Why do pepole flash their lights when you overtake them?

[western]

One great thing about Australia cars not having fog lights is means that idiots don't have them one when they should not be . Was my pet hate about driving around uk roads

To show you an example , on the left Aussie sold 110 on the right uk imported 110

can't see the rear fog light on the right hand vehicle, because the spare wheel obscures it

[Phil Hancock]

i cant do that right and left indicator thing on my van as it has a auto 3 flash with one flick of the indicator stalk, bloody thing

What about using the hazzards then?

[Trevorevans]

I drive a RR as my road car and do about 30k per year, I'm also a builder so travel before rush hour at 6 -7am and 4.30-5.30pm cars and vans traveling do travel fast at this time in the morning its particularly noticeable that its Vans and big executive cars primarily on the roads and yes I flash people in and out, but I also flash at people I feel are arrogantly hogging the outside or middle lane. Am I alone in thinking the most dangerous are those that don’t know the motorway cars speed limit is 70mph not 50 which forces HGV to take risks trying to pass these very dangerous drivers if you don’t want to keep up with the flow of car traffic than match the HGV’s don’t force 40t HGV’s to take risks with other road users lives trying to pass .

What does infuriate me is people that don’t acknowledge your obvious efforts to give way to them when you don’t have to I mean it’s old a simple wave or hazard flash.

Audi, merc and BMW drivers are a pain but also it’s a fair bet all they want if to overtake even if your doing 90+ so at least you know where you stand.. lack of indication is a pain I have a mate who drive a transit connect for work and a TVR as a toy and he ridicules my other mate that’s a BMW/ Audi nut about the comments are hilarious

Agreed and btw my normal/everyday car IS an Audi, always has been since I passed my test and always will be as long as I can afford them, Land rovers are for fun, but I'm still curtious to other road users who don't have or in the case of lorrys can't put the 200+ bhp to use like an Audi quattro can. As for middle lane hoggers I rightly or wrongly just undertake them, you know after seeing their behaviour, body/car language, that there's gonna be no danger in this manoeuvre as the observed vehicle has no intention of pulling over until they reach their exit which could be hundreds of miles away. Before anyone tells me this is illegal doesn't the highway code also state that the left hand lane should be used whenever possible?

[crclifford]

238. You should drive in the left-hand lane if the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower moving vehicles it may be safer to remain in the centre or outer lanes until the manoeuvre is completed rather than continually changing lanes. Return to the left-hand lane once you have overtaken all the vehicles or if you are delaying traffic behind you. Slow moving or speed restricted vehicles should always remain in the left-hand lane of the carriageway unless overtaking. You MUST NOT drive on the hard shoulder except in an emergency or if directed to do so by signs.

242. Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.

Two bits from the highway code....note clause 242. Only ok to 'undertake' if all three lanes are congested then you can keep up with the traffic in your lane.

[Trevorevans]

242. Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.

Exactly the point I'm trying to make, if I can pass on the left quicker than the traffic on the right simply because there IS NO traffic on the left due to someone traveling in the middle lane refusing to move over or keep a decent motorway speed causing everyone to move to the right to pass doesn't that make the outside lane congested? so in keeping motorway speed in an empty left hand lane am I really doing anything wrong? Im not talking about doing 100 mph and weaving in and out of lanes here. Sadly it will probably be me who's given a tug by plod rather than the guy sat in the middle lane doing 55-60 mph overtaking nothing but White lines for mile after mile and causing afore mentioned congestion.

[FridgeFreezer]

I used to use the rotating beacon on the transit for "ta very much", saves confusion and the trucker letting you in is high enough to spot it

My pet hate is w*nkers with their foglights on, I've now taken up the boss's strategy - "You've already blinded me, so f*** you I'm putting my full beams on"

[BogMonster]

I find a suitable response when over there is that if a BMW in the fast lane flashes me I have to slow right down to see if he is trying to tell me about a problem

Odd as invariably the problem seems to be either a dodgy BMW horn switch or some sort of issue with the muscles cramping in his middle finger, neither of which really concern me but always nice to be kept informed

[wack61]

Don't drive around Luton then...Indicators are very much an optional thing round here!! (Yes it's one of my pet hates!!)

I think that's nationwide, I love roundabouts, a car comes round taking the third exit but you have no idea that's where they're going because they can't be arsed to indicate, then when the get to the exit they put the left indicator on

I DON'T CARE NOW, I've worked out where you're going for myself, it would have been nice to know 20 seconds ago.

[mickeyw]

I find a suitable response when over there is that if a BMW in the fast lane flashes me I have to slow right down to see if he is trying to tell me about a problem

Yep - guaranteed to cause extra tension for the BMW driver, esp if you slow down quite quickly because you think your wheel has just fallen off - a good thing me thinks

I think that's nationwide, I love roundabouts, a car comes round taking the third exit but you have no idea that's where they're going because they can't be arsed to indicate, then when the get to the exit they put the left indicator on

I DON'T CARE NOW, I've worked out where you're going for myself, it would have been nice to know 20 seconds ago.

This always seems to happen to me when I'm in the Rangey, which I do care about. If I was in the Landy I'd be a bit more 'bring it on, let's see how much of a mess we can make of your car'

[Trevorevans]

I love the people who can't be bothered to indicate at roundabouts but when they get to the slip road to join the motorway or trunk road they start indicating right, LIKE THERE'S ANYWHERE ELSE TO GO!.

[JJB Serenity]

people not indicating at roundabouts is one thing. people thinking they should indicate RIGHT when they are in fact going straight over really pi$$es me off.

[mmgemini]

Roundabouts/ traffic circles !!

Now is a roundabout a one way street with left junctions going off ?

OR

Is ist a tipper load of earth dropped in the middle of crossroads.......

The first you can only signal left....

The second. You have many choices.....

I has a traffic sergent tell me that if you position yourself on the road correctly, then everybody knows where you are going

Now why sit in a lane marked right with a right indicator going indicating right ? ? The laner markings say where you are going. Unless you aare wrong laned ?? The same for left

[wack61]

Another thing that annoys me is traffic lights on roundabouts, I came up to one last night 10-30pm, nothing in sight, red light, green light, I get 1/3 the way round, red light, green light, another 1/3 red light, green light, go

getting round that roundabout with nothing on it too me about 90 seconds

[Paul Humphreys]

Well I am a lorry driver and I do about 2000 miles a week. Worse driver are city drivers.

But yes I do flash my lights to let people know it is ok to pull infront of me. Just tinkles me off when people over take then slow down to a speed slower than I was going when they passed me. Also the amount of people who do not know that a lorry can only do up to 40 mph on a single carrageway road.

Paul

[gazelle]

242. Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.

Exactly the point I'm trying to make, if I can pass on the left quicker than the traffic on the right simply because there IS NO traffic on the left due to someone traveling in the middle lane refusing to move over or keep a decent motorway speed causing everyone to move to the right to pass doesn't that make the outside lane congested? so in keeping motorway speed in an empty left hand lane am I really doing anything wrong? Im not talking about doing 100 mph and weaving in and out of lanes here. Sadly it will probably be me who's given a tug by plod rather than the guy sat in the middle lane doing 55-60 mph overtaking nothing but White lines for mile after mile and causing afore mentioned congestion.

Seen in yesterdays Honest John Section of the Telegraph:

"It isn't illegal unless you are seen to be weaving in and out of traffic which might be deemed "dangerous driving" by a police officer observing your activoty from a car or via cameras. But it;s perfectly fine to drive along the mostly unobstructed nearside lane of a motorway at 70mph passing all the people hogging the centre and outside lanes at 60mph, taking care to watch out for centre-lane hoggers moving left into the correct lane. The other drivers are in the wrong lanes, not you. Sometimes the dot-matrix signs tell you to stay in lane due to congestion. You are not then compelled to brake because vehicles to your right have slowed down and you are passing them. "

Elsewhere he quotes the first line from the of the original highway code The first sentence of the very first Highway Code of 1930 reads: “Always be careful and considerate towards others. As a responsible citizen you have a duty to the community not to endanger or impede others in their lawful use of the King’s Highway.”

Most of the problem cases seem to forget this bit, and a lot of the issues seem to stem from them. As to flashing lights at you , if it is a 110 or a 130 then you are long enough to need to be told when your back end has passed them.... (says a 90 driver !). Or maybe they fancy you....who knows.

Martin

[AncientGeek]

Back home we didn't have motorways, only what you class here as A roads. If you were going to pull out to overtake, you might give a quick flash

I've driven a there many times, and what I needed was a few flashes with a multi-gigawatt laser to see through the otherwise impenetrable black smoke from those blue buses doing 10 km/h and impossible to pass because you could not see the road ahead. You just had to wait for them to break down which usually was not very long.

[angusb]

I've always found it very useful that people flash to tell me when the trailer on the back of the 110 has passed them. It must have been 2 or 3 times in the last 2 years the old bus has been going fast enough on the motorway to need to overtake.

Pet hate on motorways is people who like to pass me doing 1-2 mph more than I am presumably because they don't want to break the speed limit or maybe because they're too lazy to switch off the cruise control to overtake. 9 times out of 10 they slow down again afterwards.

[Mr Bean]

I canunderstand why HGV or people towing trailers may find it useful to be flashed when they pass each other but.....<BR><BR>Why do people in cars do it on single lane carriageways?

[chadler]

I canunderstand why HGV or people towing trailers may find it useful to be flashed when they pass each other but.....<BR><BR>Why do people in cars do it on single lane carriageways?

If it only happens to you, then without being funny, maybe it's you or your vehicle? Do you routinely drive slower than the flow of traffic, are there long queues behind you? Do all your lights work? Do you have any irritating stickers or signs in your back windows? Is your exhaust hanging off? Apologies if this post seems rather pointed, but nothing has changed in the traffic law, and you seem to be the common factor in this...

[Escape]

Funny reading about al these pet hates.

I share most of them.

Stating in the middle or fast lane at low speed, needless braking on highways, not using indicators and keeping the foglights constantly on are the most common.

And I do hope you guys don't have to drive in B'hell'gium to often. When I'm in the UK, it always amazes me the traffic is so much smoother, with less agression and more understanding, quite relaxing actually, even with the trailer and despite not being used to driving on the LHS. Over here, it is obvious most roadusers don't have a clue about what they're doing. It's almost a miracle there aren't more accidents.

[JJB Serenity]

I like it in Italy where everyone thinks they are in a motor race. At least you know what to expect of your fellow drivers and the traffic flows a lot quicker ha ha

[disco_al]

all valid points, that seem to be common across the country.

flashing lights to let someone in (especially if it's a long vehicle) has been around for years - it was never taught in my driving lessons, more passed down by my dad when i first went on the motorway (the day after my test)

roundabout etiquette seems to be non existant, no one seems to know that you use the left hand lane approaching a roundabout if you are turning left, or using an exit before 12 o'clock. the number of times i've been cut up/flashed/beeped or had an alternative hand signal for obeying the rules by some idiot in the wrong lane.

as for one other point raised about indicating onto a motorway from the slip road, it's supposed to be to let the traffic on the motorway know your (obvious) intentions to join the carriageway.

this has probalby been put up somewhere before - but seems rather appropriate for the thread....

A day from the diary of a BMW driver...

"The other day I was cruising along as usual coming onto one of my

Motorways, which was very busy with inferior cars.

First off, I couldn't believe that the volume of traffic DIDN'T slow

Down for me AT ALL as I came off the slip road! I had to squeeze into a

Barely big enough gap between two cars in order to get onto my motorway!

The driver of the car behind me did realise his mistake though and

Honked an apology to me with a long blast of his horn.

Unbelievably, I had to do the same again before I could get to the BMW

Lane. Anyway, once I was in the BMW lane and posing along at 110 mph

Enjoying the adulation that the inferior car drivers were giving me, I

Noticed an inferior car ahead of me which was not only in the BMW lane

Of my motorway, but was driving at a ridiculous 70 mph! Naturally, I got

Within a foot or so of his rear bumper and flashed my headlights to

Remind him he shouldn't be in the BMW lane of my motorway and to get

Out of my way.

Of course, once he realised it was a BMW behind him, he did just that,

But I could hardly believe it when he pulled straight back out behind

Me! He also tried to keep up with me and when he realised I would

Out-run him, he put on some blue lights in his front grill and urged me

To get onto the hard shoulder so that he could congratulate me on my

Excellent car. Needless to say, I was eager to oblige and when we had

Stopped, the man gave me a piece of paper confirming what I already

Knew - that my car goes fast!

Apparently he wants everyone to know what a superior car I have, so I

Had to take my driver’s licence to a police station to be sent away to

Have some points put on! (They're not free points either - they're £20

Each and I was only allowed 3.) But the man at the police station said

That because I drive a BMW, it won't be much longer before I earn the

Full 12 points, and then I won't even NEED a driving licence, so they

Will take it off me!

See, now THAT'S the sort of respect you get when you own and drive a

BMW!

[mmgemini]

Well I am going to do it....

Nobody has mentioned

TAXI DRIVERS

[JJB Serenity]

Love the BMW story

[sgnas]

I canunderstand why HGV or people towing trailers may find it useful to be flashed when they pass each other but.....<BR><BR>Why do people in cars do it on single lane carriageways?

Well I didn't want to ment to mention it earlier but.....

If you are overtaking enough people, that a portion significant enough to annoy you, flash you.

Then you are probably driving like and ar$3