I did it once. Only it turned out that it was another cop that I did it to. He did a U-turn and followed me for thirty miles, but I didn’t get a ticket.
Yep, I do it. It’s part of the unwritten Commute Warrior’s Code of Conduct.
[QUOTE=Oredigger77]
Hey thanks I’d never head that before I just flashed when I was on my bike as well. Ignorance fought.
[/QUOTE]
I didn’t think you could flash your lights on and off on a bike anymore. Aren’t they on permanently?
[QUOTE=InvisibleWombat]
I didn’t think you could flash your lights on and off on a bike anymore. Aren’t they on permanently?
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You can flash low to high, but not on/off. I lot of people use modulating headlights, or ride with high beam on in the day, so the flash gets lost in the noise sometimes.
[QUOTE=Winston Smith]
The people that don’t and are proud of it (the “Fuck 'em” contingent), sort of remind me of that oft-characterized kid in school who kissed up to the teachers, and he’d fuck you over or otherwise start shit with you then fall back to hiding behind the teachers’ skirt when you tried to retaliate against him. He grows up to be the guy that runs the homeowner’s association and calls the police on you when you have a Forth of July BarBQ.
[/QUOTE]
Nice try, but completely and utterly wrong, of course. I just don’t care enough to bother; if they get away with it, that’s just peachy by me. If they get a ticket, it’s not my problem. It’s no skin off my nose if they want to jam on the gas, but I’ll be damned if I’m risking a ticket just so some bozo in a Camaro can avoid a speed trap. I’m not interested in getting anyone in trouble, for the most part, but nor am I particularly interested in helping them get away with shit, either.
Also, I generally disliked my teachers and I despise homeowner’s associations, which are the creation of the Devil and should be outlawed.
I do it but it’s just because I don’t like cops.
I can’t say that I never have, but in general, no I don’t.
Nope. I don’t think I could tell if someone coming towards me was speeding, to be honest. I only flash to warn of road hazards they’re approaching, like a car that’s broken down in their lane, roads washed out yet again, unsupervised kids or dogs playing in the road… of course, they probably think I’m warning them not to speed but it gets them to pay attention regardless so my goal is met.
I don’t think I’ve ever been aware of a speed trap while driving, so technically, the answer would be no.
However, since I’m nice, as well as a hick from Montana, I flash my lights at oncoming traffic to warn them “Something is wrong. Pay attention.” Sometimes that means “dim your brights, dickhead,” and sometimes it means “MOOSE!!”
I’d probably do it for a speed trap. I’ll let you know my actions if the situation ever comes up. 
I always do it and am grateful when the favor is returned. We have some seriously screwing speed traps in east Texas (IE: going from 65 to 40 in less than a half football field length) and anything that would prevent someone from shelling out that kind of cash can only be a good thing.
[QUOTE=Winston Smith]
Yeah, that’s right. It’s civil disobedience, and I’m proud to admit it. We live in a society where so much has been criminalized everyone is a criminal. I think the system is corrupt. I think the police are corrupt and are all lawbreakers themselves but are in a priveleged position. I think the local governments are corrupt and use the ticket income to cover shortfalls caused by stealing and misappropriation. I think the police act as handmaidens to the insurance companies who’s sould mission is to seperate you from your hard-earned dollars by way of insultingly inflated insurance rates that get driven ever higher with every single traffic infraction.
People used to have some inkling that they were being bent over and fucked in the ass by our government and it’s agents every time the opportunity presented itself. Then something happened - a kind of stupidification of America - and suddenly we’re a nation of apple polishing cowards that mindlessly accept whatever bullshit our corrupt leaderships stuff up our collective rectum. Bullshit social programs, political correctness, endless illegal wars, and so on.
I say fuck that. The police are agents of a corrupt system that systematically steals from me and takes away a little bit of my freedom every day. I’m not going to go all Waco, or go live up at Walden Pond, but if I can keep a few bucks from finding their way into the coffers of these fucking crooks, by Jebus, I’m gonna flash my lights.
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Right on, Winston. I’ll get Julia and meet you at the edge of the city, but to be honest we’re already fucked because they already know. Sorry about the room with rats in it, old bean. I wish we could have gotten away with it, too.
And yeah, I do it too, but since I see so few people doing it anymore I wonder how many people still know about it. If it’s illegal in your area to warn of the traps, you could always say you passed a deer a bit back or something.
[QUOTE=Winston Smith]
I always flash to warn people. I think the failure to do so is just another sign of the breakdown of American society. Used to be, we were all in it together, and you did what you could to help your neighbors. I’ve been saved from tickets countless times by thoughtful, like-minded motorists that had the decency to warn me. That doesn’t happen nearly as often as it used to, though, and I’ve only been driving 22 years.
The people that don’t and are proud of it (the “Fuck 'em” contingent), sort of remind me of that oft-characterized kid in school who kissed up to the teachers, and he’d fuck you over or otherwise start shit with you then fall back to hiding behind the teachers’ skirt when you tried to retaliate against him. He grows up to be the guy that runs the homeowner’s association and calls the police on you when you have a Forth of July BarBQ.
[/QUOTE]
A-men.
Winston, you are my new best friend. Couldn’t have said it better.
Why does everyone have to take the “every man (woman) for themselves” approach?
I flash my lights, too. If they don’t slow down, well, at least I warned them. I also do the same thing for animals in the road – to warn the other drivers. It’s just common courtesy, and it’s sad that we’re lacking in this in today’s society.
Following this opinion..
So, if you have a radar detector and it warns you, you shouldn’t slow down, because you get what’s coming to you? I mean, come on, people. Let’s get real here.
We didn’t do this where I grew up, but years ago I took a job that required me to drive a long stretch of rural highway at around 4 am. It was mostly deserted of course, but sure enough at about the same time every morning a car coming the other way would flash me. This was a 4 lane highway with a big grass divider, so it’s not like he could have been worried I was going to hit him.
After awhile I just thought it was like a fun game, so I’d wait for it and then flash him back. Aha, take that random motorist! Try and blind me well I show you how we do these things. All these years and I never understood what that guy was doing. Now I know.
Sorry to the dude driving north to Thomasville, GA at 4 in the morning.
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.]
Nice try, but completely and utterly wrong, of course. I just don’t care enough to bother; if they get away with it, that’s just peachy by me. If they get a ticket, it’s not my problem. It’s no skin off my nose if they want to jam on the gas, but I’ll be damned if I’m risking a ticket just so some bozo in a Camaro can avoid a speed trap. I’m not interested in getting anyone in trouble, for the most part, but nor am I particularly interested in helping them get away with shit, either.
Also, I generally disliked my teachers and I despise homeowner’s associations, which are the creation of the Devil and should be outlawed.
[/QUOTE]
I was a little bit out of line with that, Q, and you were a good sport about it. Sorry & thank you.
[QUOTE=Winston Smith]
I was a little bit out of line with that, Q, and you were a good sport about it. Sorry & thank you.
[/QUOTE]
It’s all good. I know we’ve sniped at each other from time to time, but I really have nothing against you personally, just to make that clear. You’re an often-insightful poster and I appreciate what you have to say, even if I find myself often disagreeing with you.
It’s common around here. I do it all the time, unless there is a chance I’m flashing my lights at an unmarked police car. I also won’t do it if the oncoming car is seriously speeding and/or looks like any sort of arseholemobile - so anything lowered or with bling all over it won’t get any warning from me. But if it’s some poor taxi driver who might lose two entire shifts’ takings in a fine because he is pinged going a little over the limit, then I’m happy to flash my lights and I feel good about it.
Some people flash to warn of breathalysers. I wouldn’t ever do that.
Always.
Considering that the Interstate system was designed for 75mph travel by 1950s cars with tires and brakes far inferior to the those of the worst of today’s cars, a modern car that’s doing 70 in good weather and on a non-construction-area stretch of Interstate artificially down-limited to 65 is not unsafe and should be warned of the badged highway robber down the road. Ditto someone doing just a little over-limit on a rehabbed older highways with modern paved shoulders, passing lanes on hills, surfaces obviously recent and un-potholed ,etc.
Wanton idiots in who speed on roads that aren’t much different than they were in 1950 or in school zones or in construction zones do not deserve a warning.
I usually do it when I’m out of sight of the police car. It just seems like the neighborly thing to do. I rarely see others flash their lights, though, and I wonder if anyone knows the meaning when I flash mine.
There’s a flip side to this too. During daylight hours I flash my brakes rapidly to warn people behind me if I see one ahead.