Not pulling out for flashing cars?

It really depends on the road - and the driver and the speed/ability of the pedestrian.

If it's usually deserted, it's probably better for the driver to just keep going and leave an open road; but some roads are very regularly used but not permanently occupied.

Where we used to live, there was an elderly disabled man who used a walking frame and could only walk very, very slowly indeed. He needed to cross the (30mph) semi-main road that he lived on daily.

Because the traffic was frequent but not permanent, he was never going to be able to cross before another car would come along and be right upon him, so his only option was to walk along the road to the crossing a few hundred yards up the road, cross and then back the same few hundred yards, ending up virtually opposite where he'd started.

This took the best part of an hour out of his day in total, every day, just to cross a road where most of us would easily have found a gap and been on the other side in 5 seconds. However, if somebody stopped on their side (and waited patiently) to let him cross, then somebody coming the other way saw the situation and then stopped on their side too, this chap could then safely save himself about 57 minutes - as well as all the struggle and exhaustion of the walking.

True, most of us don't need such special consideration and assistance; but I still think there are far worse habits to develop than to instinctively give way to pedestrians, regardless of their level of absolute need.

It’s safer to cross a clear road though, you have more visibility and you don’t have the pressure of a ‘helpful’ driver waving you across.

Or they're mindful of the fact that, just because you're in a massive heavy metal box, the road doesn't automatically belong to you over somebody on foot; and also, they are blocking off the lane for your safety in crossing, as the next driver to arrive behind them may appear out of nowhere, be speeding, not looking properly and/or believe that they do own the road.

You personally may not be slow or vulnerable, but there are plenty of elderly, disabled and/or vulnerable pedestrians - and parents with prams/pushchairs/toddlers - who are worried for their safety when crossing the road. Once a driver is used to being considerate and not treating pedestrians like second-class citizens by default, it will often come as second nature to them to stop to offer all pedestrians priority.

However, to read this thread, they would probably be better just saying stuff anybody else and only care about Number One...

As a pedestrian, I regularly have drivers stop and flash or gesture me to cross the road when there is nothing behind them. It makes me worry about just how many drivers don't use their mirrors and have no what's behind them.

You’ve never seen someone flash others to let them out when there is no one behind them? Maybe you’re not looking for it? It happens all the time, I think it happened to me yesterday. My house is on a t junction and you see it all the time. Some drivers do it out of habit, see someone who is at a t junction and they automatically slow down and flash without looking at their surroundings.

I think somepeople who flash their lights to to let someone out of a junction do it out of habit and are idiots when they do it when there’s no traffic behind them

@NerrSnerr driving 1000 miles a month for the last 15 years I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen once, drivers just don’t do that.

Honestly this thread is hilarious with armchair never drivers spouting nonsense.

But it’s quite entertaining to read. Peak mn🍿

The lorry drivers are not flashing me

Well they might be flashing you to pull out or across, if you’re a particularly un observant and rubbish driver. Who’s to know?

I’d also flash if there was a hazard in the road for other

Does the Highway Code stipulate that?

The lorry drivers are not flashing me as I’m not driving a lorry so they can crack on and do as they please. Doesn’t affect me. I’d also flash if there was a hazard in the road for others. Doesn’t change that I think some people who flash their lights to to let someone out of a junction do it out of habit and are idiots when they do it when there’s no traffic behind them. I think others also do it because they don’t think they can make the manoeuvre into a side road unless both sides of the road they’re driving into is clear as they’re rubbish drivers.

So lorry drivers.

They flash their lights to other lorry divers that are overtaking them, to indicate that it’s safe to pull back into the slow lane as they are now clear…

What do the anti flashing light Gestapo make of this?

And another one…

You’re driving along on a twisty road. Round one bend you encounter a loose animal. You slow and pass it safely, but on leaving the bend, you flash (omg!) the oncoming car speeding into that twisty road that there might be a danger in the road ahead?

Renember: Highway Code says you can only alert someone of your presence by flashing your lights.

Is it right for these drivers to flash their lights.? Yes or no.

Would it be better if they didn’t? Would it be safer for those drivers?

I have a theory that driving behaviour has declined since the introduction of the multiple choice driving theory test. Previously in order to pass your test you had to attempt to memorise the Highway Code in its entirety, because an examiner could ask you anything. Nowadays* the "pass-your-theory-test" booklet is distinctly dumbed down.

*and when I say nowadays I'm referring to the year 2001, when I passed my test. Which is only 3 or 4 years ago, right?!

Fucking double decker bus gestured me out today, at a rural junction. If he was able to lip read, the driver would have seen me going "What are you doooing?! There's nobody behind you! And you have right of way, and you're a bus! Why are you fucking with my head thus?!"

Because you’d then pass a speeding van making it quite obvious? Pmsl

If only there was a book with all the rules for driving on the road, then we could all follow them and be able to clarify any disputes?

Pmsl. How would I know why they’re flashing? I’m not psychic.

Always assess your own risk and make your own decisions. The question here is whether you can see what’s coming from your left - and whether anyone on the right might try overtaking the stopped car.

YANBU - this annoys me so much when it’s unnecessary. Obviously if it’s a really tricky junction and cars in both directions stop to let out cars that’s a different matter, but there are times when flashing someone to manoeuvre is not only unnecessary but possibly dangerous. I have refused to move before now, causing great irritation to the “kind”‘person flashing me.

I live on a main road, and at busy times, the only way to get out is to pull right up to the edge of the road, over the pavement, and wait until someone gives way. If I waited for a clear space, I'd be there for hours.

Sometimes, common sense is needed. What do you do if traffic lights are not working? The Highway Code says "proceed with caution". What does that mean? In my experience, people are surprisingly co-operative when that happens. Also, sometimes it happens that the lights don't detect you waiting at a red light, and if you didn't sneak through, you would be there for ever. If there was a MN thread on that, it would be bitterly divided in MN fashion: those who would sneak through, and those who absolutely would not, with phrases such as "red means stop is a global standard". Ditto box junctions: with some of them, if you obeyed them to the letter, you would actually never get through at busy times. (Although you have to be careful, because some of them are enforced by cameras.)

You can't legislate and write procedures for absolutely every eventuality, even though the government had a good try in 2020.

Well, I suppose that's better than the vast majority of people; but even you admit that you haven't properly sat down and read it for a quite some time.

If it were the unequivocally accepted essential rules of the road, I think a lot more people would actually bother to read it - and regularly refresh their memories and take good note of all updates. As it is, I bet millions of people have never even heard of its existence.

I haven't seen any government public information campaigns to urge people to read it and obey it for decades - even though they can find the resources to inform drivers of cars that are breaking down on major roads that it might just be better to try to steer towards the hard shoulder/edge of the road, rather than just stay there nonchalantly in the path of all the fast-moving traffic!

When I had driving lessons, my driving instructor told me not to pull out in that situation for that very reason.

However, decades later I now live in a spot where, during peak hour, I could wait for hours to get out of the driveway. When the traffic banks up, people always leave a gap for others to pull out of their driveway and it's always gratefully accepted. However, in my time living here - 20 years - I have discovered that everybody seems to be very law abiding and considerate.

The worst thing is I find is male cyclists pressuring me to overtake them and waving me past on a narrow country lane when I can't see far enough ahead to do so safely.

Yes, absolutely. Which is why I said in my original post on this thread ‘if it’s safe’.

Have you never heard of Crash for cash

Strong of you OP

@NeilDiamondsBlowDry as an example, someone flashed to let me out, then drove into me. Very slowly it was do bizarre . They then sued me for 20k for causing whip lash

you cannot prove medically if someone does not have whiplash or not

they won

it’s a well known scam!

If you pulled out because someone flashed you - whether they meant to come hither or stop or were flashing at a pedestrian or other driver or to slow down because there is a speed camera (only you seem to instinctively know) and if you then hit someone and tried to tell a Court the reason you did so was because some super kind person was telling you it was safe...? You're the one who looks like a wally with a death wish.