I’m guessing that Australia, which MarcinCiez was writing about, have laws similar to those in Norway. “On a road with a speed limit of 60 kph or less busses have the right of way when leaving a buss stop.”
But you’re not everyone. 
This would drive me nuts… is there really such a mindset, or are you just offering an example of an annoyance equal to flashing lights in your perspective?
It’s not a matter of being unable to pass safely, and really, it’s not so that you (the guy in front) knows that they (the guy in back) is there. If they’re blinding you (in front), then they’re doing it wrong. Again, it’s not so that you can see them, but only to signal their intentions. It’s a courtesy to you, the guy in front, and it does make things safer for the guy in back because he can count on your knowledge of his imminent passing. The point’s not to be rude, even if you take it that way and display rude gestures.
(There are all kinds of good reasons this is safer than not. Maybe you’re about to turn left, but they don’t know that, because you’ve not turned on your turn signal at the legal distance. Of course, now that you know they’re going to pass, you might think about turning on your turn signal.)
In the UK the law says:
The Highway code goes on to say:
As to dual carriageways, follow the normal rule, don’t use main beam if it would dazzle another driver. In the UK this normally means you dip your headlights if there is oncoming traffic on the other carriage way. If you are both in the fast lane (right in UK, left in the States) the vehicles going the other way are probably only six feet away from you. With the Armco barrier only a few feet high, of course you are going to dazzle the other drivers.
Whether a divided highway is “oncoming” is irrelevant - the question is whether other drivers are inconvenienced. You answer your own question in your final sentence.
Is this true? I thought it was a standard request to be given the finger.
You should only use high beams where there are (1) no street lights -AND- (2) no oncoming vehicles [within 500 feet in most U.S. jurisdictions] -AND- (3) no vehicles ahead of you [within 300 feet in most jurisdictions].
If you are driving along a dark highway or rural road, you should absolutely turn on your high beams for safety. But as soon as you see the lights of an oncoming vehicle, turn the high beams off until they pass you. Also if you are approaching a vehicle from behind, turn off your high beams as long as you are behind them.
It is rude, unsafe, and illegal to keep your high beams on in the presence of oncoming vehicles or vehicles ahead of you, because the high beams blind them.
Finally, in the situation of a divided highway, if you can see the oncoming vehicles, they can see you, too. Turn down the high beams for any oncoming vehicles you can see. Realize that not only does the spread of high beams extend higher than that of normal lights, they also spread out left and right more than normal lights.
If people are minding then it shows that it is rude
There’s a similar law in New South Wales, and there probably is for the other Australian states.
There’s another feature available to the drivers, often very close to the lights switch. I believe they are called directional or turn signals. I’ve found them to be quite useful in situations like this.
I think robby has it. Also, it seems that the rules follow common sense- my high beams are really bright, so who would be inconvenienced by that? Drivers approaching me, and drivers in front of me who will see my brights in their mirrors. So on a road with neither of the above, flip on the brights. Otherwise, keep them off.
IIRC, as late as the early 90s the North Carolina driver’s license study book issued by the DMV spoke thusly:
When passing, the passing driver is to honk the horn one time to signal intent to pass. The driver being passed is then obligated to assist the passing driver.
I’m not sure what assist was supposed to mean… but I was certain I’d have wound up with holes in my '77 Ford LTD had I obeyed said law as the “passer”.
Yes, I understand that. I want to know the difference between rude and illegal.
On interstates around here, the median can be 60 feet wide or more. The term ‘oncoming’ is a bit vauge. It might be the best we can do without getting overly complex, but it doesn’t address adjacent roads or lanes, or cross roads (is a car waiting to cross the road oncoming?). No easy answers for all situations, but I want to use my brights as much as possible without getting a ticket.
I use my main beam to flash buxom young wenches walking down the street.
It’s far more civil than shouting “Great tits” out of your window
How is it possible for someone not to know this? The mind boggles.
It’s a standard signal (a quick flash of the highbeams to indicate passing intent) in certain parts of the world (I’ve encountered it throughout Europe, especially Germany), and there’s no rudeness attached to it there, so far as I can see. (Well, like anything it can be rude, if you aggressively start blinking your highlights on and off, but a single flash is more like an “excuse me” than a “GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY WAY ASSHOLE!”). I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised if there are places in the United States where some of these signals have the same meaning.
That said, my experience is that flashing your brights to pass is considered aggressive in most American locales. It’s a bit too bad, because it’s a useful signal if American drivers just didn’t take it as an affront. I think it’s much better than passing a slowpoke on the right (which is illegal in many states). Just give the slow car a gentle reminder “hey, there’s somebody who wants to get around you”, the car moves over to the right, and you can pass on the left as you should. Furthermore, you really shouldn’t be in the far left lane anyway unless you’re overtaking (another law that varies by state, and is not practical in highly congested areas.)
Rules aside, if you had your full beam on as you approached from behind, he probably did that because he was annoyed with you. Nothing erks me more than people who leave the full beam on till the last second.
I am European (English, to be precise) and have not come across a single-flash as a standard signal there. There again, I have also been taught not to sit in the fast lane other than when passing. I have occasionally been multiple-flashed as per the block capital definition above (except it is ARSEHOLE in England), but as I am not very good at interpreting these things I thought it meant “please match speeds with the car alongside you for a long, long way.”
I haven’t encountered it in the UK myself, but it seemed pretty common in Central Europe. I remember flashing in Germany in particular to be standard, as I mentioned. I thought it was a single flash, but perhaps it was double or triple. At any rate, there was no connotation of assholery behind it.
The only time the flash annoyed the fuck out of me and I would take my sweet time in getting over is when somebody would flash me as I’m passing a semi/lorry. Like where the fuck do you expect me to go? I know you’re there, I’ll get out of your way as soon as I have an opportunity. Now that’s assholery.
That is the same for me. Because I use the fast lane correctly, if I am in it, there is a reason. And as soon as I don’t need to be in it, I will move over. Unless you flash me.
I was taught this in drivers’ ed twenty years ago too. I do actually see it routinely used by truckers, but never drivers.
Around here, flashing your highbeams at someone you’re following is usually taken as a sign of aggression. If it’s from oncoming cars, it’s usually a reminder that you forgot to turn your highbeams down for the oncoming traffic.
In the same drivers’ ed course, they showed a training film like what Mr Slant was referring to. Film was black and white and looked like it was from the 1950s. Our instructor pointed out that this “honking theory” was in effect when there were far, far fewer cars on the road and that honking like that now would a) get you killed in a road rage incident and b) make cities with modern day traffic unliveable due to all the noise. But he showed us the film because he thought it was funny. It really was funny too, particularly because there is one part where another driver clearly misunderstood a honk as a signal that Movie Guy was being nice and letting the guy merge ahead of him. Movie Guy got cut off and had to slam the brakes.