High beaming on Twitter

by Christian Grantham - 3:52 pm - December 1st, 2009

I just retweeted Gail Kerr on Twitter, and then I kind of panicked. The more I thought about what she had done, the more I thought it was akin to flashing your headlights to warn oncoming traffic that the police are monitoring traffic speed.

Gail Kerr gailkerr Warning I-40 West travelers: Metro cops are nabbing speeders just before the Memphis/Louisville split. Ditto Industrial Blvd. Slow Down!

I did a quick search just to make sure we both didn’t just break the law, and it looks like we’re both OK.

According to a Wikipedia link to a November 4, 2003 article in the Tennessean, “flashing headlights to warn oncoming traffic of a police car ahead is protected free speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

So, high beam away, Gail. High beam away!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 3:52 pm and is filed under Police, Public Policy, Safety, Twitter, Wonky. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “High beaming on Twitter”

  1. High beaming on Twitter « Nashville Is Talking says:
    December 1, 2009 at 11:12 pm

    [...] Read More Here… Share and Enjoy: [...]

  2. Rob Robinson says:
    December 2, 2009 at 9:28 am

    Nice! I am definitely a high beamer, too, and I’m glad to know that this is protected free speech. Down with speedtraps! :)

  3. Paul says:
    December 4, 2009 at 12:44 pm

    Odd though it may seem, if one High Beams on Twitter while driving, such ‘protected speech’ is likely a violation of the texting while driving law. ‘A case where exercising free speech to prevent someone else from breaking the law involves breaking another law.

    Wouldn’t is be simpler if we all try to respect the posted speed limits?

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