FHP stops ticketing headlight flashers because of lawsuit
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COLLIER COUNTY - A follow-up to a story Fox 4 four has been telling you about since last month. Drivers ticketed for flashing their headlights to warn other drivers about speed traps. Now, Florida Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies are Video by fox4now.com
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COLLIER COUNTY - A follow-up to a story Fox 4 four has been telling you about since last month. Drivers ticketed for flashing their headlights to warn other drivers about speed traps. Now, Florida Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies are taking some drastic measures. They will no longer issue tickets to drivers caught flashing their headlights to warn others because of a lawsuit filed by an Orlando-area attorney last month.
The memorandum issued to staff says in part… “Because of pending litigation involving this issue and our agency, you are directed to suspend enforcement action for this type of behavior, regardless of the statute cited."
J. Marc Jones, the attorney who filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Tampa-area man who was cited, said “That's a pretty big win for us we think those memos are quite telling and we're pretty excited about that,” he said.
But the FHP isn’t the only organization suspending the practice. Seminole County has suspended writing tickets until the suit is resolved and Orange County has asked it deputies to stop writing the tickets altogether. Locally, the Collier County Sheriff's office told Fox 4 told that they are simply not aware of any of their deputies ticketing drivers for flashing their headlights. Meantime, the Lee County Sheriff’s office said it will continue to issue tickets based on the law on the books right now.
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