Do you give a high beam warning when overtaking?
Discussion
Just reading the terrible case in the other thread about the guy that was overtaking two cars and had the lead car move out on him to pull into an offside layby, which he hit causing it to spin into a lake with the death of several people.
He was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.
It's made me wonder, should drivers give a burst of full beam as they begin an overtake to ensure that the vehicles being overtaken know they're coming past?
I have done it in the past, particularly if the road is a little narrower than normal so there's less room for an inattentive driver to wander out and still give them room, but generally I don't as I suspect most drivers would see it as aggressive, rather than simply alerting them to your presence (with is of course the whole point of headlight flashing, rather than saying hi or admonishing other drivers, which in reality is what 99% of people use them for).
So, should drivers be encouraged to give a couple of seconds burst of full beam to let the overtakee know they're coming past?
He was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.
It's made me wonder, should drivers give a burst of full beam as they begin an overtake to ensure that the vehicles being overtaken know they're coming past?
I have done it in the past, particularly if the road is a little narrower than normal so there's less room for an inattentive driver to wander out and still give them room, but generally I don't as I suspect most drivers would see it as aggressive, rather than simply alerting them to your presence (with is of course the whole point of headlight flashing, rather than saying hi or admonishing other drivers, which in reality is what 99% of people use them for).
So, should drivers be encouraged to give a couple of seconds burst of full beam to let the overtakee know they're coming past?
Ari said:
Just reading the terrible case in the other thread about the guy that was overtaking two cars and had the lead car move out on him to pull into an offside layby, which he hit causing it to spin into a lake with the death of several people.
He was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.
It's made me wonder, should drivers give a burst of full beam as they begin an overtake to ensure that the vehicles being overtaken know they're coming past?
I have done it in the past, particularly if the road is a little narrower than normal so there's less room for an inattentive driver to wander out and still give them room, but generally I don't as I suspect most drivers would see it as aggressive, rather than simply alerting them to your presence (with is of course the whole point of headlight flashing, rather than saying hi or admonishing other drivers, which in reality is what 99% of people use them for).
So, should drivers be encouraged to give a couple of seconds burst of full beam to let the overtakee know they're coming past?
No, they just sghouldn't make stupid overtakes, if a driver feels he needs to 'announce' his overtake, then its not safe ..... and he knows it ....He was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.
It's made me wonder, should drivers give a burst of full beam as they begin an overtake to ensure that the vehicles being overtaken know they're coming past?
I have done it in the past, particularly if the road is a little narrower than normal so there's less room for an inattentive driver to wander out and still give them room, but generally I don't as I suspect most drivers would see it as aggressive, rather than simply alerting them to your presence (with is of course the whole point of headlight flashing, rather than saying hi or admonishing other drivers, which in reality is what 99% of people use them for).
So, should drivers be encouraged to give a couple of seconds burst of full beam to let the overtakee know they're coming past?
If I'm on a motorway and I'm overtaking cars at 100+mph I tend to give a good 2 second flash of the high beams to just let people know I'm blasting through, but on overtakes I've never really done it before.
I suppose a quick toot of the horn won't hurt either, but then dropping a few cogs and letting them hear a good exhaust note also does the trick.
I suppose a quick toot of the horn won't hurt either, but then dropping a few cogs and letting them hear a good exhaust note also does the trick.
keemaklan said:
If I'm on a motorway and I'm overtaking cars at 100+mph I tend to give a good 2 second flash of the high beams to just let people know I'm blasting through, but on overtakes I've never really done it before.
I suppose a quick toot of the horn won't hurt either, but then dropping a few cogs and letting them hear a good exhaust note also does the trick.
Must...resist....feeding ....troll...I suppose a quick toot of the horn won't hurt either, but then dropping a few cogs and letting them hear a good exhaust note also does the trick.
Bullett said:
Although making yourself more visible is a good idea, I think this would be perceived as very aggressive behaviour by the majority of drivers.
Also not sure it woul have helped much in the case you mentioned.
I think there's a chance that it could have. If one assumes (dangerous I know) that she signaled and then pulled across without looking in her mirror (after all, why would she pull across if she'd seen a car bearing down on her about to pass?), then maybe a burst of high beam would have alerted her to his presence (pretty hard not to notice a strong burst of light in your mirror).Also not sure it woul have helped much in the case you mentioned.
dibblecorse said:
No, they just sghouldn't make stupid overtakes, if a driver feels he needs to 'announce' his overtake, then its not safe ..... and he knows it ....
My first reaction to this was exactlyHowever, on reflection the danger is the complete lack of awareness of the drivers you are overtaking of anyone else on the road besides themselves.
Technically any overtake is dangerous ergo stupid where the person you are overtaking is oblivious and yet you cant run your life according to badness of other drivers. Or shouldn't have to.
If they don't look in thier mirrors they're not going to see you regardless of whether your headlights are on or not. As others have said it's likely to be seen as agressive and I'd be worried someone would pull out deliberatly because I'd flashed my light at them.
If a car can turn as you overtake then it clearly wasn't safe to overtake. Us bikers are probably more attuned to this than car drivers, if someone pulls out while I'm overtaking it's liklely to be be that ends up dead so I will make plenty of effort to ensure that doesn't happen.
If a car can turn as you overtake then it clearly wasn't safe to overtake. Us bikers are probably more attuned to this than car drivers, if someone pulls out while I'm overtaking it's liklely to be be that ends up dead so I will make plenty of effort to ensure that doesn't happen.
dibblecorse said:
No, they just sghouldn't make stupid overtakes, if a driver feels he needs to 'announce' his overtake, then its not safe ..... and he knows it ....
Not sure I'd agree with that 100%.I've done exactly that i.e. quick flash, as I've been caught out by people pulling out on me before.
It was on a long straight, good visibility, with a line of 4 cars and me at the back. They were all doing about 30mph in an NSL (OAP at the front) and so I signaled and pulled out. Just into the overtake, car 3 decided to pull out without signalling and I had to slam the brakes on. Fortunately I wasn't so advanced that I couldn't stop.
Since then I've tended to flash to make my intent clearer (although I tend to do this kind of manoever less and less).
Perhaps overtaking 4 cars on a straight is a stupid manoeuver but it doesn't rank as one for me. Not when we have a lot of very straight roads in this country and a lot of dawdlers.
ashleyqprw12 said:
Isn't a quick flash of high beam before over taking quite common in Europe? Sure i heard it was quite common on the autobahn.. can't say i've expierenced it myself though
You certainly find this in Italy, usually it's a 7-series or similar - but when they are approaching with a 50mph speed differential the extra warning probably is worth it.RizzoTheRat said:
If they don't look in thier mirrors they're not going to see you regardless of whether your headlights are on or not. As others have said it's likely to be seen as agressive and I'd be worried someone would pull out deliberatly because I'd flashed my light at them.
I suspect that most people who don't look in their mirrors would, non the less, have their attention caught by a quick flash of high beam. However I do agree that sadly, some drivers would see it as aggressive because these days headlight flashing is inevitably either a "hi there" or an admonishment.
Ari said:
I suspect that most people who don't look in their mirrors would, non the less, have their attention caught by a quick flash of high beam.
However I do agree that sadly, some drivers would see it as aggressive because these days headlight flashing is inevitably either a "hi there" or an admonishment.
Some people can't even see or hear a police car 10 feet behind them with full Blues and twos going ... so I can't imagine they will spot a quick flash of high beam...However I do agree that sadly, some drivers would see it as aggressive because these days headlight flashing is inevitably either a "hi there" or an admonishment.
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