Driving in britain - Flashing of the main beam....

[McSam]

geeteeaye said:

PHmember said:

Universally misunderstood more like. I agree, we all do it, I do it myself - the problem is that we quite often see somebody flash their lights & assume it's ok to proceed without checking anything else - like traffic coming the other way.

What happens when you're approaching a car waiting to join the road you're on from the left whilst you're busy flashing at your mate coming in the opposite direction? Is it ok for the car waiting to join from the left to just pull out?

Anyone who pulls out without looking irrespective of being flashed or not is an accident waiting to happen anyway. IMO the flash just means 'I'm letting you out', not 'Its safe to pull out' and I've never seen anyone interpret it as such.

This is precisely what I meant. I'd never, ever imply that someone flashing means you should go - that takes special idiocy. But if a car that would cross your intended path slows significantly and flashes, the natural message to take from that is that they're going to let you through. Obviously you still look and check everywhere else and still don't pull out if they're close/travelling quickly enough to be able to hit you if you'd misinterpreted..

Just because I think that's how the light-flashing is most commonly meant doesn't mean I dive out of busy junctions when someone turns their sides on

[geeteeaye]

AllNines said:

geeteeaye said:

As for the comment of to not do anything but wait until it becomes apparent you are letting them out, that is by far the more dangerous thing to do (not to mention confusing and time wasting).

If you do it properly, it's not a problem at all. Slow sufficiently to make a gap - either making it obvious to anyone behind you or so that no-one behind is affected - and it'll be obvious (unless they are really stupid, in which case you just carry on). Far better than playing the flashing game.

There was a T-junction I had to use every day and at some times the main road traffic would be stacked up from left to right so you had to rely on people letting you out. The road I needed to pull onto was a ring road with traffic coming right to left at fair speed and a middle lane for cars going left to right to turn into the road I'm turning out of. As it was often dark when using the junction it would be difficult to see any hand signals but a quick flash and you knew exactly what was meant, some people are slow to 'take up the slack' on the car infront so then it becomes a real lottery as to what their intentions are if no clear signal is made. With the added complication of fast traffic from the right and people overtaking the line of traffic from the left to use the right turn lane, a flash is hugely more helpful. Especially if you think someone is letting you out but in fact they're just daydreaming, then suddenly pull into the gap as you start to move out. Really the dilemma is a half-second flash of lights versus several seconds of second-guessing and mind reading then an element of hope!

[CommanderJameson]

I had a situation where I was turning right from quiet minor to busy major road. In the snow and ice. Traction was poor, as the lightly-used lane I was in was basically sheet ice, so much caution and circumspection required. From the left appeared a bell-end in a gold E-Class (for the purposes of this story, he was wearing one of those powder-blue flat caps and a pair of string-back driving gloves; you know the sort) who decided that the traffic behind him could go fk itself because, instead of just turning right and minding his own business, he was "letting me out".

Flash flash.

No ta, I'm not ready, the gap in the traffic coming the other way isn't big enough if my rear wheels spin; whilst a new offside rear door would be nice, the paperwork wouldn't.

Flash flash.

FFS.

Flash flash. Arm wave. Point.

I now get cross. I don't like other drivers telling me what to do and when to do it. And if they're not police, I sure as st don't have to.

I'LL fkING WELL GO WHEN I'M READY, NOT WHEN YOU DECIDE I'M READY, YOU tt.

So I sit there. There's no-one behind me. There's about 10 cars behind him now. He's still flashing and waving and pointing. I proceed when the gap is big enough (for me) and crawl across the ice onto the (clear) main road.

A load of aggravation and inconvenience (this was about 3 minutes, seemed like 10) for about 20 people could have been cured if said bell-end had just taken his priority and turned right instead of trying to do me a favour, then getting cross when I didn't want it because it was piss-all use to me.

[useyourdellusion]

OP, maybe the ones that flash you after you have just overtaken them are merely just flashing you back in again. Could be off-duty or ex-lorry drivers who are used to helping out their fellow lorry drivers all day long with this method. I don't know, but it may not always be malicious.

I flash on-coming traffic to warn them of obstacles I may have just passed, but are as yet still out of sight to them, like yesterday when a female horse rider was sauntering along in the MIDDLE of the road (I had to beep her to alert her of my presence ),but that's another story.

I also flash people out of junctions, but just give a shrug and carry on if they don't want to. I also use the main beam to let people overtake ahead of me as I approach them in L3 if I can see them catching the car in front of them in L2 (I tend to look quite far ahead, and it's easy to see these situations developing). The majority understand what I'm doing and they pull out, with a few thankful right/left/right indicator flashes or a wave of the hand, they perform their overtake. I don't need to slow down in any major way and everyone's happy. Some don't get it and my flashing probably seems pointless to them, but hey I was only trying to ease a situation...

Someone will probably be along shortly to tell me I'm wrong for doing this, but I think it works well most of the time...

Oh and I flash front foglight tossers too.

Edited by useyourdellusion on Wednesday 26th January 05:51

[Kermit power]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who flashes people to tell them they've got their wker lights on! Especially coupled with sidelights only after dark.

I will also flash people sitting in the outside lane when it's clear inside them. Not aggressively; just a quick flash to let them know I'm there. This almost always results in people waving sorry and pulling back in, and a quick wave of thanks in return keeps everything civil, even if they are inattentive numpties!