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jt_tesla t1_iymmfh6 wrote

Is it just me or people don’t even know the etiquette around flashing your lights to an oncoming car. It’s either, there’s police ahead or turn on your damn lights.

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NTSTwitch t1_iymqbz9 wrote

You know what’s interesting? I’m fully aware of the light flashing trick, but every time someone does it to me I have no idea wtf is going on.

I have automatic headlights. Every time I let someone borrow my car (maybe 2-3 times a year), they turn the lights on and off when they get in and out of the car. So I’m sitting in my car cruising around like a dumbass, assuming my lights are on, and everyone’s flashing at me along the road and I have no idea why. Gets me every time and I feel like a dumbass lol.

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karnim t1_iymrniz wrote

The roads around here aren't good enough to rely on the headlight trick I think. So many times I think someone is flashing their lights and they're just going over train tracks, or a pothole, or a bump in the road.

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aubergineeggplant t1_iynqfk8 wrote

Yup. Thinking people are flashing when it’s a pothole or a speed bump gives me constant anxiety about driving at night.

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FourAM t1_iypt7bd wrote

99% of the time, cars have separate bulbs/lenses for high beams. If the flashes look like they’re coming from the same bulb and there are relatively few of them, it’s probably a bump. Usually, when people flash their lights, they do it more than once.

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ShiningSquirrel t1_iynlrub wrote

I have automatic headlights as well, but I keep them on at all times. During the day it just makes the car more visible, so a little extra safety is a good thing.

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NTSTwitch t1_iynm5e8 wrote

Do your headlights shut off automatically when you turn off the car? I still have paranoia about leaving headlights set to “on” because I had an older car for years and I made that mistake on a regular basis LOL.

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ShiningSquirrel t1_iynmrfr wrote

Yes. They have a timer so they turn off after about 30 seconds. Gives me enough time to go up the stairs and in my front door while its well lit.

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Blackbird8919 t1_iynhdab wrote

This exact thing happened to me last week 😭 my best friend had moved my car around in the driveway and messed with my lights. Drove home later and had two people flash lights at me and I had no idea why. Got to my back road to go to my apartment and realized they were off. Felt like a complete idiot.

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therealrihawk t1_iyrhd0w wrote

This is the exact reason that I believe auto manufacturers should remove the off portion of the switch. DRLs are bright enough to confuse people thinking their lights are on when they are not, and they have no tail lights at all which is incredibly dangerous! Auto headlights are foolproof these days, so it makes sense to me to just remove the manual option entirely. What do you think?

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lugo2 OP t1_iymmmrh wrote

I do a quick high beam flash for cop or yielding RoW, and lights off/on for turn your lights on.

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saucyB52 t1_iyphsor wrote

i saw a red hott rod today and I flashed my lights at the car to show my respect

iz there rulzz about that manouvour

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gaiusjozka t1_iynt745 wrote

It's because some of us were told in our youth that if you flash your high beams at a car with no lights on, that car will then chase you down to shoot you, because that's a gang initiation thing.

(The 90's were wild, man)

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dunkaccino_ t1_iypk9ml wrote

Exactly this. Read about this in a chain email once as a kid and have been afraid to flash my lights at anyone ever since.

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cowperthwaite t1_iymymbi wrote

People don't. It's crazy, both the quantity and the pure unwillingness to turn on lights, or engage.

I begin with lights flashing, lots, so it can't be mistaken for a dip in the road, then I go with turning my fog lights on and off, then I turn my lights on and off, then I beep, and then finally, if possible, I drive past, making hand signals.

Without fail, it doesn't work.

I was walking down by the library recently and someone was stopped at the red with their lights off and once of the security guys for a restaurant across the street spent a good minute trying to get the driver to turn their headlights on.

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Status_Silver_5114 t1_iynj1a1 wrote

Also I think the lights flashing for cops is a rapidly dying habit/generational thing. I flash more for lights being off or it’s ok to turn.

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KennyWuKanYuen t1_iyny3gc wrote

That’s honestly pretty sad. And you’d think with being in a tech age, we’d have something by to signal to us that a cop is ahead.

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FourAM t1_iyptfed wrote

Waze

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KennyWuKanYuen t1_iyq0kd9 wrote

I have Waze but it’s not my primary navigation app. It’s good but I wish it was more native to cars and don’t rely on users reporting.

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degggendorf t1_iyqss5f wrote

>and don’t rely on users reporting.

What would you want, Waze (Google) employees monitoring every mile of every road to know when there's a cop taking radar to put it on the map?

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KennyWuKanYuen t1_iyr9r9r wrote

Probably hinting at something similar to lane-keep assist or lane-change assist, where it’s a sensor. Or crash detection. In this case, it’d be a built-in sensor that either scans for police radio with a nearby radius or scans for signals that only radiate off police cruisers and then have a light go off on the dash to indicate that there’s a cop nearby.

Something to that’s not removable.

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degggendorf t1_iyrcjv4 wrote

Never going to happen.

The police radio detector would always be receiving signal, so then you'd have to have some kind of speech recognition AI or something to figure out if there's one checking speed.

Then if there were a built-in radar detector, it would be illegal to sell in many states.

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SoftwareDev401 t1_iynydc4 wrote

Yes. This is definitely a thing my grandmother did years ago when she was teaching me how to drive, and I still do.

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SoftwareDev401 t1_iynyqh7 wrote

Except, I don't warn others about cops on my own street.

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Status_Silver_5114 t1_iyo4e5z wrote

I don't buy into the warning about cops since people have become such aggressive drivers over the years. F*ck that - drive like a jerk I hope you get caught and no I'm not going to warn you anymore. But yes i was taught that too.

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Davecasa t1_iymsa3b wrote

It's really just caution and slow down. Flashing your lights is very appropriate for an object in the road, a pedestrian where there's no shoulder, etc.

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