Inspired by southpaw on general car safety -- TAPPING ON BRAKE LIGHTS

  • Thread starter broxbourneDELETE
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broxbourneDELETE

Guest
If I see something sort of hazardous ahead if I'm driving along, I will brake to slow down and then tap on the brakes several times in rapid succession. the tapping indicates to the car behind me that something is up. Our van has a brake light in the middle of the rear window as well as on the sides. (My hope is they react as if that the driver [me] did not jsut slam on the brakes for no reason; flashing red lights generally startle people to become more alert from driver-haze, or cell phone distractions.

I want the driver to instinctively react by really slowing down (and not rear ending me!) and not try to pass me because they think I am too slow. There is a real hazard ahead.

Incidentally, when I drive I am generally scanning up and down the road pretty far ahead. I guess the tapping thing would only work if you were looking far ahead too.

These things I've posted are tips over the years from a friend who has taken probably $8k-$10k in stunt driving lessons. I think his instructors made them study safe driving stuff too.
 
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Victorious4

Senior Community Member
I also do this -- however, I cannot stand when people flash their headlights at oncoming traffic ... does it mean there's a crash? Hidden police ahead? Road kill? My lights aren't on but should be? Flashing one's headlights at oncoming traffic just seems to be an added distraction. I understand people are trying to be helpful, but it seems counterproductive to me.
 

trailrunnermom

New member
I just completed a defensive driving course this week. It was court-required (I was ticketed in my accident, although I was *not* the one who ran the red light...but no witnesses stayed around to confirm this for the officer. :( )

Anyway....it was a great class. After 29 years of driving, even with a clean driving record, I really appreciated the chance to to take this class that covered both our state's laws and defensive driving tactics. Some people do take it voluntarily to receive a discount from their insurance company, or to add positive points to their DMV record. Yes, it was a pain to be away from home two nights from 5-9 p.m., but it was worth it.

Scanning ahead is a *big* part of safe driving, just as the first poster said. Even if there's not someone behind you that you want to warn by tapping your brakes, you should still "cover your brake" with your foot in these situations-- just by moving your foot over the brake and mentally preparing to stop if needed, you will require *way* less distance should you actually have to stop.

Two main points I took away from class:
1) Always adjust speed and following distance for the conditions, regardless of what other drivers are doing.
2) Scan ahead and ask yourself, "What if...?", as I should have back in January, "What if that person is rushing back to Kroger to pay for her groceries because she couldn't find her debit card and she had to go home and get her husband's card, and she's got to get back so he can be at work by noon, and she's going to try to make this light even though it's already turned red?" If I'd done that, I wouldn't have been in her way--I would have sat there at the red light and waited just in case. LOL. :)
 

Morganthe

New member
I got into a habit of popping on my 4 ways if there was a sudden slow-down or cars stopped on the autobahn/highway. EVERYONE does it (France, Germany, Switzerland, Benelux) and it save lives & property by immediately alerting All drivers that there is an extreme road condition change occuring. Action is sometimes measured in seconds!

When there are several rows of stopped vehicles behind, you go ahead and turn yours off because all cars behind you will have their flashers on too. Eventually, those rows will turn theirs off as others are stopped behind them. (saves eyesight, especially at night when the hazards are turned off) Imagine this domino effect happening for a mile+ long stoppage. It's pretty impressive.

There's no law enforcing this habit, just custom or some type of helpful awareness to alert others. Whatever the motivation, it works. :cool:
 
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southpawboston

New member
I cannot stand when people flash their headlights at oncoming traffic ... does it mean there's a crash? Hidden police ahead? Road kill? My lights aren't on but should be? Flashing one's headlights at oncoming traffic just seems to be an added distraction. I understand people are trying to be helpful, but it seems counterproductive to me.

this practice does not bother me at all; in fact it has saved me a ticket or two :p when others have done it for me. i actually do this myself, if it is a situation such as roadkill (lots of deer in upstate NY!!!!), some other road hazard (box blown off a truck, etc)... i don't see it as counter productive to flick the high beams a couple of times at someone when you see someone heading rapidly toward an obstacle in the road.
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
Around here, flashing the headlights at oncoming traffic is the universal signal for "hey you, there's a patrol car with a radar gun lurking in the direction you're heading." If they witness a driver doing so, the police have been known to ticket drivers for flashing their lights to alert other drivers of speed traps.
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
Yeah, but, every safe driver's course I've taken (to reduce my insurance cost) has taught that it's a nono....
 

lovinwaves

New member
Thanks for the tip Broxbourne! I too have been doing this "Flashing of Brake Lights" for quite some. It just seemed natural and logic to do so in certain situations.

I have always thought this "Flashing of Brake lights" should happen on every car when the brake pedal is depressed a certain amount. In fact, I think I remember a car doing this, but I don't know if it was a prototype or what.

Another thing I do is put my hazard lights on when I see pending slowing of highway traffic or something similar... I have also noticed that some Semi Truck drives do this also... :)
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
I do that, too! Tap the brakelights... we come over a hill where freeway speeds dead stop at a light, so I want people to SEE that I'm stopping. I think I may have 'learned' this in my cognitive psychology classes... you want the brain to unconcsiously absorb that red light as soon as possible to give that foot some extra nanoseconds to react :) Some Toyotas has *flashing* red lights on that middle light for a year or so...I thought that was a bit much...but I wish we could have little tiny stoplights on our rear bumpers... green when we accelerate, yellow when we coast, red when we brake..I think that'd be cool for freeway driving (maybe it could cut off on streets, as people might stare at the back of your car instead of real streeetlights?)

:)
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Yeah, but, every safe driver's course I've taken (to reduce my insurance cost) has taught that it's a nono....

Well, yeah, because we WANT speeders to be caught and warned so they aren't a death threat to us!

:rolleyes:

I never quite know why I've been flashed when it happens to me, but at least I slow down and look around a little better, so I don't think it's ALL bad...
 

JaRylan

New member
When someone flashes their lights at me I always wonder if I have left mine on high beams (we can go miles and miles before meeting another car) and then I go through the list of other possibilities. I put my hazards on if I am going to be traveling slower or in bad weather (until I can get off the road).
 

trailrunnermom

New member
Yeah, but, every safe driver's course I've taken (to reduce my insurance cost) has taught that it's a nono....

In the course I just took, the instructor told us that tapping on brakes lights is definitely *not* how to get rid of a tailgater. Instead, you should slow down v-e-r-y gradually which will encourage the person to go ahead and pass you. (Or, on a long two-lane road, you might just have to pull in somewhere and let them go by.) Of course, you should be in the right lane if there's more than one lane in your direction. :) (He didn't address the use of tapping on brake lights for other situations--that would have been a great question to ask!)
 

broken4u05

New member
Around here, flashing the headlights at oncoming traffic is the universal signal for "hey you, there's a patrol car with a radar gun lurking in the direction you're heading." If they witness a driver doing so, the police have been known to ticket drivers for flashing their lights to alert other drivers of speed traps.

Same here but i don't do it. We get tickets for it as well. But also i hate when people follow too close and i will tap my brakes and i will slow down a lot. I will not pull over though but my mom has stopped in the middle of the road before. The only time i ever flash my lights is if they have their highs on me and i can not see at all.
 

beebear23

Senior Community Member
Here tapping on your brakes means 'stop tailgating me!" and flashing headlights means 'turn on your headlights dumbell" or "turn off your brights!"(I've done that many times only to discover it's freaking SUV or huge truck and it doesn't have it's brights on.. ugh.. I hate those things). Or I sometimes use it to get a slow driver out of my way.
 

beeman

Active member
When someone flashes their lights at me I always wonder if I have left mine on high beams (we can go miles and miles before meeting another car) and then I go through the list of other possibilities. I put my hazards on if I am going to be traveling slower or in bad weather (until I can get off the road).

mm hm. I hate it when other people flash you when your on low beam, because they think your on high (I'm one of these people with the big trucks :p ). I know it's not nice, but I sometimes flash them back, especially if they wait till the last minute to do it. My little blue light in the dash that says high beams doesn't work, so sometimes I forget about them. I always set the selector to low beam when I park or turn the lights off.
 

scatterbunny

New member
I flash my lights when someone doesn't have headlights on after dark (just had to do this last night) or if someone has high beams on and it's blinding me. I also tap my brakes in certain instances.
 

southpawboston

New member
mm hm. I hate it when other people flash you when your on low beam, because they think your on high (I'm one of these people with the big trucks :p ). I know it's not nice, but I sometimes flash them back, especially if they wait till the last minute to do it. My little blue light in the dash that says high beams doesn't work, so sometimes I forget about them. I always set the selector to low beam when I park or turn the lights off.

that might be a sign that your headlights are not aimed correctly... even on a big rig, a properly aimed low beam headlight should not cause an oncoming driver to think you've got your high beams on.
 

beebear23

Senior Community Member
Even when in a tiny car(focus) and a big giant Chevy 3500? 'cause thats what I get stuck w/all the time. Or the lights are super bright in my mirrors when they are behind me.. I keep telling dh I want a big truck so I can be the one annoying people too.. I'm tired of being the annoyee(is that a word??LOL)
 

oxeye

New member
Here tapping on your brakes means 'stop tailgating me!"

That is so dangerous, though. I just came back from a long car trip where we were nearly in an accident because of this! We were in lane 2 on the freeway and some guy a little ways ahead of us in lane 1 was tailgating. The car he was tailgating tapped the brakes, the tailgater must have freaked out thinking he was going to stop quickly, and nearly lost control of his car right in front of us.

Scared the *#&# out of me.
 

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