hazard warning lights

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Thu 14 Oct 2004 14:31
hazard warning lights - superstyler
just wondered who agrees, the tailights should flash not all four inicators, this way an obscured indicator would not confuse aproaching motorists?#??
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Thu 14 Oct 2004 15:36
hazard warning lights - NARU
Easy to get cuaght out from behind too - another car pulls up behind the one with the hazards on, and it looks like the original one wants to pull out.

Solutions: Ban hazard lights, train people to use them properly or move them to the roof (like an AA van)!
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Thu 14 Oct 2004 16:32
hazard warning lights - Schnitzel
With LED technology, there is no reason why they can't strobe like emergency service lights in WIGWAG, FLIP FLOP patterns etc...
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Thu 14 Oct 2004 21:33
hazard warning lights - PhilW
I don't see the problem - surely hazard warning lights are used only when parking on double yellow lines and blocking all the traffic. In this case you should be travelling slowly enough to be able to make a long and reasoned judgement of whether or not the car is likely to pull out? Hazard warning lights in our village mean "I am at the ATM/bakers buying a butty/newsagents getting my paper/Gateway buying my weeks shopping/chemists for a prescription and I can't be bothered walking from the empty car park 10 yards away so you can wait in the traffic queue"
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Fri 15 Oct 2004 14:33
hazard warning lights - regent
Oh you mean the "I can park anywhere I like lights"....Its magic, you put the "park anywhere" lights on and you can park half on the pavement, on zig-zags, bus stop etc, becuase once you have your lights on, you can magically ignore all parking restrictions, and the more queues you form behind you the better....

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Fri 15 Oct 2004 14:40
hazard warning lights - frostbite
I don't understand why some drivers feel the need to use hazards when they are not - e.g. parked off the road in a layby, or even fully on a verge.

At a distance, it makes you anticipate a problem which isn't there.
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Fri 15 Oct 2004 15:44
hazard warning lights - L'escargot
I don't understand why some drivers feel the need to use
hazards when they are not.......


Simple. They adopt the principle of "what's the point of having lights if you don't use them at every available opportunity?".

It depends on the category they come into as to which lights they over-use.

The younger generation over-use high intensity rear lights.
The poseurs over-use front foglights.
Motorcyclists over-use main beam, especially during daylight hours.
The totally mindless over-use indicators, quite often when there is nobody near enough to benefit from them.
The downright awkward over-use hazards when their vehicle is not a hazard.

I under-use all my lights in order to save the battery, the bulbs and the switches.(Only joking, honest!)
--
L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Sat 16 Oct 2004 12:12
hazard warning lights - NeilB
Hazzard lights get on my nerves around town, if a car is parked in front of them. Everyone thinks they are going to pull out and slow down to let them out when theres no need for them to be on. The only time I use my hazzards (apart from if I breakdown) is in traffic jams when someone lets me in just to thanks.
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Sat 16 Oct 2004 14:12
hazard warning lights - frostbite
Only time I can recall using hazards is on a fast-flowing road when I have spotted an unexpected holdup ahead and used them in an attempt to protect my rear end from fast following traffic.
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Sat 16 Oct 2004 20:00
hazard warning lights - kithmo
I have never used the hazard flashers on any of the cars I've owned, except to check them for the MOT and to check the towing socket connection to the caravan.
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Mon 18 Oct 2004 15:59
hazard warning lights - pdc {P}
Only time I can recall using hazards is on a fast-flowing
road when I have spotted an unexpected holdup ahead and used
them in an attempt to protect my rear end from fast
following traffic.


This I never understand. Is it just a precaution incase your brake lights have all suddenly failed?
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Mon 18 Oct 2004 16:07
hazard warning lights - Mark (RLBS)
Oh which subject;

In Argentina they have this thing where if you use your brakes hard or for any period of time, then the brake lights start flashing a la hazard lights. Using them lightly or briefly menas they illuminate as usual.

Always a very good idea, I thought, although it took a few days to get used to it.
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Mon 18 Oct 2004 17:33
hazard warning lights - Chas{P}
Certain ABS/EBD equipped Peugeot/Citroen models have this feature when you brake hard enough for the ABS to cut in.
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Mon 18 Oct 2004 16:26
hazard warning lights - commerdriver
>> Only time I can recall using hazards is on a
fast-flowing
>> road when I have spotted an unexpected holdup ahead and
used
>> them in an attempt to protect my rear end from
fast
>> following traffic.
This I never understand. Is it just a precaution incase your
brake lights have all suddenly failed?


Highway code states

You MUST NOT use hazard warning lights whilst driving unless you are on a motorway or unrestricted dual carriageway and you need to warn drivers behind you of a hazard or obstruction ahead.

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Mon 18 Oct 2004 16:28
hazard warning lights - runboy
Mark-I know some UK cars now have this feature, but I can't remember which ones-maybe BMW? Or was it a French car....I can't remember but I have read about it in UK roadtests.
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Mon 18 Oct 2004 16:37
hazard warning lights - patently
This I never understand. Is it just a precaution incase your
brake lights have all suddenly failed?


No, it's an appeal to physiological fact. Flashing lights get more attention than steady lights. So they are more likely to be spotted.

Now, good attentive drivers behind you will find this unnecessary and annoying. So don't do it if you're certain that everyone behind is skilled and observant. Only do it Monday to Friday, and at weekends.
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Mon 18 Oct 2004 17:30
hazard warning lights - David Horn
I wholeheartedly support the idea of flashing hazard lights on a motorway - quite often I will see them before the car ahead of me does, and I can already be starting to brake by the time he/she starts to slow down.
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