anymore, honestly.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/lightsout.asp

very interesting phenomena, actually. right up there with the emails about AIDS-infected needles stuck under theater seats... these myths RIP APART the social fabric.

I first heard it about 15 years ago, while living in Fayetteville, NC.

Because he not only told me this legend, but claimed to have been chased by gang members and fired upon after flashing his lights.

Lying bastard.

Step one. Give the cop the finger as you drive by at a speed well under the limit.

Step two. Flash your lights to every car you pass for the next mile.

is ahead. Sometimes you just want to help out a fellow traveler.

However, I did quit after my son-in-law, a deputy sheriff, was talking about being beside the road one day waiting to move into position to cut off someone who had just committed armed robbery at a convenience store and was fleeing. His fellow officers were in hot pursuit heading straight down the road toward the son-in-law. A deputy who was coming up behind the suspect saw an oncoming vehicle flash their lights at the suspect car (who was really speeding) to warn him of the cop car ahead. The guy turned and then continuing running for another hour and half. Thankfully no one was hurt in the high speed chase but it could have ended much earlier if it weren't for the "good Samaritan." Now the good Samaritan didn't have a clue anything was going down but that someone was in a really big hurry. While his intentions were to be helpful it could have gone wrong in so many ways.

And the flasher? The cops somehow got his license number and he received a visit strongly requesting him not to do that anymore.

Guess I'm guilty of thinking that all cops do is wait beside the road just dying to give me a ticket.

Flashing lights at a car being pursued by a cop gets into the realm of aiding and abetting.

My problem is not that I hate cops, laws, or law enforcement -- it's directed pretty specifically to orchestrated traps for some petty violation. (Going 35 in a 30 is petty in my book.)

The driver that flashed the car being pursued by cop in motion was eligible for arrest in my book. That was really bad form.

actually got busted for signaling drivers. Judge threw it out, though, telling the cop if his duty with the speed trap was to slow people down, as he claimed, rather than entrap them, then the guy flashing his lights was merely helping him out.

i used to drive back and forth from east tenn to Nashville quite a bit. on Interstate 40, right before Knoxville, as you're coming down the mountain from the Cumberland Plateau, there used to be signs that read: DRUG AND ALCOHOL CHECKPOINT AHEAD. anyone who got off on the next exit after the sign was searched with "probable cause." this went on for YEARS -- around 1995, 96, 97.

it was the most dangerous thing because at that point, especially going east, you're on a twisty downhill descent. many times i was in custerfluck situations with other drivers freaking out because of the signage.

but, yes -- i totally remember this guy. the story made some national "human interest" headlines.

Must be a regional thing?

Unfortunately, the warning went disregarded and we were ticketed for driving 85 in a 75. :spank:

I was not the driver. :)

Wisconsin, someone put a sign in their yard warning travelers about an upcoming speed trap in the city.

I always appreciate the professional truckers who signal when it's ok to pass, merge or warn of upcoming trouble. I have shared the interstate with many great truckers. :thumbsup:

for me and others. i was so surprised because it had been so long, and i was simply thrilled by it. yet... to see the people on this board that are appalled, or offended that a speeder should dodge a ticket is not only funny to me, but saddens me.

yes, an act of kindness. and it has been a while. further, i personally have forgotten to do this. i will have to remember

i had kids in car and was going the speed limit and a car did this. i told them, hey... i wonder... if they are truly letting us know cops in front. and we topped the hill to see the cops. i told the boys, back in the old days, people did this all the time. we see it as a badge of honor and kindness amongst our fellow human beings. watching out for each other.

kinda like my child getting away with chewing gum in the class. if you get away with it, good for you... if you are caught, suffer the repercussion. how seriously am i going to take it. being someone who has been faster paced in all things, all my life, my rhythm is set in such a manner that lower speeds cause me more problems then what is naturally comfortable to me. the only times i have had fender benders is at the lowest of speeds. never, when consistent to my nature.

A good friend of mine is a cab driver and says cab drivers get tickets for things like not keeping their cars clean enough.

I think it's a good thing to help others avoid paying through the nose for tickets--especially because many speed limits are set so low that it's almost impossible not to break them.

this is exactly how i remember this from childhood in central Florida. my mother, who never drove over the limit (i think she was physically incapable), always flashed her lights in the old Buick Skylark. i can still remember her body language, reaching down for the knob saying, "you better slow it down, mister..." :)

The CHP stakes out our little hill two or three times a year, and trust me, we all go faster than the posted limit. So we all extend the courtesy of warning other drivers. In fact I've been thinking it's about time for the Chippies to stake out the hill again.

The only time I don't do it is if someone is reeeally speeding. Then, I figure they deserve a ticket.

Slow down and you won't need to worry about it.

But I remember getting the "flash" out in the suburbs and being really grateful for it!

Perhaps with the explosion in automated speed traps nowadays, the cops don't feel the need to do it themselves so much.

...and as some of the more socially conservative posters have pointed out, a long-gone gesture b/c of the perceived criminality of strangers.

when i noticed this here, in Florida, my first thought was that this part of Florida isn't exactly Mayberry. I would describe east Central Florida as particularly crime-obsessed, due to the "Nancy Grace"-style reporting of the local news here. seeing the pheomonena ran counter to my perception of this part of the country being stricken by anomie -- everyone's a transplant or a tourist. and yet -- this is where i was reminded of this small-town gesture. it was a real "wow" moment.

(and, when it did I either saw no police presence in connection with it or saw that it was for another reason) that I have assumed most of these past two decades that people in the US do not flash their lights to signal the presence of a radar-equipped peace officer. Either that or -- because of a very few instances in which light-flashing and police presence seemed linked -- that it was a regional thing.

I drive or ride fast everywhere, pretty much, if conditions allow. Yeah, I fought the law, and all that...but the law hasn't won in over 15 years, when I last got pulled over by the CHP (on the 101 between the San Fernando Valley and Thousand Oaks, CA...I was listening to a fast song, singing along, and going fast on a beautifully open stretch of pristine freeway). I've always had a seeming 'sixth sense' (I'm sure it's more an ability to pick up subtle cues) about radar traps and have been stopped very few times. The last time I was pulled over for speeding I was actually going under the speed limit...and, no, I was not driving too fast for road conditions. It was about a decade ago in the southern college town where I lived (a town notorious for its greed, the many police there very much being used as a revenue-collecting device) when, for some strange reason, I was doing about 50 mph up a hill in a 55-mph zone, passing a police car that was doing about 40 or 45. He pulled me over and told me I was speeding and I argued that I most definitely was not (not helping much was that, not long before, the town's top policeman contributed to a newspaper article in which they listed the county's unofficial speed limits for various types of road, the higher speeds at which -- by departmental policy -- they'll actually begin to notice you), and I had my wife and her mother as witnesses to the fact, but he was really belligerent and told me I should never pass a policeman, no matter how fast I was going, or I would be 'speeding.' F***ing fascist. I've always had a great respect for police personnel, in general, but that police department (most famous for shooting a crazy naked man, presumably because the officers' doughnut-stuffed physiques weren't up to using anything but lethal force delivered without exertion through the barrel of a gun) earned my disrespect through their piggish ways, including other encounters I had with them.

My internal police radar detector still seems to work -- unless I'm just very, very lucky -- though twice in 2004, while riding my motorcycle between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, I got passed on the freeway (while doing over 100 mph) by motorcycle police in Riverside County who were going even faster -- in both cases they were just cruising along, with no lights or siren (thusly themselves breaking the law), and I waved at the second one as he passed because I figured that things couldn't get much worse. :D

So, yeah, I shatter speed limits the world over. But I am a good driver/rider and the key is that I go fast only when it is safe and appropriate to do so. Speeders who are poor drivers, or who zip around in heavy traffic or where the difference between their speed and everyone else's is significant (they almost invariably get to their destination no sooner than I do or even later), are menaces and an entirely different story, some deserving of a Stinger missile up the tailpipe. Speed doesn't kill; driving like any idiot is what kills.

And, like others here, I have always thought that police traffic units' time would be far better and more beneficially spent staking out intersections and other venues where dangerous driving is so much more common and where most accidents and near-accidents probably happen. I mean, it's basic logic -- using Las Vegas as an example (and, some nights, we'll see as many as six or seven motorcycle police lined up in the center median on the Vegas Strip right across from where I work, and they're off after people coming through the intersection every two or three minutes...THAT is a far better use of their time), what is more of a benefit: policing the idiotic driving seen around town, especially at intersections (hell, all they'd have to do is follow a taxi driver for a few minutes and they could write tickets galore, the taxi drivers here being some of the most dangerous drivers I've ever seen) or sitting out in the desert on some stretch of freeway where you could do 200 mph and still be safe from all but wandering coyotes and jackrabbits?

The classic 'speed traps,' where the posted limit is unnecessarily low and fully intended as a means to swell the municipal coffers, are immoral. But I think that most speed checkpoints, especially on open road, are more money-earners than anything else. The officers' time could be used To Protect And Serve much more constructively in other ways.

Here's a big flash of my headlights (no innuendo intended) that you might find interesting:

http://www.speedtrap.org/

many times i've been cruising at "escape velocity" and suddenly get the notion that there's a trooper up ahead... and there he be.

i also get a contact buzz from whatever traffic i'm in. i can be in an otherwise great mood and congested rush hour traffic will make me anxious like i'm in a roomful of crying babies. the only thing that makes me feel better is to give room for people to merge in front of me -- it's the frustration i pick up on. likewise, open roads and happy drivers give me a great feeling.

i recently drove from from Nashville to Padre Island to San Francisco (back to) Nashville, and then to Florida. it was a lifelong yearning... to do the coast-to-coast thing. i LOVED the experience of being on the road in so many different places. so many details of the trip were completely unexpected... like, south central and south west Texas made for a peak driving experience. this made sense when i thought about it... what with the oil economy. great roads, wonderful rest areas, breathtaking vistas. on the other hand, i found California very difficult to navigate, espcially the Bay Area, because in the metro areas were devoid of road signs... you know... the ones that tell you what road you are on. never been so lost in my life. on the bright side, the PCH was every bit of spectacular i imagined it to be... and more.

new mexico was the most welcoming place i traveled through. even tho i was on a journey, new mexico seemed to say... "if you want, you could just stop here and stay here... and, you know you want to." very strange feeling.

i agree with the traffic light critique. it just makes sense to put the enforcement resources where they will reduce harm the most. feeder road speed traps seem very lazy to me.

from the same idiots waiting for a check from Bill Gates for spamming me with the last chain email they got.

here's the Snopes on it:
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/lightsout.asp

you always hear reasons to fear people. you never hear the good stuff, the unheralded good intentions.

I have never heard of this way of "signaling."

when the uncoming car saves your ass warning you about the police car around the corner. It always puts me in the best mood.

I always try to help my fellow drivers out, pay it forward

It's one of the commandments.

left over from my trucking days. :) I know where all the cops are. 98% of the time I guess.

I drive all highway to work and the traffic moves at an outrageous clip sometimes.

aA

SOOooooIEEEEE!! SOooooOOOOOOIIIIIEEEE!!! Here piggy piggy piggy!!!