(Updated: May 7, 2010 - 12:45am)
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 of apparent impropriety within the Florida Highway Patrol in using the windshield law to 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 inherently 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 atteched 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 OBSTRUCT when the Senate has ok'd their use already. The whole thing seems to imply some apparent impropriety possibly going on. I'm VERY confused 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.
What does this mean for the FHP? ...A lot of bad Press attention, a lot of apologizing, a lot of refunds, and a whole lot of manpower hours erasing illicitely made charges from the permanent records of many innocent civilians. This is not good. Why? Where do you think that money is going to COME from? That's right, their own budget, or the State's.
I FEAR the actual numbers. Is it just a few thousand? I doubt it. If they were particularly aggressive about ticketing people, then this could potentially add up into the tens, or even into the hundrerds of thousands of dollars collected. The fine is a hefty one: around a hundred bucks. So, if ten people were so ticketed, then that's $1000. If just a hundred people were ticketed, then that's $10,000. Was this confined to just within Troop C? or was it widespread throughout the entire state of Florida? See where I'm going with this? This could easily add up to hefty figures which will ultimately have to be refunded, and that will inevitably have to come out of SOME department's budget SOME-where. And that's going to definitely hurt when it happens. So let's HOPE that this was just a few rogue officers with an idea that was not approved which did NOT cost their departments all that much.
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".
For more information, see my web site: Mobile Scanner & RADAR-Detector Laws In The United States.
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.
