I think your living in a fairy world, John, if you don't believe a flash may startle an unsuspecting driver. And if there were some mishap as a result of the flash contributing to an accident, you can bet that the police are gonna look into it. The term "contributory negligence" comes to mind ... and I know that in some jurisdictions (well, I've been told, anyway) that if there's a death involved because of an accident caused by a driver startled by your flash, you may be liable for some criminal charges as well.
The whole idea of using and directing camera flash into night traffic seems, at best, very unsatisfactory and unsafe. John Francis wrote: > Flash at the angles we're talking about here aren't going to > be much of a distraction; drivers aren't looking out of the > side windows of the car. > > It wouldn't dazzle them, either, even if they were staring > directly at it; the light output of a flash is significantly > lower than a pair of headlights shining at you, and drivers > are generally adapted to that light level. > > As to how the police feel about it: the original example was > a public road, outside an apartment block. While there's no > way to predict how any particular police officer may choose > to behave, I doubt if there's anything they could charge you > with that would hold up in court. And let's face it; by far > the most likely thing, if they did choose to do anything, > would be to simply ask you to stop.
