Flashing Headlights - Do You Do This?

[ill-advised strategy]

when I'm considering a pass, only one thing crosses my mind: What would Nobis do?

[grrrr]

You never answered about if you drive with your fog lights on. If you do, that is why. If not, you might want to check the adjustment on your headlights, or perhaps you just have obnoxiously bright headlights.

I routinely drive 63-65 in the 60 MPH zones and 73-75 in the 70 MPH zones on I-5 and I-90 (yes, very grandma like) and pass many people and nobody ever flashes me.

And passing scary is passing when there is a question as to if it will become a close call or not. You admitted to that yourself. Love you.

Feel free to flash me when I pass you...



Hey, someone had to go there.

[rideit]

To the OP: are your headlights adjusted correctly?
People could be doing this to you often because a 'high' aimed headlight looks like high beams in the rear view.
Or if your rig is tail-heavy.
As to trucks:
It's on/off/on, (or off/on, I guess?) not freakin' high beams.
What, don't you have a cb, good buddy?

[iceman]

when I'm considering a pass, only one thing crosses my mind: What would Nobis do?

Crack a beer, and then pass.

[ill-advised strategy]

LOL - a professional driver who admittedly drives like a grandma. A safe and courteous grandma, but a grandma nonetheless. J, you really don't want to go down this road.

You're wrong. Your entire thought process is wrong. Until you've driven a truck, you don't know shit about driving a truck.

[plugboots]

That's idiotic. I had a C license in Illinois, therefore drove a truck. Big. Fucking. Deal.
By your logic you need to ram a knife in your eye to know it hurts.

Willie drives aggressive and the retards in WA don't like it.

One time when it happened to me, I slowed down to 40 or so to piss the asshole off more . Whatever.

[Hugh Conway]

Crack a beer, and then pass.

http://www.nj.com/sussex-county/inde...g_vehicle.html

[iceman]

If he lives his wife is gonna kill him.

[Chainsaw_Willie]

You're wrong. Your entire thought process is wrong. Until you've driven a truck, you don't know shit about driving a truck.

What are you on about? I never said anything about driving a truck.

My headlights are aimed just fine and I almost never use my fog lights (which are also properly aimed) because they don't really do anything but burn out frequently. Oncoming traffic at night never flashes me, only people who've just been passed and this happens more often than not during the daytime.

I haven't been involved in an at-fault accident in about 25 years. I have, however, been rearended while sitting at stop lights numerous times and once on the freeway when I was able to stop before hitting the car in front of me but the guy behind me wasn't as successful. That incident totaled a pretty nice '75 Nova I was fixing up and gave my passenger a case of whiplash for which he was handsomely compensated by the guy's insurance co.

plugboots - I prefer to characterize it as "assertive driving." I don't weave in and out of traffic and try to minimize lane changes, I don't tailgate, I don't cut people off, I let people merge when they need to, and I stop for old babushkas trying to cross the road. I will, however, pass your ass at the first opportunity if you slow below the speed limit or by your inconsistent speed prevent me from using my cruise control on an otherwise wide open road.

I'm guessing people just don't like the sound of the boxer at full spool blowing by them.

[plugboots]

OK, thinking of this thread I took this picture today:

This is on 97 S. of Toppenish, WA, I was on my way to Dundee, OR. There was construction, so now after following the guide vehicle through the single lane part, the cars were all bunched up. I waited at this first passing zone to see who would pass. Actually I waited because I wanted to get this picture, normally, I would never wait. Because it's WA and nobody passes.

These 3 cars, in a great place to pass, (clear, dry, slight downhill even), didn't pass anybody while following the slow 55/65 truck . So TGR posters, what do you do?

It seems most of you just get in this the line up and become the 5th vehicle, (forever). Willie, liv2ski, iceman and maybe a few others try to pass at the next safe spot and pass as many of these cars as possible. In WA, that 3rd car, if you can't make it passed the semi-trailer , might flash his brights at you. He says, "Hey, man, I can't pass, you shouldn't pass either." I guess.

I passed all 4, then the next group of whatever, etc., etc., etc,.

[Art Shirk]

So TGR posters, what do you do?

You were driving a Golf R, correct? I say let er rip.

[plugboots]

Today I had the BMW 328, and I did.

[bendtheski]

10-11 years ago, on my way to k-mart on Rt 4 just coming out of Whitehall, some guy in a VW passes me on a double yellow like I'm standing still (I was prolly going 10 over the posted 45). I didn't flash the brights like a doucher. It was after midnight and I just wanted my drive to be over.

Probably not more than a minute after the guy passed me I see a huge dust cloud up ahead, some spinning headlights, and then a semi coming from the opposite direction and crossing the center line and almost hitting a diner on my side of the road.

I pull over to see if the semi driver is ok. There's no sign of the VW. Semi driver is fine but shaken up, mostly she's worried about losing her CDL. She says the VW hit her almost head on and took out her steering, which is why she crossed the center line. Now we start looking for the VW.

We find it about 50yds up the road in a ditch on the right shoulder. The driver's side door is gone, and oddly, so is the driver. We look around some more and eventually find him also on the shoulder, unconscious, but not dead (yet). Seems he got ejected some time after crashing into the semi and spinning around without a door. It was dark, and I'm no EMT, so no idea what the extent of injuries was. I had called 911 as soon as I stopped for the semi, and the cops showed up just around the time we found the VW driver.

The semi driver asked me to make a statement to the cops so she wouldn't lose her CDL, which I did and then continued on my way.

Half an hour or so later I got a ticket for 10 over (45 in a 35) in Rutland.

Reverse karma? Maybe I should have brighted the guy?

[Chainsaw_Willie]

...

Reverse karma? Maybe I should have brighted the guy?

Do you honestly think he'd have said to himself "hey, that guy's flashing his lights at me, maybe I should stop driving like an idiot?"

I get that maybe people just have a thing about being passed. They sure as hell don't want you to merge in front of them, so taking up station in front of them when they can't prevent it must be frustrating. Frustrating enough to make them flash their lights. Which is totally retarded because I couldn't give two shits whether someone flashes their lights. This is why I'm so confused by this behavior - do people actually think they're having some effect on other people's behavior? What's the fucking point? Might as well try to move a mountain with a teaspoon.

[ill-advised strategy]

That's idiotic. I had a C license in Illinois, therefore drove a truck. Big. Fucking. Deal.
By your logic you need to ram a knife in your eye to know it hurts.

So your livelihood depended on you driving 8-10,000ish safe miles a month? If that were the case I think you'd understand better why professional drivers drive carefully.

[bendtheski]

Do you honestly think he'd have said to himself "hey, that guy's flashing his lights at me, maybe I should stop driving like an idiot?"

I get that maybe people just have a thing about being passed. They sure as hell don't want you to merge in front of them, so taking up station in front of them when they can't prevent it must be frustrating. Frustrating enough to make them flash their lights. Which is totally retarded because I couldn't give two shits whether someone flashes their lights. This is why I'm so confused by this behavior - do people actually think they're having some effect on other people's behavior? What's the fucking point? Might as well try to move a mountain with a teaspoon.

I think it's partially a power trip thing; some people seem to want to impose their will on other drivers, probably because they're powerless in most other areas of their lives. Then there's the pseudo-anonymity of people having cars around them that seems to encourage tough guy tendencies similar to the internet.

Anyway, I don't know what the flashers hope to accomplish other than trying to influence your driving habits or just saying fuck you. You could just ignore it, otherwise they win, similar to the internet.

[DasBlunt]

LOL - a professional driver who admittedly drives like a grandma. A safe and courteous grandma, but a grandma nonetheless. J, you really don't want to go down this road.

And still, I'm not talking about "scary" passing, whatever that is. Heck, I had someone do this to me the other day on a 4-lane freeway (2 lanes each direction). They were in the right lane in an old pickup full of junk doing like 50 mph, which is just fine. I went by them in the left lane @ 65 and they started flashing their lights. WTF? This is the kind of thing I'm baffled by.

@ Dasblunt - yes, yes I am admittedly clueless about why people flash their headlights after being passed. As I've said repeatedly, I can't figure it out though I believe Iceman and Liv2ski have it right. It's probably indignation at some kind of perceived insult, as if the fact that someone wants to drive faster than them means the person driving faster is WRONG and must be PUNISHED. Punished by flashing headlights, which still makes no sense. Can you explain this to me please? Maybe you could, but that big wad of smug up your ass has the only orifice you possess that's ever emitted a recognizable noise so choked up you can't clearly articulate your superior knowledge to an idiotic peon like myself. Please, carry on professor. And when does your line of cologne come out?

Dude, you are an angry man. No wonder you need hookers, you could not even hold onto a stripper.

It's funny you admit, by the act of starting this thread, that you are a douche driver

[char]

It "fuck you for making what I perceive to be an unsafe pass" or "hey bud, plenty of room come on over into the right lane."

FWIW- if you are finding yourself using your brakes doing 10 car passes at high speed you Are not passing safely. If you are attempting 10 car passes on typical w. Washington mountain roads with short straights it is probably "fuck you".

I am not the fastest driver but will try to let people pass by slowing down slightly when they do. Way irritating when I find myself slowing down not out of courtesy but out of self preservation. I can't think of a time where I have wondered if I was going to complete a pass or if I needed to hit the brakes.

[GeezerSteve]

I can testify from personal observation that 98% of American drivers fall somewhere in between these two points: (a) Will's driving habits; and (b) the driving habits of a competent grandmother.

[userA]

will we have received max. output.
b

[GeezerSteve]

This thread could be a teachable moment on the subject of self-awareness.

Wait, forget that. This is TGR. Carry on.

[MontuckyFried]

This thread takes me back to mini-van drivers thread:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ni-Van-Drivers

With 15 stick figure family characters on the rear windshield, driving 15mph under the speed limit, taking up two lanes every 20 seconds because she has to constantly turn around to tend to her participation-trophy recipients, and when you finally get the opportunity to lead the 15 cars behind her to the promised land of 35mph her emasculated husband riding shotgun and she raise all 4 hands in the air, including those formerly attached to the steering wheel, accompanied with dumbfounded looks of rage when you pass them by as if your sole intent on the road is to commit vehicular manslaughter of every stick figure you pass.

Worst damn drivers on the road as a class, bar none.

Sounds like many of you here might just be mini-van drivers.

[iceman]

This thread could be a teachable moment on the subject of self-awareness.

Wait, forget that. This is TGR. Carry on.

It's funny how people are obviously flashing him because they think he's driving like a dick and he's all, "...nooo, that can't be it, what does it really mean?"

[PNWbrit]

It's funny how people are obviously flashing him because they think he's driving like a dick and he's all, "...nooo, that can't be it, what does it really mean?"

This thread could be a teachable moment on the subject of self-awareness.

"Svenson (1981) surveyed 161 students in Sweden and the United States, asking them to compare their driving safety and skill to the other people in the experiment. For driving skill, 93% of the US sample and 69% of the Swedish sample put themselves in the top 50% (above the median). For safety, 88% of the US group and 77% of the Swedish sample put themselves in the top 50%.[25]

McCormick, Walkey and Green (1986) found similar results in their study, asking 178 participants to evaluate their position on eight different dimensions relating to driving skill (examples include the "dangerous-safe" dimension and the "considerate-inconsiderate" dimension). Only a small minority rated themselves as below average (the midpoint of the dimension scale) at any point, and when all eight dimensions were considered together it was found that almost 80% of participants had evaluated themselves as being above the average driver"

Maybe headlight flashing is some kind of automotive applause.....sort of a "hey that was some nice driving buddy!, you can trust my opinion because I'm also a really good driver"

[userA]

maybe across the pond but not here.
b