Not pulling out for flashing cars?

Good call.
There's a busy petrol station near me with traffic lights 50 yards ahead.
When the lights change to red, cars in the left lane flash Drivers out from the petrol station.
What these Drivers forget is that there are two lanes of traffic they are pulling into. The 2nd lane is not affected by those lights and continue at 30mph..The number of near misses as the cars pull straight across a Live lane is ridiculous 🤨

I check the HWC occasionally, so I at least know what the advice or legal position is, especially when I know it's changed, (e.g pedestrian priority at junctions)

I haven't read it fully or bought a copy since I passed my test.

The HWC is a bit vague in places so it's also worth looking up the legislation sometimes.

But if the purpose of a speed van is to slow drivers down for safety, then surely you flashing and the drivers slowing down is achieving this goal? You could argue even achieving the goal early and so even safer.

Can I just ask all of the people on here who are quoting and hailing the Highway Code as the essential authority on all matters to do with driving: how often do you read it fully; when did you last read it; and (being honest) has there ever been a time when a new updated edition has been released and you didn't read it immediately?

I never let other drivers know about speed cameras. If they can't drive safely or read numbers they deserve a fine.

Court? You’ve lost me.

I can’t believe people actually think stopping on an empty road and flashing at a stranger and trying to boss them into making an unwise manoeuvre is “kind” or is saving 10 minutes off their journey. If people stopped with their performative kindness and carried on then you can pull out behind them in the empty road. For clarity, I am talking about the situation in the actual OP, not people travelling at 2 miles an hour in heavy traffic or people who live in medieval market towns with complicated junctions. I just mean in light traffic when by stopping they actually close up the gap in traffic behind them or make it slower for you to use the junction in a normal way and gesture and wave and then shake their head like you are a being rude. In some cases rules are important and the roads would be a lot safer if people were predictable on them. I had it again the yesterday as a pedestrian. I was approaching the island to cross and a driver stopped for absolutely no reason while a cyclist is coming hurtling down the hill towards me not knowing if I was going to step out or not. I ended up turning around and walking further up the road and crossing behind them both. I don’t want to step out in front of a cyclist, I don’t want to make a cyclist stop when there isn’t even a zebra crossing or lights on a road with light traffic. How on earth is this kind? Just drive like a normal person and let others make grown-up choices for themselves. Again, I am not talking about in heavy traffic when it’s actually useful and everyone is crawling along and there are too many witnesses for “flash for cash” scams - I’m talking about on near empty roads like the OP describes.

That's a guess and a half! Some people do it to tell people to advance! You really wouldn't have a leg to stand on in Court.

Well presumably they’d be coming from the opposite direction and you wouldn’t be in a situation where they are waving you out of a side road etc. so they’d almost certainly be warning you of a ‘danger’ in the direction you were going such as a horse playing up, somebody broken down or a speed van etc.

Here's another unofficial signal: using your hazard lights to thank somebody, or to warn of traffic slowing down ahead. The Highway Code used to say (20+ years ago) the hazard warning lights should not be used while the vehicle is in motion. More recently, it does endorse using them to warn of traffic slowing down ahead, but not to thank somebody, even though drivers do this all the time.

Also, the virtue-signalling Famous Five say (in Five get into Trouble) they are very strict about following the Highway Code on their bikes, and yes, "the Highway Code" is actually referred to. Even though they occasionally have a passenger on their bikes, and Timmy runs alongside them? The HC says "do not lead an animal". I suspect that even in the 1950s, the HC took a dim view of those things.

These days how on earth do you know if that is why they are flashing you? I had a polish van up my arse flashing trying to get me to move out of the way, which he then did all up the road in close knit traffic - he was just pushing through. I've seen white van men flash when they are angry, to let people out, to say your lights are too bright - who knows what else!

Fuck me some people seem to love making their own lives more difficult for no reason other than to give themselves that tiny sense of superiority over others.

Yes you are correct, and I have flashed and crossed on the red man...

Can everybody who says that disobeying the Highway Code and flashing lights to let somebody out is evil and dangerous say, hand on heart, that they have never, ever crossed the road on the red man? That's against the Highway Code as well.

There's also something worth pointing out about the Highway Code: a lot of it is advice (like the "guidance" that Boris Johnson kept wittering on about while defending his lockdown parties), rather than law, for example "do not flash headlights for any other reason", "do not cross when the red man is showing", although the Highway Code can be used to decide who is at fault in an insurance claim. The parts which are law are shown with MUST and MUST NOT.

I bet you’re the type of person that would get upset if someone flashed to warn others of a speed van, also?

Unbelievable that this is 50/50 on the poll. That means 50% of drivers think it’s ok to ignore the Highway Code

Those 'simple kind gestures' are just changing the rules of the road. If you're not the car that is pulling out or the flasher, then how are you suppose to predict what the other road users are suppose to be doing?

Exactly - if they don't know the highway code, why would you trust them to pull out?

No one should be flashing lights, unless you are warning of a hazard, same with the horn to warn you are there. People use them aggressively and in a way that they like to think will manipulate others on the road - which is very unsafe.

....Even if it's dangerous and you're specifically told not to do it in the Highway Code?

Does that mean I we can all have our own personal interpretation of the rules?

If someone flashes me to indicate that I can pull out, I will do if it's safe, but I've been fooled by cars going over humps, so I've stopped doing it now as I can see it's potentially dangerous.

Flashing to signal isn't the worst breach of the Highway Code, but it shows some people either don't realise or care what the rules are.

In much the same way people drive cars over mini-roundabouts, when they are quite able to drive round them as you are required to do.

I think we all agree driving standards are getting worse in the UK.

Other drivers are just trying to be courteous and helpful. Shame you see an act of kindness to negatively.

It’s a small courtesy between strangers that makes people feel more like they are living in a friendly community rather than a jungle. Obviously social media will attempt to discourage it.

One of the many Mumsnet syndromes (and probably many other websites) is that not many people want to admit to doing the “wrong” thing, so many will parrot the “official” line; in this case, the Highway Code, whether they actually obey it to the letter or not. It’s probably more about quoting it, than actually obeying it.

Another thing I learned in driving instructor training is that when the speed limit goes up, you’re supposed to wait until you’ve passed the sign, then check mirrors and increase your speed. I’ll eat my hat if anybody other than a newly qualified instructor actually does it that way, rather than speeding up on approach.

It’s baffling, isn’t it?
I can’t recall a single time someone’s flashed me out and it’s either been:
a) unsafe
or
b) aggressive/controlling/overstepping etc etc

I had a colleague who at first was really confused by being waved or flashed out and thanked by other drivers constantly. Once he realised that this was how most of us drive here and that they weren’t actually confusing him with somebody they knew, he loved our driving courtesy and has gone from being really quite confused to absolutely embracing it. I just can’t see a negative. But that’s Mumsnet for you!