# Flashing your high-beams **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 19, 2014, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034 "2014-11-19T02:21:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034/41 "2014-11-19T20:30:43Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I’ve seen this discussed here before. I do not, however, think warning other drivers of an upcoming radar gun is illegal in the US. [Depends apparently](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headlight_flashing#United_States). [Recent ruling](http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2014/02/04/judge-drivers-allowed-to-warn-fellow-motorists-of-speed-traps/). He may have missed the side road, or he may have been fucking with the friend. > [@Omar\_Little](#): > > The scenario is less useful in practicality at night. If someone flashes their high beams to me at night, my first assumption is that I have absent mindedly left my high beams on and they are trying to signal to me that I should put them on low. In the daytime, I would first assume that there is a speed trap ahead. Hell, driving a sedan around so many large cars means sometimes you can’t tell the difference between their high and low, being frequently blinded. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034/42 "2014-11-19T20:47:11Z")
I haven’t been in the situation in ages, but when I lived in the northeast I flashed and have been flashed, and I sure knew what it meant. I had no idea of whether the car going the other way was speeding of not, but it seemed like a courtesy so they wouldn’t get startled. If I came across a car going so fast as to be unsafe I wouldn’t flash, but that has never happened. Only on highways - not on streets in town because people shouldn’t speed there. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034/43 "2014-11-20T15:22:14Z")
I can remember my Mom in the 70’s flashing and being flashed, as a warning about speed traps. But anymore, a headlight flash means: 1, “Go ahead, I’ll let you in to traffic ahead of me”; 2, “Hey, dim your lights, willya? You’re blinding me”; or 3, “Oi! Dumbass! Yer driving inna dark! Turn yer damn lights on!” At least where I live. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034/44 "2014-11-20T16:15:46Z")
I would never warn another person because if you’re speeding, you’re breaking the law and therefore I don’t care if you get caught in your choice. I speed a little every day and I know the risk I am taking. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034/45 "2014-11-20T16:47:09Z")
I flash for a lot of reasons but speed traps are not one of them… I’ll admit I have sometimes flashed speeders when there isn’t a speed trap, just to keep them honest. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034/46 "2014-11-20T16:52:07Z")
Oh yes, I’d flash. Speed traps are, very nearly without exception, about generating ticket revenue for the city/town. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034/47 "2014-11-20T17:08:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Furthermore, if was the person getting flashed, I would have gone gone through the speed trap long before I figured out what, if anything, the flash was trying to tell me. > > \ > > In short, flashing is not only wrong, it is also, almost certainly, pointless. Guess it depends on your region. I learned about flashing-headlights-for-cops as a child (dad did it) and it’s a very common thing here. I would and have done so in the past (regardless of speed of other driver, as I can’t judge it). I never know exactly how long after passing the cop I should flash for, though. Anecdote: Once someone flashed headlights at me on the road I lived on. Odd, since I’d really never seen a cop there. Turned out cows were in the road, and no cops were around. Flashing also occasionally done by drivers to indicate there is an accident ahead. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034/48 "2014-11-20T17:14:17Z")
The only time I flash is to request that the oncoming driver stop blinding me. I have no patience with speeders - they endanger me and everyone else on the road. Just the other day, I was going with the flow on the interstate and some moron came zipping along, weaving in and out to get ahead of everyone else. I wish one of the other cars had been an unmarked police vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034/49 "2014-11-20T19:11:46Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > I think you mean off, when they are already on. When crossing the arc of a hill simultaneously, your headlights will shine into the eyes of the oncoming driver at some point. The focused beam of high beams is going to be more blinding than the diffused low beams. No - I meant on. I turn them off once I have crested the hill. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034/50 "2014-11-20T20:35:05Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > No - I meant on. I turn them off once I have crested the hill. Do you turn them on while approaching the crest of the hill (and potentially other car) but turn them off (to low-beam) before cresting the hill or on meeting the other driver? Because if you don’t I agree with Scabpicker, you’re blinding other drivers. But then I drive on narrow country roads a lot and never fail to understand why other drivers need to _see_ the other car before dipping their lights, its not really difficult to tell when the other vehicle is about to come into view. ---
**Author:** ![SacFly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@SacFly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SacFly)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034/51 "2014-11-20T21:35:24Z")
I used to flash for speed traps. Now I only flash for deer next to the road or something else people should pay attention for. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034/52 "2014-11-20T23:47:21Z")
I always flash. Why, just the other day I was over by the local High School going commando in my trench coat, and… oh wait… never mind. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034/53 "2014-11-21T00:55:04Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I always flash. Why, just the other day I was over by the local High School going commando in my trench coat, and… oh wait… never mind. Every time I see the thread title, I momentarily think of a recent Facebook(?) post I saw where all the comments were telling the woman how beautiful she was but I wondered whether they also noticed that it seemed like a cold day and she could use more padding and didn’t she notice that before posting? ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034/54 "2014-11-21T02:54:17Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > No - I meant on. I turn them off once I have crested the hill. Ooooo, please stop doing this. As **Disposable Hero** explained, you’re almost certainly blinding other drivers worse than you otherwise would be. The only way this could work to not blind the oncoming driver is for a few degrees, and only if you did it while actually cresting the hill at exactly the right moment. I think that’d be really hard to time properly, even if it would be possible. The rest of the time, they’re getting at least the low beams just like they normally would. If your high beams are adjusted properly, they’re still directed down toward the pavement. So your high beams still hit the oncoming driver in the eyes, just a little earlier, and probably for longer. You’re also doing it with a more focused beam of light, which is going to blind the oncoming driver worse. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034/55 "2014-11-25T03:40:52Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I used to flash all the time. Now as I am getting older (more curmudgeonly), fuck it. You’re speeding then you deserve to get caught. > > The reason for speed traps is presumably for public safety. You made your bed; you lie in it. Not my problem. OMG, I laughed out loud. Yes there are places where safety is the point of the exercise. But it’s more the exception than the rule where I live. I flash my lights when I get the chance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashing-your-high-beams/705034.md?page=2)