Last significant update: 3 January 1999
This information can be freely reproduced in any medium, as long as the information is unmodified.
First of all, thanks to Trey Duhon for bringing this to our attention on November 5, 1998.
It's certainly possible that this happened somewhere, some time. But it's clearly not a common thing, as the following text would have us believe:
> HIGHWAY SAFETY ALERT > I have received the following bulletin from people in the Brazoria County > D.A.'s office, and they encouraged me to pass it along:
The correspondent who sent this to us checked with the Brazoria, Texas police department. He writes: "I called the Brazoria County D.A.'s office, and they knew nothing about it, and said it was a hoax."
Surprise, surprise.
Note that this hoax is often changed to have a different police department mentioned -- one that's nearby, usually.
> A police officer working with the DARE program has issued this warning:
Hmmm. I wonder, then, why it's not mentioned on the D.A.R.E Home page (leaving our site) , then? Could it be because...
...it's ...
... a hoax????
> If you are driving after dark and see an on-coming car with no headlights > on, DO NOT FLASH YOUR LIGHTS AT THEM! This is a common gang member > "initiation game".
No, it isn't. It may be an initiation game, but it's far from common.
> The new gang member under initiation drives along with no headlights, and > the first car to flash their headlights at him is now his "target." He is > now required to turn around and chase that car, and shoot at or into the car > in order to complete his initiation requirements.
For more on this, see the Urban Legends and Folklore - Archive o' Legends (leaving our site) -- an excellent source for urban legend information.
> Make sure you share this information with all the drivers in your family!
Oh, puh-leeez! Do not. Instead, dump this in the trash where it belongs, or complain to the sender, asking the sender to do a little fact finding next time, before sending out false information.
Please do not forward this -- or any other hoax -- to all your friends.
Instead, you should reply to the sender -- and as far back up the email
chain as you have energy -- informing the originators that this is a hoax.
For this particular hoax, I suggest that you provide a pointer to this URL
(http://www.umich.edu/~virus-busters/hoaxes/headlights.html)
For virus or hoax info, please see our main page
(http://www.umich.edu/~virus-busters/) or go to another reputable
site, like DataFellows (leaving our site).
-BPB
visits to this page since 31 December, 1998 10:36 EST