Mis-Use of Florida Windshield Law?

Internet services provided for free by Alachua County FreeNet. Mobile Scanner and RADAR-Detector Laws		UPDATE (05/05/2010): If you live in Florida and were ticketed for having a radar detector under the Florida windshield obstruction law (see 316.2952(2)), I need to know about it. I'm conducting a personal investigation because I'm personally concerned about this implication of apparent impropriety within the Florida Highway Patrol in using the windshield law to specifically target radar detector owners where the Florida Senate actually voted DOWN a bill pushed by Senator Oelrich not long ago which would have banned the use of RDs throughout the state. In voting that measure down, the Senate APPROVED the use of RDs in Florida. Yet, the FHP is ticketing people in south Florida for their use, which I argue is unfair and is extremely confusing for motorists. It places Florida motorists into an unfair double-jeopardy situation that they cannot possibly win. The Senate waves it's arms and says "HEY everybody! RDs are LEGAL here in Florida!" The FHP comes along and says, "Oh no they're not! You can't hang them from the windshield!" (...Which every detector is inherently designed to do.) "HAH ha! GOTCHA! Pay up! Oh and here's something to go on your record, too!" Add to this the "Television receiver" law (see 316.303) which throws further inconsistent thinking into the frey. It allows the use of GPS units and exempts them from being considered "television receivers"; but it does not tell people that they are illegal to use on the WINDSHIELD - the very place where they are DESIGNED to be used! There would appear to be an unfair conflict in the form of a "trap" going on because on the one the law says GPS units are okay to use in a vehicle and yet another law - unmentioned in the television receivers law - OUTLAWS their use in the windshield, where they are designed to be used! That's TWICE people are pulled in, and then whammied by the existence of another law! This is unconstitutional and unfair! Granted, there is a bill which has passed which will supposedly make the use of GPS units legal come September but it is not known if it's going to be a simliar situation where they SAY something is legal only to "getcha" with the windshield law again. And even if it DOES make GPS unit use okay, it would only make one larger object perfectly fine to block visibility but the other smaller one would not be. That would still not make any sense at all, and STILL be just as unfair. But wait! We're not done! Add to that the fact that many cities and counties within Florida have spent a lot of combined monies purchasing "Safety Warning System" transmitters which are attached to safety & rescue vehicles which are specifically DESIGNED to work WITH radar-detectors to scroll a text warning message across the LED display warning motorists of hazards ahead or of approaching emergency vehicles and you would seem to suddenly have a huge wasted expenditure on something which the FHP has decided (in total opposition to the Senate) to be ILLEGAL TO USE. Suddenly the use of all those SWS transmitters would seem to make absolutely no sense at all! But WAIT! There's more! I've only started hearing complaints about all this stuff in just the last 6 months - as if the FHP only started making USE of this law inside that time. But what about all the REST of the time that law has been on the books? I would argue that by not USING that law until now, FHP has set a precedence of not caring. Why NOW? So I've just GOT to ask, here... What the HECK are these people DOING??? What is going ON??? There's just TOO much confusion, and too much inconsistency in legal thinking. It just appears very suspicious and questionable a practice to ticket people for the use of RDs because they supposedly OBSTRUCT one's field of view when the Senate has ok'd their use already. The whole thing seems to imply some apparent impropriety possibly going on. I'm VERY concerned to see this happen to innocent people. I've sent letters of query to both the Troop C Division Commander and to the FHP Director in TLH requesting explanation and suggesting cessation of the ticketing practice altogether for being unfair, confusing, and in conflict of the precedence that was set by the Florida Senate, itself. If the Senate says that they're legal to use, then that would assume that that means PERIOD. If the Senate has okayed their use, then that means it is a "state approved" use, which satisfies the windshield law's definition/requirement that devices upon the windshield be "state approved". Thus, that being the case, all activity by the Florida Highway Patrol up to this point has apparently been illicit, and whether intentional or NOT, has unnecesarilly harassed, intimidated, frightened, and even extorted fines out of innocent Florida citizens who now are TOTALLY confused and have NO idea what the frak is going on. Is the SENATE in charge? Or is the FHP in charge? It would appear that the FHP is acting of it's own self-proclaimed power, in conflict with and in violation of the Florida Senate's own set precedence. There is a potential for hundreds of thousands so far put to motorists in fines - for something the Senate told them was supposed to be legal. If you've been so ticketed, I need to know where it happened (including Troop division if you know it), the date and time, the ticketing officer's name and badge number, and the specific statute(s) that you were cited for, all indicated upon the ticket. I need this information to help me in determining just how widespread this actually is. That is, is it confined to Troop C only? Is it just a few rogue officers within that Division? Or is this a statewide FHP campaign and officers are specifically being INSTRUCTED to do it? My argument is that all tickets so issued should be rescinded and erased from the record, and all of the very hefty fines refunded, with written apology. I may also CC various Press agencies about this, too, to call their attention to this - to make sure this is indeed looked into appropriately. Maybe they can even help research just how MANY drivers have actually been afffected. So, please DO contact me if you have been affected by the Windshield law. I'm trying to find out for sure just exactly how widespread this actually is. So far it appears to be confined to the Troop C area. But I want to be absolutely sure. Suggested Improvements To Existing Laws I would suggest the following improvement to the current Florida Windshleld Obstruction Law, with the following modified verbiage, or something similar, added to alleviate any confusion and to cease any further undue accidental harassment of Florida drivers: "7) This law shall not be construed to affect users of windshield- or dash-mounted RADAR-detectors or GPS navigation units." The current Paragraph 7 should be moved to a new Paragraph 8. That's SO very simple. (sigh) And it eliminates the apparent confusion generated by the words "state approved". -Todd UPDATE (05/07/2010): Reply from Mark Welch Mark Welch, of the FHP in Tallahassee, responded and - long story short - the FHP is taking the position that the law says the devices are illegal so citizens WILL be ticketed for their use. This leaves going to the legislature to argue the matter, unfortunately. That being said, I would make the suggestion that people begin writing thier local Senators members and House Representatives and bring this to their attention. BE CALM. BE COOL. Don't get angry or overzealous in your wording. Just stick to the main point, and thank them. After a while, enough letters sent, they at least become AWARE of the problem. From there we can ask for changes in the laws so that people don't get harmed like this. UPDATE (07/30/2010): FHP at it again...this time with Troop K on the Turnpike. This makes the entire Central Florida band a danger zone for radar detector use. Note that the FHP is trying to hide the ticket for the detector behind a ticket for speeding, attaching it along with the speeding ticket. This does NOT make the practice justified, in my opinion. UPDATE (06/16/2010): I've been watching over the past month while again and again DMV-Tallahassee and various Florida-government-related and FHP-related sites have been repeatedly checking back on this web site. NOW, I'm seeing hits from the US Department of State. Why so much government interest in this site, all of a sudden? Over the past month, I've been watching while ALL citizen complaints about tickets for radar-detectors on windshields have suddenly ceased. This to me implies that the TICKETING has ceased. The Troop C query to FDHSMV has been troubling me. If FHP was proceding legally, by permission, with the knowledge and permission of our State government, then WHY did they issue a letter of query to Tallahassee? You don't start issuing tickets and then ask if what you're doing is okay after the fact! Something is wrong with that scenerio. What's going ON here, Really? I fear that I have accidentally uncovered some form of impropriety on the part of the FHP, here. I think someone took some things into their own initiative and did not ask permission of upper echelon and proceded on their own, instead; and now that I've called public attention to it I think DMV and FHP are possibly quietly making attempt to "make it all go away." I am seriously thinking of getting back with the Press again and re-thinking the handling of this. I may ask them if they'd be interested in making an FOIA request for any and ALL documentation regarding the handling of radar-detectors and/or the windshield law, from all FHP offices, and from DMV.
Mobile Scanner & RADAR-Detector Laws In The U.S. c/o Todd L. Sherman/KB4MHH Gainesville, Alachua Co., Fla. E-mail: mobilescannerlaws@cox.net Last updated: July 30, 2010. All information Copyright © 1995- by Todd L. Sherman/KB4MHH. All Rights Reserved.

[ Top of Page] [ Back To Main Page] [ Visit My Scanning Page]

sitemap