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Please stop flashing your lights when I let you past

  • 08-01-2009 10:14pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,080 ✭✭✭✭


    You're driving down a road at night. There's cars parked either side. There's a car coming toward you. There's only room for one car to get through at a time.

    You stop and let the other guy go first.

    What does he do in return? He whacks on his full headlights right in front of you for 3 or 4 seconds to say thank you.

    Seriously, just move on and get out of my way. Don't bother blinding me. It's hard enough to see in the dark sometimes as it is without having my eyes screwed up.

    Or is it just me?


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,399 ✭✭✭✭r3nu4l


    3 or 4 seconds?? Who does that? I only ever give a quick flash of the lights. If I flash them for longer it's because the idiot facing me has his beams on full and I'm trying to let him know! Checked your beams lately?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,157 ✭✭✭✭Berty


    Exagerattion. A quick flash is what the majority of people do or they just wave their hand but in the dark you cannot see their hand because of the headlights so they will normally just flash the lights.
    3-4 seconds is an eternity.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19,080 ✭✭✭✭Random


    It's not my lights. I've noticed it whatever car I'm driving. It's just an abnormal amount of time.

    Granted sometimes people will give a quick flicker (where you barely notice the lights flashing) which is fine .. but most people are just sloppy and it's a couple of seconds. It's very distracting.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,694 ✭✭✭✭L-M


    Lol, i don't think i've ever come across anyone who's flashed there lights for 3-4 seconds. If you actually want to see people do this, ram them, and don't leave them past haha.

    But really, unless your lights are blinding, or there's something wrong with your car, or else you keep coming across a dodgey light flasher, i think your over exagerating.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 51,360 ✭✭✭✭bazz26


    Damn those other pesky road users for showing some gratidute.

    What were they thinking, bloody do gooders!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,815 ✭✭✭✭Anan1


    Lol, i don't think i've ever come across anyone who's flashed there lights for 3-4 seconds.
    +1


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19,080 ✭✭✭✭Random


    bazz26 wrote: »
    Damn those other pesky road users for showing some gratidute.

    What were they thinking, bloody do gooders!

    A quick flight where you litterally click the fulls back for a split second is fine. Holding your finger on the fulls for any time really isn't.
    Anan1 wrote: »
    +1

    Fair enough. It's just me then I guess. I'm gonna start taking down regs and comparing them .. if it's one bloke following me around winding me up there's gonna be trouble! :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,968 ✭✭✭✭phog


    It's nice to acknowledge some kindness, a quick flash shouldn't be a problem, if you find it bothersome, when you pull in to leave the car pass, turn your head slightly to the left as the oncoming car approches and then their lights shouldn't be a hassle.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,699 ✭✭✭samhail


    Good topic !...

    Am i the only one who dips/turns off the lights to incoming cars to thank them ? usually
    My sister doesnt like it atall.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19,080 ✭✭✭✭Random


    Yah, turn off your lights .. must try that one :D

    Flash your hazards, wave your hand .. I don't care .. I'd just rather not be blinded. Seems I'm alone though.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,815 ✭✭✭✭Anan1


    Random wrote: »
    I'm gonna start taking down regs and comparing them .. if it's one bloke following me around winding me up there's gonna be trouble! :)
    :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,694 ✭✭✭✭L-M


    I remember actually, flashing someone (with my lights), thanking them, and getting the middle finger off them.

    Still doesn't stop me though, with Irish drivers, if someone flashes me and leaves me out i'd nearly get out and shake there hand. There are alot of ignorant people on the road.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19,080 ✭✭✭✭Random


    Still doesn't stop me though, with Irish drivers, if someone flashes me and leaves me out i'd nearly get out and shake there hand. There are alot of ignorant people on the road.

    That's fine and another story completely. But them flashing back and blinding you is what I'm complaining about.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,694 ✭✭✭✭L-M


    Random wrote: »
    That's fine and another story completely. But them flashing back and blinding you is what I'm complaining about.

    I've been driving and passengering for years and i've never seen someone blind someone by a quick flash. I'd say someone has something out against you:D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,083 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    I remember actually, flashing someone (with my lights), thanking them, and getting the middle finger off them.

    Well flashing lights is an ambiguous signal; sometimes it means gratitude; sometimes it means aggression. They obviously got confused and thought you were indicating the latter.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,694 ✭✭✭✭L-M


    Stark wrote: »
    Well flashing lights is an ambiguous signal; sometimes it means gratitude; sometimes it means aggression. They obviously got confused and thought you were indicating the latter.

    I understand that. That's why i didn't get worked up about it. It was just funny.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,310 ✭✭✭Harcrid


    Maybe it was someone in a new car not used to the light stalk? I know when I borrowed my father’s Peugeot 407 for a few day’s it took me a few miles to get used to the light stalk on it because it is different to my own car. In mine, when you dim, you pull the stalk towards you and it stays in the same position until you want to go back on full beams, where you just flick it forward. So if you were on dim’s and wanted to quickly flash someone you just pulled it towards you for a second and let go and it would automatically go back to dim.

    In the 407, the action of flicking between dim’s and full beam is the same action. That is, when you want to dim, you pull it towards you and it will dim, but the stalk goes back to the same position. So when you want to go back to full beam, you do the very same action. I found that the first few times I flashed thanks to someone, I ended up blinding them for a few seconds because I didn’t realise that I had actually gone onto full beam. To actually flash someone properly in this car you just lightly pull the stalk towards you.

    A bit of a long winded explanation, but Peugeot drivers will know what I mean!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 134 ✭✭Damomayo


    I normally flash less than .2 seconds or hazzards to thank someone for pulling in to let me overtake. If someone thanks me I'd usually reply with flash as well ......... Don't like when u make an effort to allow someone to overtake and they don't thank you (08 Bemeer's lol)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,432 ✭✭✭mcwhirter


    I remember actually, flashing someone (with my lights), thanking them, and getting the middle finger off them.

    Still doesn't stop me though, with Irish drivers, if someone flashes me and leaves me out i'd nearly get out and shake there hand. There are alot of ignorant people on the road.

    Not just ignorant on the road, in shops too. The north is a much friendlier place to shop and drive.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 510 ✭✭✭gino85


    i some times hit my window wipers by mistake when thanking people, always mix up the levers in my car


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭20goto10


    Stark wrote: »
    Well flashing lights is an ambiguous signal; sometimes it means gratitude; sometimes it means aggression. They obviously got confused and thought you were indicating the latter.
    Thats your problem right there. There's nothing ambiguous about it at all. Flashing means aggression/warning in all cases. Idiots use it to say thank you. The same idiots that use their hazzards as a thank you gesture.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,815 ✭✭✭✭Anan1


    20goto10 wrote: »
    Thats your problem right there. There's nothing ambiguous about it at all. Flashing means aggression/warning in all cases. Idiots use it to say thank you. The same idiots that use their hazzards as a thank you gesture.
    You haven't been driving in Ireland for long, have you?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 604 ✭✭✭mumblin deaf ro


    I drive a Focus and it's actually tricky enough to do a quick flash as the stalk switches to full beam if you tug it firmly - you need a really deft little squeeze of it to get it right.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,083 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    Same here.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭20goto10


    Anan1 wrote: »
    You haven't been driving in Ireland for long, have you?
    em I'm Irish and yeah I have actually. What are you suggesting, that because everyone does it it means its right? There are no car signals for gesturing thanks. None at all. I have occassionally put my hand up as a thank you, but even that is stupid especially the ones that look in the mirror when doing so until they get a response from the driver behind.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,083 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    There are no car signals for gesturing aggression either :rolleyes: And you're meant to use the horn to warn people of your prescence, not your lights.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭20goto10


    Stark wrote: »
    There are no car signals for gesturing aggression either :rolleyes: And you're meant to use the horn to warn people of your prescence, not your lights.
    Are warnings not of an aggressive nature? I'm not being aggressive, but it is of an aggressive nature. Maybe aggression is too strong a word. LOL how many times have I flashed some dope to tell them their lights are out only for them to wave at me. Ohhh there's Mary quick wave....hang on that wasn't Mary :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭20goto10


    Stark wrote: »
    There are no car signals for gesturing aggression either :rolleyes: And you're meant to use the horn to warn people of your prescence, not your lights.
    Not before 11am.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,083 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    For goodness sake. Please just read the rules of the road before you continue to incorrectly admonish everyone else.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,002 ✭✭✭Cionád


    20goto10 wrote: »
    em I'm Irish and yeah I have actually. What are you suggesting, that because everyone does it it means its right?

    Stark said it was ambiguous, because people use it for different reasons. Never said it was "right".

    It is in my opinion courteous to thank someone with a quick flash of the lights in the circumstances.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,815 ✭✭✭✭Anan1


    20goto10 wrote: »
    em I'm Irish and yeah I have actually. What are you suggesting, that because everyone does it it means its right? There are no car signals for gesturing thanks. None at all. I have occassionally put my hand up as a thank you, but even that is stupid especially the ones that look in the mirror when doing so until they get a response from the driver behind.
    What i'm suggesting is that nobody with experience of driving on Irish roads would say this:
    20goto10 wrote: »
    Thats your problem right there. There's nothing ambiguous about it at all. Flashing means aggression/warning in all cases.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭20goto10


    Stark wrote: »
    For goodness sake. Please just read the rules of the road before you continue to incorrectly admonish everyone else.
    Yeah sorry Stark you're right, I think it might be 10am not 11am :rolleyes: Hows about you have a look at the rules and come back and point out whats ambiguous about flashing your lights and using your hazzards.
    Anan1 wrote:
    What i'm suggesting is that nobody with experience of driving on Irish roads would say this:
    Cion&#225 wrote: »
    Stark said it was ambiguous, because people use it for different reasons. Never said it was "right".
    Again, there's your problem right there. There's nothing ambiguous about it, people use them in the wrong circumstances. So I'm supposed to wonder, was that a thank you or a warning? Nonsense. Every flash and every hazzard light is a warning. So yes I spend most days avoiding hazards that don't exist and checking I have my lights on or maybe I have a flat or maybe there's something dangerous up ahead becasue some moron flashed me. It's bad driving that needs to be stamped out. And giving people the benefit of the doubt or allowing yourself open to the idea that its ok to use as a thank you gesture just feeds the ignorance.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,002 ✭✭✭Cionád


    20goto10 wrote: »
    Again, there's your problem right there. There's nothing ambiguous about it, people use them in the wrong circumstances.

    Therefore it is ambiguous.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭20goto10


    Cionád wrote: »
    Therefore it is ambiguous.
    Jesus f'ing christ!! There's nothing ambiguous about it. It has one meaning and one meaning only. Open the rules of the road and have a look. This is all you need to concern yourself with. Never ever should you be worried about whether another driver is using something or doing something in the right or wrong circumstances. That makes you a bad driver too. Dragged down by the ignorance of others.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,002 ✭✭✭Cionád


    20goto10 wrote: »
    Jesus f'ing christ!! There's nothing ambiguous about it. It has one meaning and one meaning only. Open the rules of the road and have a look. This is all you need to concern yourself with. Never ever should you be worried about whether another driver is using something or doing something in the right or wrong circumstances. That makes you a bad driver too. Dragged down by the ignorance of others.

    Oh dear.

    The fact that different drivers use it intending different meanings - regardless of whether these are the correct meaning - results in a situation where those of us observing the behavior can interpret these actions in different ways. The circumstance in which it occurs helps the observer interpret the behavior (if im flashed after letting a car through I would think he is thanking me. If I'm flashed because I'm driving with no lights on I would think the driver is warning me).


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,083 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    20goto10 wrote: »
    Again, there's your problem right there. There's nothing ambiguous about it, people use them in the wrong circumstances.

    http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ambiguous


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭20goto10


    Cionád wrote: »
    Oh dear.

    The fact that different drivers use it intending different meanings - regardless of whether these are the correct meaning - results in a situation where those of us observing the behavior can interpret these actions in different ways. The circumstance in which it occurs helps the observer interpret the behavior (if im flashed after letting a car through I would think he is thanking me. If I'm flashed because I'm driving with no lights on I would think the driver is warning me).
    Uh gee gosh golly maybe I don't know what ambiguous means :rolleyes: Don't patronise me. I tell you what, do it during a driving test and see how far it gets you. What you just typed is utter nonsense. There's only one way to interpret a hazard warning.

    Ironically someone using it has a thank you gesture could actually be classified as a hazard ;)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭20goto10


    Stark wrote: »
    uhhhh duuuuuhhhh. Your point is?

    you clearly don't get it. Neither do thousands of drivers on Irish roads. Therein lies the problem.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,083 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    20goto10 wrote: »
    you clearly don't get it. Neither do thousands of drivers on Irish roads. Therein lies the problem.

    Hence the ambiguity.
    20goto10 wrote: »
    uhhhh duuuuuhhhh. Your point is?

    You're arguing about the semantics of a word when you seem to have a mistaken idea about what the word actually means.

    Can you actually show me where it says you're supposed to use flashing lights to indicate aggression? Because you are just as incorrect as everyone else.

    PS: the horn http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-driving/good-driving-practice/using-a-horn.html . Since you were pedantic enough to bring up the subject of when it should be used (despite it being totally irrelevant to the thread).


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭20goto10


    Stark wrote: »
    Hence the ambiguity.



    You're arguing about the semantics of a word when you seem to have a mistaken idea about what the word actually means.

    Can you actually show me where it says you're supposed to use flashing lights to indicate aggression? Because you are just as incorrect as everyone else.
    Right I'll try and put it in simple words for those who are too thick to understand. In the case of using your lights as a warning signal there is one way and only one way to interpret it. There is no ambiguity. Its a warning, nothing else. To suggest there is ambiguity, that it can be interpreted to mean different things depending on the situation is, quite simply, wrong. You are being as ignorant as the idiot who is flashing his lights in praise.

    What we have here is the fundamental problem on our Irish roads. People think there are the official rules and the unofficial rules. People think there are the rules you need to adhere to in order to pass your test and then there are the "other" rules that everyone adheres to once they get fully motoring. When somebody puts their hazard lights on or flashes you it means there is a hazard. To open yourself up to ambiguity or even think about what context it is meant in is bad practice and bad driving. Its a hazard warning, whether they meant it as that or not is completely irrelavent. So tell me again, actually listen to what I am saying if that is even within your capability, where is the ambiguity?

    Stark wrote: »
    PS: the horn http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-driving/good-driving-practice/using-a-horn.html . Since you were pedantic enough to bring up the subject of when it should be used (despite it being totally irrelevant to the thread).
    The link you've provided backs up what I was saying. So I got the hours wrong, well done - Woopie doo :rolleyes:


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,083 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    20goto10 wrote:
    Right I'll try and put it in simple words for those who are too thick to understand. In the case of using your lights as a warning signal there is one way and only one way to interpret it. There is no ambiguity. Its a warning, nothing else. To suggest there is ambiguity, that it can be interpreted to mean different things depending on the situation is, quite simply, wrong. You are being as ignorant as the idiot who is flashing his lights in praise.

    What we have here is the fundamental problem on our Irish roads. People think there are the official rules and the unofficial rules. People think there are the rules you need to adhere to in order to pass your test and then there are the "other" rules that everyone adheres to once they get fully motoring. When somebody puts their hazard lights on or flashes you it means there is a hazard. To open yourself up to ambiguity or even think about what context it is meant in is bad practice and bad driving. Its a hazard warning, whether they meant it as that or not is completely irrelavent. So tell me again, actually listen to what I am saying if that is even within your capability, where is the ambiguity?

    There is no official rule that says that flashing lights are a warning signal. So how is it that everyone else is ignorant for interpreting them one way and you're in the right for interpreting them another way?
    20goto10 wrote:
    The link you've provided backs up what I was saying. So I got the hours wrong, well done - Woopie doo :rolleyes:

    The point is to get your own facts right if you're going to start giving out to everyone about being wrong.


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