at least in Tennessee you can flash your headlights to warn other motorists of a speed trap. The way traffic laws are written and enforced in this country is one of the few things that tempts me daily to go on a murderous rampage. It all comes down to the evil notion that fines = revenue. This enables/encourages governements (from local to state) to ignore any possible solutions that would result in safer roads, and instead concentrate on the symptoms (speeding, running red-lights, etc.) This revenue comes with little political cost (compared to taxes) and results in police as highwaymen. A sad fact is that a good portion of this money is wasted in overtime, when that overtime would be better used to catch/deter real criminals (crimes with real victims) . Possibly the most disturbing side-effect of our current system of traffic laws (and their selective enforcement) is how much freedom it gives to individuals in power to excercise their personal biases... i.e. Driving While Black ( DWB ) Why do we put up with this? Is there anyone (not in the revenue loop) that likes the current system? I believe breaking the fine<->revenue stream is all it would take to realize a radical shift in traffic laws. Force all fine monies to be used for highway improvement, catastrophic accident insurance, education... fucking light it on fire, anything would be better than giving it to the people that collect it.