Hazard Lights?

leahyl

Hi, I was just wondering if one of the driving instructors can answer this for me.

I'm a licensed driver but thought this would be a good place to get an answer:D

Basically coming into work today I was coming down my road to get onto the main road and was waiting for a gap in the traffic as you do. So a few cars passed and then a jeep comes along and it had what I thought was an indicator to go up my road so I proceeded onto the main road. I glanced behind me and realised the jeep was still there but that it had hazard lights on! WTF? Why would someone do this? I was lucky I wasn't blown off the road.

I think I heard somewhere before that cars that are from out of town would put on their hazard lights if they were unsure where they were going? I genuinely didn't see that they were hazard lights until I had pulled onto the road.

Thanks

Del2005

leahyl wrote: »

Hi, I was just wondering if one of the driving instructors can answer this for me.

I'm a licensed driver but thought this would be a good place to get an answer:D

Basically coming into work today I was coming down my road to get onto the main road and was waiting for a gap in the traffic as you do. So a few cars passed and then a jeep comes along and it had what I thought was an indicator to go up my road so I proceeded onto the main road. I glanced behind me and realised the jeep was still there but that it had hazard lights on! WTF? Why would someone do this? I was lucky I wasn't blown off the road.

I think I heard somewhere before that cars that are from out of town would put on their hazard lights if they were unsure where they were going? I genuinely didn't see that they were hazard lights until I had pulled onto the road.

Thanks

What's your question?

You pulled out in front of a vehicle which had an amber light flashing, all that proves is that the bulb isn't blown.

Never pull out till you are sure it's clear or the vehicles approaching have completely stopped.

leahyl

Del2005 wrote: »

What's your question?

You pulled out in front of a vehicle which had an amber light flashing, all that proves is that the bulb isn't blown.

Never pull out till you are sure it's clear or the vehicles approaching have completely stopped.

What are you talking about?

As far as I could see the jeep was indicating to turn left therefore I proceeded as it wasn't coming in my direction (or so I thought). I then realised that the jeep had it's hazard lights on. I am asking why the hell the jeep had it's hazard lights on while driving? I would have thought it was quite clear what my question was. No need to be smart about it.

I had a good bit of space to pull out without him being too close and the fact that I believed he was indicating left made me more sure that it was safe to pull out - but when I looked in my mirror I realised he was still behind me and had his hazard lights on.

Are you saying that if a car was indicating left onto the road you were on and you were trying to get onto the main road (on the left hand side) that you wouldn't proceed if they had their indicator on???

Would anyone else like to answer the question I posed in my OP?

**Timbuk2**

I have no idea why he had his hazards on, that sounds odd, but I think what Del2005 was trying to say is that you should never make a manoeuvre based on an indicator light.

Often people can leave their indicator on from a previous manoeuvre and not notice that it is on, or they can indicate one intention, but actually do another. You should only emerge from the side road once you are absolutely sure that car is turning left - i.e. it has slowed right down and is about to start turning.

ADIDriving put it very well in another thread recently:

ADIDriving wrote: »

Never believe indicators...on their own!
You can also make assumptions about which way someone is going by looking at their road position /lane, the speed they are driving ( faster probably straight / slower probably turning ), you can often make an educated guess based on local knowledge / common sense, as well as which way they actually begin to turn.
You can never trust any of these on their own, but as the pair up it becomes more educated then guess. Practice it and it becomes flawless.

leahyl

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

I have no idea why he had his hazards on, that sounds odd, but I think what Del2005 was trying to say is that you should never make a manoeuvre based on an indicator light.

Often people can leave their indicator on from a previous manoeuvre and not notice that it is on, or they can indicate one intention, but actually do another. You should only emerge from the side road once you are absolutely sure that car is turning left - i.e. it has slowed right down and is about to start turning.

ADIDriving put it very well in another thread recently:

Thanks Timbuk2 - the thing is he did seem to be slowing down - you know the way you can judge other cars speed almost when you are trying to get onto certain roads (It's hard to explain!) and know whether you can make it out on time. Like he didn't blow the horn at me or anything so that wasn't a big deal as such but then at the same time if I had known he was going straight on I wouldn't have gone (even if he was going slower). His hazard lights were on all the way down the road until he took a left and I lost him.

TonyStark

leahyl wrote: »

Hi, I was just wondering if one of the driving instructors can answer this for me.

I'm a licensed driver but thought this would be a good place to get an answer:D

Basically coming into work today I was coming down my road to get onto the main road and was waiting for a gap in the traffic as you do. So a few cars passed and then a jeep comes along and it had what I thought was an indicator to go up my road so I proceeded onto the main road. I glanced behind me and realised the jeep was still there but that it had hazard lights on! WTF? Why would someone do this? I was lucky I wasn't blown off the road.

I think I heard somewhere before that cars that are from out of town would put on their hazard lights if they were unsure where they were going? I genuinely didn't see that they were hazard lights until I had pulled onto the road.

Thanks

You drove out in front of an oncoming car... I personally never would trust an indicator on a car.. I would those few extra moments to see the vehicle slow to take the turn and then make the decision to go.

What I see here is that you nearly caused a serious accident, presumably the jeep had to brake when you joined the road. It sounds to me that you drove out in front of them based on a careless assumption. If you were oblivious to the fact that they had their hazard warning lights on then you were probably oblivious to their speed and the fact that they had to brake to accommodate you driving out in front of them.

In relation to a car "being out of town " and not knowing the way with hazard warning lights on... utter nonsense.

leahyl

TonyStark wrote: »

You drove out in front of an oncoming car... I personally never would trust an indicator on a car.. I would those few extra moments to see the vehicle slow to take the turn and then make the decision to go.

What I see here is that you nearly caused a serious accident, presumably the jeep had to brake when you joined the road. It sounds to me that you drove out in front of them based on a careless assumption. If you were oblivious to the fact that they had their hazard warning lights on then you were probably oblivious to their speed and the fact that they had to brake to accommodate you driving out in front of them.

In relation to a car "being out of town " and not knowing the way with hazard warning lights on... utter nonsense.

God almighty I'm being lambasted here for something and I don't think I deserve it really. I went because there was sufficient space to go without causing an accident - I am a safe driver (believe it or not:D) and because of the 'indicator' - which yes I realise what you are all saying regarding that but I think it's a bit unfair to call it a "careless assumption". I take the utmost care when I'm driving. Like I said he was slowing down as if he was about to turn and I saw an indicator so I therefore proceeded.

Also can you explain then why he might have had the hazard lights on?? Presumably they would make some sort of noise inside the car and he'd realise they were on so he must have had them on for a reason

Finally in relation to this:

Never believe indicators...on their own!
You can also make assumptions about which way someone is going by looking at their road position /lane, the speed they are driving ( faster probably straight / slower probably turning ), you can often make an educated guess based on local knowledge / common sense, as well as which way they actually begin to turn.
You can never trust any of these on their own, but as the pair up it becomes more educated then guess. Practice it and it becomes flawless.


I didn't trust the indicator on it's own - I judged by speed as well.

MascotDec85

leahyl wrote: »

What are you talking about?

As far as I could see the jeep was indicating to turn left therefore I proceeded as it wasn't coming in my direction (or so I thought). I then realised that the jeep had it's hazard lights on. I am asking why the hell the jeep had it's hazard lights on while driving? I would have thought it was quite clear what my question was. No need to be smart about it.

I had a good bit of space to pull out without him being too close and the fact that I believed he was indicating left made me more sure that it was safe to pull out - but when I looked in my mirror I realised he was still behind me and had his hazard lights on.

Are you saying that if a car was indicating left onto the road you were on and you were trying to get onto the main road (on the left hand side) that you wouldn't proceed if they had their indicator on???

Would anyone else like to answer the question I posed in my OP?

Firstly, I've no idea when the jeep had his hazards on.

Secondly, you shouldn't pull out in front of a car simply because they have their indicator on unless there is sufficient room for you to do it safely.

A scenario to describe it:
You are turning right from a side road into a main road. A car approaching from your right. It's too close for you to pull out safely. The car then indicates to turn left into the road you are exiting. Should you pull out?

No, absolutely not. What if the driver remembers he or she has forgotten something at the shops and changes their mind about turning at the last minute? What if the signal was on for a while as you approached the junction? The volume on the stereo up so loud that the driver can't hear the click of the signal....

What if...............................


Never turn until you can see the vehicle committing to the turn

leahyl

MascotDec85 wrote: »

Firstly, I've no idea when the jeep had his hazards on.

Secondly, you shouldn't pull out in front of a car simply because they have their indicator on unless there is sufficient room for you to do it safely.

A scenario to describe it:
You are turning right from a side road into a main road. A car approaching from your right. It's too close for you to pull out safely. The car then indicates to turn left into the road you are exiting. Should you pull out?

No, absolutely not. What if the driver remembers he or she has forgotten something at the shops and changes their mind about turning at the last minute? What if the signal was on for a while as you approached the junction? The volume on the stereo up so loud that the driver can't hear the click of the signal....

What if...............................


Never turn until you can see the vehicle committing to the turn

I take all those points MascotDec85 however the scenario you described is not how it happened.

I was driving from a road onto a main road - taking a left turn. The jeep was coming along that road (on the side that I was looking to enter) and they were 'indicating' left to turn onto my road and slowing down giving me sufficient time and space to proceed - is this not correct? What if 2 or 3 other cars behind him had been indicating left and I was to wait until those 3 cars turned - I'd be there a lifetime! I think sometimes too you have to know the particular road but maybe I am completely wrong - I realise you have more experience in these things.

I will take this into consideration in future though. Many thanks:)

TonyStark

leahyl wrote: »

Also can you explain then why he might have had the hazard lights on?? Presumably they would make some sort of noise inside the car and he'd realise they were on so he must have had them on for a reason

He could have been towing a trailer on a trailer or a car that was broken down, or signalling to cars behind him there was a hazard in front of him...ie some car that was going to pull out in front of him and cause him to jam on his brakes :-) Whatever reason he had them on for it wasn't signalling to you to drive out in front of him.

I can't understand how you'd miss two flashing orange lights on the front of a vehicle, but yet 'judge' it's speed correctly so you could pull out in front of it safely.

leahyl

TonyStark wrote: »

He could have been towing a trailer on a trailer or a car that was broken down, or signalling to cars behind him there was a hazard in front of him...ie some car that was going to pull out in front of him and cause him to jam on his brakes :-) Whatever reason he had them on for it wasn't signalling to you to drive out in front of him.

I can't understand how you'd miss two flashing orange lights on the front of a vehicle, but yet 'judge' it's speed correctly so you could pull out in front of it safely.

I genuinely didn't see the other light - it just looked like an indicator. Anyway thanks to everyone for all the responses - I guess I should be more careful then:(

Del2005

leahyl wrote: »

What are you talking about?

As far as I could see the jeep was indicating to turn left therefore I proceeded as it wasn't coming in my direction (or so I thought). I then realised that the jeep had it's hazard lights on. I am asking why the hell the jeep had it's hazard lights on while driving? I would have thought it was quite clear what my question was. No need to be smart about it.

I had a good bit of space to pull out without him being too close and the fact that I believed he was indicating left made me more sure that it was safe to pull out - but when I looked in my mirror I realised he was still behind me and had his hazard lights on.

You never said you had plenty of distance in the OP, so I assumed that you pulled out on the indicator and slowing down. That's the problem with posting unless you're 100% clear people will jump to conclusions and make assumptions. through even if you are 100% clear people can miss read

leahyl wrote: »

Are you saying that if a car was indicating left onto the road you were on and you were trying to get onto the main road (on the left hand side) that you wouldn't proceed if they had their indicator on???

Yes, I wait till the vehicle has committed to the turn before I'll move off. I'd rather wait a few minutes to be sure than have a car in the passenger seat.

leahyl

Del2005 wrote: »

You never said you had plenty of distance in the OP, so I assumed that you pulled out on the indicator and slowing down. That's the problem with posting unless you're 100% clear people will jump to conclusions and make assumptions. through even if you are 100% clear people can miss read



Yes, I wait till the vehicle has committed to the turn before I'll move off. I'd rather wait a few minutes to be sure than have a car in the passenger seat.

Fair enough - apologies if I wasn't clear in my original post. If I thought for one second that what I was doing was taking a chance or was dangerous I wouldn't do it you can be sure. From the situation I was in I thought it was ok to proceed and then just glanced in the mirror and realised that it was actually hazard lights he had on. The indicator lights were on the side of the vehicle too rather than the front so perhaps that's why I didn't see the other light until I was onto the road but I really didn't imagine for one second "oh they could be hazard light".

Anyway I'll know for next time.:)

TonyStark

Del2005 wrote: »

You never said you had plenty of distance in the OP, so I assumed that you pulled out on the indicator and slowing down. That's the problem with posting unless you're 100% clear people will jump to conclusions and make assumptions. through even if you are 100% clear people can miss read



Yes, I wait till the vehicle has committed to the turn before I'll move off. I'd rather wait a few minutes to be sure than have a car in the passenger seat.

Only if you were on the continent!!...it would be in the drivers seat from what the OP had outlined.

MascotDec85

leahyl wrote: »

I take all those points MascotDec85 however the scenario you described is not how it happened.

I was driving from a road onto a main road - taking a left turn. The jeep was coming along that road (on the side that I was looking to enter) and they were 'indicating' left to turn onto my road and slowing down giving me sufficient time and space to proceed - is this not correct? What if 2 or 3 other cars behind him had been indicating left and I was to wait until those 3 cars turned - I'd be there a lifetime! I think sometimes too you have to know the particular road but maybe I am completely wrong - I realise you have more experience in these things.

I will take this into consideration in future though. Many thanks:)

The golden rule is don't pull out of a junction unless it is safe and that you won't cause other road users to slow down or stop.

The scenario I gave above to to help you understand what could happen.
Fair enough you say you had time to move out safely but that didn't really come across.

Wishbone Ash

The 'jeep' may have beed acting as an 'escort' for a wide load following. It may have been towing another vehicle or perhaps the driver was previously stopped with the hazards on and drove away neglecting to switch them off (in some vehicles it's difficult to hear the ticking noise from them especially if the radio is on at a high volume).