Do you warn other drivers?

i was driving along a freeway, under the legal limit the other day (as i usually do) and i got hi-beam flashed by a few drivers coming the other way to warn me of a police radar set up alongside the road. Whilst i appreciated the warning and checked my speed, it got me thinking whether thats the appropriate thing to do when people are breaking the law and risking their own and other peoples lives.

i personally don think is the right thing to do. i have flashed drivers to warn them in my younger days, but i havent for many years. The more i think about it and the impact it could have on my family, the lesss im inclined to warn others.

i suppose no one likes to get fined for speeding, and we all break the law at some point, probably on a daily basis, but when is it right to warn people of a speed camera, when those people speeding are endangering the lives of others including your own?

should you warn others? do you warn others? when is it right or wrong to warn other drivers? is it ok to warn for speed cameras and not for random breath testing? should 'flashers' get fined for warning other drivers of mobile speed cameras?

 

For the most part in my experience, most people treat the speed 'limits' as either ideal speed, or minimum speed. I haven't seen most speeders as recklessly endangering the public. If someone flashed their lights at me, I would probably check to make sure my high-beams aren't on or something, I'm not familiar with this practice. On the other hand, I do use Waze, which allows you to mark the GPS map with police, accidents, speed cameras and such, and I don't think of myself as immoral for marking police I see.

 

If someone flashes their hi beams at me, first thing I do is check whether my lights are off, or if my hi beams are on. I wouldn't even think that they were making an alert that there was something coming up. I'm curious to hear what others have experienced.

 

Commonly done at least here in upstate NY to want drivers of an upcoming issue. I do it for deer, or a dog in the road, or to warn someone of a disabled vehicle ahead of them that they can't see.
It is also done on the highway to alert others of an upcoming speed trap but like Lish I stopped doing that a long time ago.

 

I concur.

 

If the net effect is people slowing down then it's fine. On the other hand, perhaps is encourages speeding once past the trap.

I don't alert people for speed traps so they get what they deserve but I do appreciate being alerted. I'm morally selfish that way.

Tangentially, I once heard an urban legend that inner-city gang members out on an initiation drive were expected to follow and assault the driver of any car that flashed them.

 

Initial Thought

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I warn other drivers that their lights are off or that a bear is lurking with a double tap of the high beams when I'm on an appropriate road. I also make it a habit to ditch any following vehicles of the ticket-writing variety because they make me nervous.

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When on my motorcycle at night, I also tend to flash my high beam when approaching an intersection just to make sure everybody is paying attention.

I don't know what it is about a big rumbly silver bike but it must have a cloaking device because people miss it all the time.

 

I agree with those who interpret the high beam flash to mean that my headlights are off. I've always thought that the flash can be awfully ambiguous, and it can be used for a number of purposes. As for speed traps, I don't feel compelled to warn people coming the other way.

 

Why did I think headlight flashing to warn of a speed trap was illegal? Maybe it is here or Ontario? I don't think to do it. If I get flashed, I check my headlights, make sure they are on low beams.

 

Its kinda a common thing here in da south.

 

What Ralphie250 said, although it's not as common as it used to be.

Yes, I flash my lights to warn other drivers of radar/speed traps. In my experience 95% of speeders aren't driving like maniacs. The folks who drive way over the limit and cut it too close when weaving in & out of traffic deserve to be ticketed.

 

I do it all the time, and I give a thank-you wave to anyone who does it for me. Unless limits are set solely according to traffic engineering best practices (85th percentile speed unless safety concerns like line of sight, school zone, etc. exists,) they're making the roads more dangerous and enforcement is nothing but a cash grab.

 

Do you have any evidence to back up your assertion that speed enforcement makes roads more dangerous? Everybody believes other people are the menace and they're not really speeding. Until you point out their 45 in a 30 zone is 50% over the speed limit.

 

I warned a woman on her phone coming toward me in slow traffic that the old bill were up ahead. She hung up her call. I had fibbed - was that so wrong?

 

Let me put it this way, what do you consider speeding? Your number may be different than mine.

 

I live off a road that's set at 25mph and is known to have cops sitting on it with radar. I flash my lights to warn people on this road - and they do me. I think we have ALL been stopped on this road - it's over 3 miles long and 25mph seems unnaturally slow. Cops prey here and it pisses me off. So I do what I can to alert others.

I don't do it anywhere else.

Edited to add: I'm in the South.

 

I'm from Ohio, in NC now, and the light flash always meant "cops ahead." I remember when I first got my license, I was so excited to warn other motorists the first time I saw a cop....so excited that I didn't wait until I was out of sight to do so My mom laughed, but warned me not to do that again. Luckily, I didn't get pulled over myself.

To be honest, I can't really remember the last time I flashed my lights at someone. Someone did it to me last week, and I immediately slowed down (I think I was going 50 in a 45. I do tend to speed more on backroads, since I grew up driving them.) Never did see a cop car anywhere, though. Made me wonder if they just gave a random flash because they thought I was going too fast...or if someone else got pulled over before I got there.

 

I never flash brights at anyone. That might trigger a road rage situation.

I drive with my headlights on at all times, and use bright headlights only on empty roads at night.

 

When on duty if I see someone with no headlights or failing to dim then I stop them. There is a good chance they are drunk. So next time watch them for a second and see if they are weaving or slow. If they are at all odd then call them in. Do everybody a favor on the road.