A judge in Alberta has tossed out a ticket that a High River man got for flashing his high beams at an oncoming sheriff’s car.
Jeff McLenaghan told CTV Calgary in November that he was driving home around 9 p.m. one night when an oncoming vehicle approached that appeared to have its high beams on.
He said that he did “what probably everybody else and their dog does, a quick flick, probably about a tenth of a second” with his high beams to signal to the driver that he or she forgot to shut off their blinding lights.
A sheriff then pulled McLenaghan over, denied he had his high beams on and handed McLenaghan a $155 ticket -- for turning on his own high beams.
The Alberta Traffic Safety Act states that it is illegal to keep one’s high beams on when “approaching an oncoming vehicle ... within 300 metres of that oncoming vehicle” or “approaching the rear of another vehicle that is travelling in the same direction... within 150 metres of that other vehicle.”
McLenaghan said that he had never heard of the law.
The judge decided Monday that McLenaghan’s quick flick was a common courtesy.
McLenaghan said he felt like the decision was “a long time coming.”
With a report from CTV Calgary
