Is Flashing Your Headlights At Another Car Illegal In Texas?

Is flashing your headlights at another car illegal in Texas?

During one of my deep lunch conversations with the guys, we were talking about the lack of driver courtesy in Texarkana. Most drivers will not let people in line at a stoplight, Some people will pull out in from of you in a heartbeat and that means always keeping an eye out for these uncourteous drivers. I had this question come up during lunch one day about flashing your lights at another car to warn them of the police and I had to look up the answer.

First, there are only two reasons I will flash my headlights at someone.

1. It is at night and they have their bright lights on and are coming toward me. With all of these new LED lights sometimes they are so bright they look like they are on high but there are not. I have LED lights and I Have been flashed plenty of times.

2. I am warning them about something on the road like an animal or even some object. I even hit a landscaping timber last year that was on the road. Or a police officer is looking to get folks speeding.

The answer to the flashing headlights question has come under some scrutiny but on a message board called Texas Gun Talk. here is what they had to say about it:

While it is not illegal to flash your headlights to warn other drivers of a police presence up ahead; it is illegal to do so within 500' of another vehicle per the Texas Transportation Code, Sec. 547.333.

They also added the following.

Texas does not have any traffic laws that makes flashing one's headlights to warn oncoming vehicles that a police vehicle is nearby illegal.

So it is fine in Texas, but in the state of Arkansas, it is illegal to flash your headlights at another car. It is also illegal in Tennessee and Mississippi.