Is wearing headlights to signal a checkpoint prohibited?

“Making the headlights” to report a checkpoint or speed camera to those traveling in the opposite direction is it legal? This is a fairly transversal and widespread practice in Italy, that of repeatedly and intermittently turning on the high beams to tell those going in the opposite direction that there is bad air ahead. But even admitting that it is done out of “kindness”, using high beams for this reason is not legal and in the worst cases it can also have serious consequences and not just for the wallet.

THE ROAD CODE

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Article 153 of the Highway Code clearly explains what thelegitimate use of car headlightsespecially the high beams. Paragraph 1 explains that the projectors low beam they must be activated in any circumstance in which visibility is poor, from sunset onwards or during rainfall, to give some trivial examples. The dazzling instead they must be operated “outside inhabited centers when external lighting is missing or insufficient”, while paragraph 4 of the same article establishes that it is intermittent use permitted of high beams “to give useful warnings to avoid accidents and to signal the intention to overtake to the vehicle in front”, in these cases also in residential areas. Paragraph 11 is very clear and direct in establishing that any other use is to be considered improper, therefore a violation of article 153 of the Code which entails an administrative sanction from 42 to 173 euros. Since the intermittent use of high beams to signal a checkpoint or a speed camera is not among the two exceptions provided for in paragraph 4, anyone who does so violates the provisions of article 153, risking a fine.

CRIMINAL RISK

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However, there are much more serious risks. First of all, that the violation of article 340 of the Criminal Code on theinterruption of public service: “Whoever causes an interruption or disturbs the regularity of an office or a service of public necessity is punished with imprisonment of up to one year”. The practice of using headlights to signal a checkpoint or a speed camera can therefore lead to criminal charges. If the officers catch a road user who repeatedly and over a long period of time uses his high beams to signal controls to those traveling in the opposite direction, proving to be “convincing” to the point of having a significant impact on police activity, hindering it, they can challenge the interruption or disruption of public service. Expected imprisonment of up to one year. Furthermore, in certain circumstances, there is a risk of violating article 378 of the Criminal Code on personal aiding and abetting. For the crime to occur, there must be: a crime committed by someone else and the awareness on the part of the person keeping the lights that they are helping that person to elude investigations and searches. Penalties vary from fine to imprisonment of up to four years.