Flashing on comming traffic

D_murph

Mc Love wrote: »

I would do it. But a cousin of mine flashed his lights to warn oncoming traffic and the driver pulled in and told the gardai, they went after him pulled him over and fined him

That took an absolutely ungrateful knob to hang him out to dry like that :eek:. I have appreciated it in the past when I was flashed by oncoming drivers while over a ridiculous 60KMH limit on an open stretch of dual carriageway and sure enough, there they were, hard at it :rolleyes:.

I have been flashed many other times while at the limit also and the gesture was appreciated but I would never in my wildest dreams, go and rat out someone that just tried to do me a favour like that. Disgusting to hear :mad:.

iamskippy

Stark wrote: »

They did make it illegal alright. As far as I know, at some speed traps, they have an unmarked Garda car patrolling up and down to look out for people warning oncoming traffic of the speed trap.

how will they prove why the person flashed. could he not say he thought the unmarked car was a friend. No garda checkpoint around but i flashed a car yesterday cos i thought it was a friend. if there had been a checkpoint and the car i flashed had been the unmarked car how could they prove i did not think it was my friend. i did actually

ottostreet

i flash for speedtraps, but not for normal checkpoints.

aside from that, i flash people on motorways who are pootling along in the overtaking lane, and wont move over, and flash people to let them cross the road when driving around town

corktina

i tend to drive my own car and let other people get on with driving theres. I only use my headlight flasher (and horn) as a a warning that I am there

Cabaal

I know somebody who was going to work one morning passed through a checkpoint and flashed one or two cars after going through the checkpoint.

8 Hours later when going home the checkpoint was still there and they stopped the person, told them off for flashing an un-marked gardai car that morning.

joolsveer

I wrote to the RSA regarding the legality of headlight flashing and received this reply.

Hi xxx,

Thank you for your query.

There is no provision in the regulations for the flashing of headlights and the meaning thereof. The Road Traffic (Lighting of Vehicles) Regulations, 1963 - 1996 prescribe the lamps and reflectors with which vehicles are required to be fitted while being used in public places, and the circumstances and the manner in which lamps are to be used. The Regulations require lamps that show a light to the front of a vehicle to be fitted and constructed so that they will not dazzle or mislead other traffic when lit.

In addition, such lamps must be fitted with a dipping device so that the beam of light from the lamp, when dipped, is incapable of dazzling a person more than 25 feet away from the lamp in a specified position (which approximates to that of the driver of an oncoming vehicle). Dipped headlamps must be used when a vehicle is either passing another vehicle or travelling close behind one.

I trust this answers your query.

Regards

yyyyy
Vehicle Standards

corktina

seems to me that **g li*hts fall outside the 25' no-dazzle limit though :rolleyes: (ban expected momentarily....:D)

Hagar

There is no provision in the regulations for the flashing of headlights and the meaning thereof.

Surely that would mean that the Gardaí have no grounds upon which to charge people they believe are warning other drivers by flashing their lights? Any meaning they would try to attribute to the flashing would have to be dismissed as speculative.

Stevie Dakota

I flashed a car recently, it was coming toward me, some 50 meters ahead, indicating to turn right across my lane. What I hadn't seen was a car on my left just in front of me waiting to exit a driveway, they interpreted my flash was for them and accelerated right out in front on me. It was VERY close to a ludicrous accident.

Now I think very carefully before flashing anyone.

hobochris

The equivalent of this flash for bikers is three pats on the top of the helmet,as its generally hard to see the difference between dips and full beam's on a bike.

So for those that are liberal with the speed limits if you see a biker tapping the top of his helmet, its a warning, take the foot off the right pedal.

mercbens

It's my opinion that flashing someone to warn them to slow down is only good manners. I would phone friends to warn them about the Gardai in the area with speed checks. As someone who drives for a living there are times when you do have to be heavy with the right foot, but not over heavy.

Gophur

If it was proven that exceeding a speed limit was dangerous, then flashing is a bad thing, but since speed checks are a very blunt tool for trying to increase road safety, it cannot be deemed unsafe to warn people of a speed trap.

Some years ago many people, in a Kildare Court, were given ridiculous fines for flashing oncoming drivers. The Judge deemed the flashers to be "interfering with a Garda in the course of his duty!" So, it was deemed OK to allow cars continue to exceed to break the speed limit, but out of order to warn them to slow down.

I have, on an occasion, flashed a car that was driving an an inappropriate speed (IMO). The car would usually slow down. Was I doing something wrong by succeeding in getting this speed reduction?


The day I see a speed trap being used to genuinely make a road safer, is the day I will not flash an oncoming driver to warn him/her of it's presence.