🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <C1GKA9.4Fv@cs.bham.ac.uk>, nht@cs.bham.ac.uk (Neville H Thomas)
wrote:
> 
> 
> Tripping up and down on the M6, I notice that when traffic
> is slowing down, the current trend is turn on the hazzard warning
> lights.
> 
> In most vehicles the hazzard warning light is difficult to reach
> (e.g. behind the steering wheel on my car). It certainly wasn't
> intended to be switched on whilst the vehicle is in motion.
> 
> I wonder if this malpractice is happening else where (not just,
> north of Brum)?

No - it happens everywhere (but mostly on motorways). The idea is that
when a car is braking _alot_, i.e. for a traffic jam or accident, the
emergency lights warn the cars behind that you're not just testing your
brakes or slowing down to 60, but are going to come to a stop or near
stop.
It certainly isn't in the Highway Code, and probably isn't legal, but I
have found it useful in the past, which is why I do it now.

--
Bernie Jones            (0)223-335478             bernie.jones@cl.cam.ac.uk
U of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, Pembroke Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QG, GB

In article <C1GKA9.4Fv@cs.bham.ac.uk> nht@cs.bham.ac.uk
(Neville H Thomas) writes:

>Tripping up and down on the M6, I notice that when traffic is slowing
>down, the current trend is turn on the hazzard warning lights.

>I wonder if this malpractice is happening else where (not just,
>north of Brum)?

I've noticed this a few times, and I agree with your verdict. The first
time someone did this in front of me I naturally assumed that he was in some
sort of difficulty and prepared to change lanes in order to get past. I
had of course seen the traffic build-up ahead of him and was slowing down
anyway. The emergency flashers were totally unnecessary and gave the
wrong message. If you are stationary at the back of a queue it is wise
to apply the foot brake until someone else pulls up behind.

It should be an ofence to use emergency flashers when there is no real
emergency. Drivers who use hazard warning lights while parked at the side
of a street should be booked automatically for, on their own admission,
causing a hazard. If the nearside light is obscured you can never tell
whether a vehicle is signalling to pull out or is just parked.

Richard

I always put my hazard warning lights on when I come upon the tail of a motorway
jam. If the car in front of you is slowing from 80 mph to 0 then I think this is
a definite hazard. Brake lights don't really distinguish between a slight
decrease in speed and hard breaking and I think giving extra warning to the
drivers behind me is well worth the 'risk' of putting on hazard lights.

In article <C1GKA9.4Fv@cs.bham.ac.uk>, nht@cs.bham.ac.uk (Neville H Thomas) writes:
|> 
|> Tripping up and down on the M6, I notice that when traffic
|> is slowing down, the current trend is turn on the hazzard warning
|> lights.

This practice is sanctioned, recommended even, in the (latest) Highway
Code, under specific circumstances which you can discover by going and
looking it up.

|> I wonder if this malpractice is happening else where (not just,
|> north of Brum)?

Not a malpractice if done right. The conditions under which it should
be done are not inconsistent with your description, though "slowing
down" is not of itself sufficient cause.

I suspect the practice started as one of the signals HGV drivers use
to each other, and has gradually become accepted.

-- 
Martyn Johnson      maj@cl.cam.ac.uk
University of Cambridge Computer Lab
Cambridge UK

In article <C1GKA9.4Fv@cs.bham.ac.uk> nht@cs.bham.ac.uk (Neville H Thomas) writes:
>
>Tripping up and down on the M6, I notice that when traffic
>is slowing down, the current trend is turn on the hazard warning
>lights....
>I wonder if this malpractice is happening else where (not just,
>north of Brum)?

I believe this is officially sanctioned now, the law having been changed
specifically to allow it.

But am I the only one to have noticed a problem with it? Several times I
have been confused where the car (A) in front of the one in front has used
hazard flashers on approaching a jam; the car in front obscures my view of
the nearside indicator, so I imagine that A is indicating to change lane.

A similar thing happens with a car or truck parked in a line of cars on the
left, typically a delivery lorry outside a shop. Cars passing see only the
off-side hazard flasher, and assume the truck is intending to pull out.

I think the flash pattern should be different between hazard and normal
use.
 


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