Within the last month the lawsuit has led to both the Florida Highway Patrol and the Martin County Sheriff's office ceasing issuing tickets for headlight flashing until the suit is settled.Sheriff's offices in St. Lucie and Indian River counties are continuing enforcement of the state statute while waiting on the outcome of the lawsuit.At issue is whether a state statue's prohibition of flashing lights on vehicles includes what some motorists consider to be a courtesy: signaling that officers are around.
"This (citations for flashing lights) is a completely false assertion by traffic enforcement," said J. Marc Jones, an Oviedo attorney, who on Aug. 22 filed the civil lawsuit against the Florida Highway Patrol and other state agencies. Jones contends the statute's prohibition of flashing lights on vehicles doesn't mean motorists can't flash their headlights.
"Officers are specifically stating that flashing lights to warn other drivers of police presence is against the law and they cite (state statute) 316.2397," Jones wrote in his lawsuit. He said the statute clearly deals with equipment on a vehicle and not the physical act of flashing ones lights.
The state hasn't yet responded to the lawsuit that is pending in Leon County at the state's capital.
But within a week of the lawsuit's filing, the Florida Highway stopped citing drivers.
The FHP's deputy director of patrol operation, Grady Carrick on Aug. 29 sent out a memo that read, "... you are directed to suspend enforcement action for this type of driver behavior, regardless of the statute cited."
The tickets are comparatively rare. The FHP estimates its officers have written 82 such traffic citations statewide within the last 12 months.
Sheriff's offices along the Treasure Coast each have written about two flashing light tickets this year but this include citations for such things as having emergency blinkers on when not needed or having decorative lights attacked to the underside of the car that change colors.Indian River County Sheriff Daryl Loar said he will review the lawsuit and monitor what his deputies are doing.St. Lucie County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Garry Wilson said both tickets written in by deputies this year have been upheld. Still, "We are watching the case to see the outcome," he said.
Wilson said flashing headlights to warn motorists of law enforcement is more usually seen on high-speed highways such as Interstate 95 and Florida's Turnpike.
That is where Winton was when he was stopped at 9 p.m. on May 14, 2010.
The Weston resident was driving north out of the Port St. Lucie-Fort Pierce rest stop on the Turnpike on his way to take his wife and two children to Universal Studios in Orlando.
He saw two Florida Department of Transportation officers parked ahead along the highway. And he flashed his minivan's headlights.
Soon two patrol cars with flashing colored lights were behind him.
When he was told why he was stopped, "I was shocked," he said. "I asked if that (headlight flashing) is illegal? The officer said yes. They are misquoting statutes."
Winton, 47, hired J. March Jones as his attorney and challenged his $120 ticket on the grounds that state law doesn't ban his flashing his lights. Winton won but not without a comment from the judge. He said County Judge Thomas Walsh Jr. told him that headlight flashing was juvenile.
Still the judge tossed out the ticket.
And now Jones is citing Winton's case and several others around Florida as part of the legal basis for challenging the FHP, Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and the Florida Department of Transportation. Jones' lawsuit was filed of behalf of Land O' Lakes driver Erich Campbell and all others who have been cited by the state agencies.
Wilson, with the St. County Sheriff's Office, said not all headlight flashing may be a traffic violation. For years motorists have flashed their headlights to signal that a oncoming motorist has high beams on at night. "In my mind that is not a violation of state statutes," Wilson said, because that signaling is to help prevent accidents.
And motorists sometimes turn their headlights off and on to check if the lights are on.
However, "Flashing five to 10 times could get into the area" of being a violation, Wilson said.
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