If you were the blonde woman in a 13 plate black Kia on the A34 this evening...

[Sidge]

I was flashing you because you had no lights on and it was nearly dark. And you were in a black car.

No need to give me the finger!!

(I know it’s a pointless thread but I feel better now thank you)

@Sidge

She had running lights at the front, so I can only assume she thought that was all she needed. From behind she was almost invisible. 🙄

This is really, really common. People can see that they have a bit of light coming from the front of their car, and assume that means their lights are on.

Why running lights aren't also mandated on the back, I don't know.

@Wafflehouse

I hate people flashing to warn me of the speed check vans. I was flashed by three cars along the same road on the way home yesterday and was worrying there was something visibly wrong with the car, then passed the van and realised that was what they were doing.

Don’t warn people, if they’re speeding they deserve to be caught.

Quite right too. I never flash people to warn them of a speed trap. Serves the buggers right.

The only time I do it is to either try and let somebody know they haven't got their lights on, or to warn people of trouble they are driving towards.

Don’t worry OP. I have automatic headlights. They turned off as I came out of heavy rain, while I was in lane 3 of the M4, following another vehicle (not too close behind). The vehicle pulled into lane 2, then put their middle finger up at me while I was overtaking.

I can only think they glanced in their rear view mirror to see my lights switching themselves off, and assumed I’d flashed them as if telling them to get out of the way.

People are idiots 🤷🏼‍♀️

Although to address a PP... a lot of auto lights don’t come on in fog as ambient light levels often aren’t particularly low. They’re usually triggered by wipers in rain. Always worth checking though.

That happened to me on Thursday night on my way home from work! Silly cow was in front of me and being flashed by every oncoming car. I am thinking "They will figure it out". She didnt.

That reminds me of the old joke where an old man is driving merrily along and his wife frantically calls him on the car phone.

"Albert, you need to be extremely careful as they've just said on the radio that there's somebody on the same motorway as you driving in the wrong direction."
"I've already noticed that, dear, but it's not just one idiot - there are hundreds of them!"

I heartily agree with the PP that your lights are not for use at night - they are for ALL instances when visibility is poor, of which night-time is just one of them.

@Sidge

I just felt so aggrieved! We’ve all done it, and if someone flashed me I’d be frantically looking at my dash thinking “why is someone flashing me?!” - not flipping them off!

Silly bint. Hope she got home without someone going into the back of her..

No need to use misogynistic language like bint.

No need to use misogynistic language like bint.

I had never heard this word before. Interesting that it's from the Arabic for daughter and now has such a degratory connotation.

This is why I always have my lights on auto so I don't ever forget to switch them on.

Auto lights quite often don't come on in fog or heavy rain, drives me mad the amount of drivers who think you only need lights in the dark.

That’s a misleading statement. Auto lights are designed to also come on in fog and rain too. If you see people not using them it is inevitably driver error.

Our local police force were that concerned about this, that they put out a warning for people not to assume that their lights were automatically coming on, as they had discovered auto lights didn't always switch on in the fog and rain.

@MardyBra is bint misogynistic? I apologise. I wanted to be slightly derogatory without resorting to bitch which I hate. Maybe I should have said silly cow instead.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

But if you're a speeding, baseball cap wearing cocky young lad in a souped up Vauxhall Golf

To be fair, there aren't many of those around at all

Ha ha! I intended on naming Vauxhall corsa and Volkswagen Golfs but missed a whole example out and mixed the two 😂😂😂

This reminds of when I was a lairy teenager in my first car and two girls were pointing at my car and laughing at me in a car park. I rolled the window down and shouted "what's so fucking funny?" before giving them the finger and driving off. Then heard my bag, phone and can of coke slide off the roof of the car and fall on the ground. Serves me right.

I once had to keep flashing and beeping at a car full of police who had just pulled out of the station in front of me. They had a coat hanging out of their boot by a sleeve. It would have been absolutely ruined being dragged along the road by the time they got where they were going.

Made a nice change, pulling the coppers over

I know my lights come on automatically in rain because just as I’m thinking I’ll need to switch my lights on, the light on the dashboard normally comes on. I hate not being able to see other cars in bad weather/darkness, they’re an accident waiting to happen.