Is warning other drivers of speed traps illegal?
Mon, 05 Mar 2012 22:24:39 GMT — It's fairly common for vehicles traveling on the highway to flash their lights at oncoming traffic to warn them of an upcoming traffic trap. But is it legal? For Monday's Facebook story of the day, you wanted to find out.
In Iowa, there is no law that says flashing lights is illegal, but if it interferes with a police officer's work, it could be cause for them to pull you over.
"It could depend on what their intentions are, if they know that they're trying to do something that would interfere with what the officer is doing, they could," said Sergeant Kevin Ward of the Ottumwa Police. "But once again, it's proving what their intent is."
Sergeant Ward said it's actually very common to see cars flashing lights at each other, and it doesn't always mean there's a cop ahead. Cars can warn other drivers of bad road conditions, animals, roadwork or traffic accidents.
As long as you do so safely and with good intent, you will not be pulled over.
