Flashing high beams at other drivers

[SilverC6]

My wife got a ticket four years ago for flashing oncoming traffic at an interstate speed trap.

I called the state police and informed them that they were wrong.

My wife couldn't care less if someone else got a ticket!!!

Also, everyone in the US knows cell phone service is better in the left lane.

 

[Brian Barnhart]

I have an aversion to speeding tickets so I drive the posted speed limit (in the right lane). When I come upon someone going less than the speed limit I use the left lane to pass (only). In doing so I occasionally slow someone down, but I’m not going to go 10-20 MPH over the limit while passing just to accommodate gross speeders breaking the posted speed limit. Sorry, but that’s the way it is with me.

 

[DBMaster]

I was taught from day one that slowER traffic (emphasis intentional) should keep out of the left lane. In Texas, unfortunately, unless a road has signage stating that the left lane is for passing only it's not. Therefore, passing on the right is just as common here as passing on the left. Is it good? No. Is it safe? Probably not. But it is fact.

I once drive in Vancouver. I followed the left lane rule, but I would still sometimes have drivers coming up fast behind me flashing their lights. They would only do it once or twice, in a "polite" manner. I thought to myself, "This is COOL." So, I tried it when I got back home to good ole DFW. What do you think happened? The first one got scared and moved over. When I passed the driver blew the horn excessively and gesticulated. The second one saw that I wasn't a cop when I passed, got behind me, sped up, and then proceeded to tailgate me at 80 mph with the high beams on. I thought that one was going to end badly, to tell the truth.

So, my conclusion is that U.S. drivers are selfish, rude, and care little about improving skills, paying attention, or giving a rat's posterior about anyone else but number one.

 

[SilverC6]

Be thoughtful and hit the gas and get around the slow car.

I just love it when one semi doing 5 MPH under the limit passes another semi doing 6 MPH under the limit and takes 6.7 miles to make the maneuver.

I understand they sometimes they have govenors on their trucks but, hey, just don't pull out to pass.

 

[SnowDrifter]

If you're getting flashed you should be getting out of the left lane not digging your heels in and causing traffic problems for the rest of the population

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: SilverC6
My wife got a ticket four years ago for flashing oncoming traffic at an interstate speed trap.

I called the state police and informed them that they were wrong.

My wife couldn't care less if someone else got a ticket!!!

Also, everyone in the US knows cell phone service is better in the left lane.

I think the cops use to do that but then there was a ruling that said it was some kind of freedom of speech to flash other drivers so all those tickets got thrown out.

 

[AKhan87]

Originally Posted By: topbliss
Its never happened to me in the right lane. In 43 years of driving. Its happened in the left lane if I was not passing a car fast enough for someone though

yes this makes sense, what about the D-bags who stay in the left lane when they are not passing anyone? why is that not discussed? In Missouri and Wyoming you can get a ticket for staying in the left lane which your slowing down traffic or not passing anyone, why impede traffic? are you someone special? I personally think people are bunch of nancies when it comes to driving in weather situation, and I have no problem with that, as long as your not in the left lane, always look at things from both perspective.

I do think it is rude for someone to flash their headlights or honk at others, in any other lane then the left lane though.

 

[quint]

Recently during one of our snowstorms I was in the center lane of a three lane highway and moved to the left lane to pass someone who was driving very slow (it was snowing pretty hard). As soon as I did that I had someone in a full size pickup come up on my REALLY fast in the left lane, repeatedly flashing his lights. I moved over and let him pass, thinking "what an idiot" as the lanes were completely snow covered, to the point where you could barely see the lane markers, or painted lines, or anything, and he was driving what I considered to be very, very fast for the conditions. I moved back over to the left lane to pass someone else and as soon as I did here comes another full size pickup flashing his lights and approaching quick. I immediately went right, back into the center lane (and decided to stay there) and let him pass too. Traffic was light, maybe a hundred feet or so between cars. About 20 seconds later all I see is brake lights and the whole three lanes of traffic come to a very sudden stop. We start moving after a few seconds and who do we putter right past? Idiot pickup #1 buried into the concrete divider, with idiot #2 buried into #1's tailgate.

Maybe Idiot #1 didnt notice Idiot #2 flashing his lights to pass? Dont know.

 

[dhise]

I've had oncoming traffic flash their lights at me warning of an upcoming speed trap on a windy two lane road. Thought that was pretty cool of them.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: Nickdfresh
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
...I believe in "keep right, keep moving" though, and I don't mind having a rabbit out front to get the ticket which won't be given to me.
..."left lane bandits" ... the "true" bandit is the crank who drives there "to keep people from speeding" They wouldn't last a hour on the Autobahn.


Exactly on the first point, and I was under the impression that driving slow in the left lane is strictly verboten over there as is any very aggressive driving. I believe the fines are rather large for coasting in the passing lane...
Das Autobahn Politizie riding big BMW bikes will invite you over very quickly.

 

[Thermo1223]

I just wish drivers would actually use their headlights but tats a whole 'nother thread.

IE Rain/Fog/Dusk

Always the one or two fools out of the 30 or so cars that pass who instantly see better in bad weather then anyone else so their headlights go unused.

Flash to pass is a known rule and a good one if the person is going legitimately slow.

 

[HerrStig]

A couple of blinks to remind someone wool gathering in the passing lane that a car is behind them is fine, but blinking them and then leaving the highs on because someone doesn't get over fast enough in heavy traffic is bleepin RUDE. Sometimes, prudence suggests care in changing lanes in fast, heavy traffic. That's only happened to me once (yes, the twit was driving a German car) and HE soon found out how a 100 watt Cibe spotlamp could light HIM up. The light from that bulb dies slowly, like smoke from a gun barrel. I just blinked it a couple of times.

 

[DBMaster]

We can complain all we want. It's not going to change. On my morning commute today I got onto the George Bush Tollway from I35. heading east. A Garland police car was exiting at the same time I was. I guess the officer lives near me but works in Garland. The speed limit on GBT is 70 and the average speed is about 75. I passed the cop on the two lane exit flyway. I noticed that he/she immediately got into the LEFT lane driving exactly the speed limit. Nice, given the fact that most cops I see are speeding. But in the left lane, really? After that, no one would pass. If the cops are doing it, there's no hope.

I would love to see them driving in unmarked cars giving citations to those left lane squatters, however, that would do about as much for mobility and safety as speeding tickets do. RADAR traps on GBT accomplish one thing - slamming on brakes and abrupt lane changes. A relatively smoothly moving stretch of highway traveling 70-75 mph immediately becomes a 40 mph quagmire. That's safety for you!

 

[Mykl]

Originally Posted By: HerrStig
A couple of blinks to remind someone wool gathering in the passing lane that a car is behind them is fine, but blinking them and then leaving the highs on because someone doesn't get over fast enough in heavy traffic is bleepin RUDE. Sometimes, prudence suggests care in changing lanes in fast, heavy traffic. That's only happened to me once (yes, the twit was driving a German car) and HE soon found out how a 100 watt Cibe spotlamp could light HIM up. The light from that bulb dies slowly, like smoke from a gun barrel. I just blinked it a couple of times.

But this begs the question.... what's the point of flashing in "heavy" traffic? So the driver right in front of you gets out of your way, what about the person in front of them?

 

[andrewg]

The left lane is for passing....or avoiding an oncoming entrance merge. Maybe a few other reasons as well.

But....just because somebody feels that they rule the highways and break the law by going way over the speed limit...gives them no right to just flash the lights at will at anybody not going as fast as they would like. It's not a big deal in most cases for the speeding driver to just move safely around to the right.

I get far more tired of pushy morons on the road than I do an occasional car going less than 85mph in the left lane.

You people that are so impatient and obnoxious need to get a life.

 

[dlayman]

Originally Posted By: SilverC6
Originally Posted By: BubbaFL
Originally Posted By: Jimzz
If people are passing you on the right then you are in the wrong,


This.

Slow traffic is supposed to keep right!


Stay right except to pass is the law in my state.

People drive right by that sign on the interstate every day without reading it though.

Folks camping in the left lane(s) should get a ticket every time.



Its the law in my state too. Completely ignored and unenforced. I've seen plenty of state police camping out in the left lane.

 

[andrewg]

Originally Posted By: Mykl
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
A couple of blinks to remind someone wool gathering in the passing lane that a car is behind them is fine, but blinking them and then leaving the highs on because someone doesn't get over fast enough in heavy traffic is bleepin RUDE. Sometimes, prudence suggests care in changing lanes in fast, heavy traffic. That's only happened to me once (yes, the twit was driving a German car) and HE soon found out how a 100 watt Cibe spotlamp could light HIM up. The light from that bulb dies slowly, like smoke from a gun barrel. I just blinked it a couple of times.

But this begs the question.... what's the point of flashing in "heavy" traffic? So the driver right in front of you gets out of your way, what about the guy in front of them?


Exactly. Where I live the traffic is almost always a mess....and clowns that do the flash thing over and over...rarely make time any faster than the rest of us.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: andrewg

But....just because somebody feels that they rule the highways and break the law by going way over the speed limit...gives them no right to just flash the lights at will at anybody not going as fast as they would like.


Well, if there's a gap to the right of the slowpoke, the expectation from the light flasher is that the slowpoke will move right one lane.

He's actually being curteous in NOT blowing by you on your right, and reminding you to move over.

And let the cops enforce the speed laws. If you're blocking traffic, you're not on a high horse either.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: andrewg
But....just because somebody feels that they rule the highways and break the law by going way over the speed limit...gives them no right to just flash the lights at will at anybody not going as fast as they would like.

But you're not the designated speed enforcer. If there is space in a lane to the right of you, then that's where you should be driving, regardless of your speed. Maybe the person trying to take you over has a real emergency and needs to go even faster?

Quote:

It's not a big deal in most cases for the speeding driver to just move safely around to the right.

Except that it's illegal in many places to pass on the right. But so I speeding.

 

[DBMaster]

With traffic density increasing in most urban/suburban areas I have no optimism at all that this will get better. The number of viewpoints here, alone, tells a story.

I stopped enjoying driving a long time ago and hope that someday alternatives will exist, be they mass transit automated roadways, forced carpooling, etc.

Instead, we spend billions of dollars widening roadways so the same weiners can find the far left lane and poke. LOL!