Flash hazard lights to say "thank you"

[jack]

For a while, I've noticed cars flashing both indicators simultaneously (presumably by turning hazard lights on then off again) to say "thank you" for letting them in.

I think I first noticed it by lorries -- google suggests it may have been a lorry driver custom first.

I really like the idea of being able to say "thank you" or "sorry" as well as "please" or "get out of my way" when driving.

Am I right that it's new, or did I just not notice when I started driving?

Presumably it's not allowed (just like flashing headlights to say "excuse me" or "after you" or "do you know your lights are on/there's something wrong with your car/etc" was never an authorised use according to the highway code). Is it a bad idea, or not?

Comments

[eudoxiafriday.wordpress.com]

I've not done it myself, but I've certainly noticed it. I think it's really nice to have a way to say thank you to someone behind you, in particular (e.g. for slowing down to let you in). I think I've seen it mostly (only?) on motorways.

[onyxlynx]

On your motorways, right? Not in town?

I noticed the flashing lights when I drove across the USA the first time ('75). It was a code among the long-distance truckers (lorryists?) who, I have to say, have impressive flash capabilities and it meant that it was much safer to drive at night.

As far as I can tell, these signals are not used in heavily populated areas. So you may not have seen it until you were driving for distance.

[evilsusan]

When I first came to the UK, a native taught me that if you need to thank someone for letting you in, you flash once the other way when the merge is complete. So if you were merging to the left, once you got into the left, you would flash once to the right as thanks. I think headlight flashing means fine, go on.

[syderia]

While I do appreciate having a way to thank people on the road, which where I live happens by raising one's hand in front of the rear-view mirror, I don't think that using the hazard lights to do so is a good idea.
For me, the reflex when seeing someone's hazard light on should be "slow down - pay attention - figure out what the danger is". Using them to thank people, a gesture that might happen more often than danger on a road, would dilute that reflex and possibly make driving more dangerous.

[damerell]

Hazard lights are largely diluted anyway by their use to mean "I am parked somewhere stupid." Particularly vexing when one is obscured - are you pulling out, or just an idiot?

[gerald_duck]

I think lorry drivers (in the UK, and indeed in Europe) tend to use a quick alternation of left and right indicators as a thank-you code, rather than hazard lights. This is usefully different.

Very rarely, I've used it myself, but only in conversation with lorry drivers, never other car drivers.

[sunflowerinrain]

I don't think using lights for anything other than their intended purpose is a good idea. Your reaction to both indicators flashing should be to slow down, or to stop as soon as possible.

Anyway, what's happened to the traditional thank-you signal for car-drivers? Hand raised in acknowledgment (in front of the rear-view mirror if you've passed the other person). Also used to say thank-you when someone lets you go first in a single-track situation. And then the other person raises their hand to say "think nothing of it, dear chap".

Lorry drivers have a different code because, well, they're not so visible. They used to have a complex code of signals (dunno if they still do). I was so irritated by a car driver thinking he could join their club and flashing different patterns at every lorry he passed that I pretended shock: "Do you know what you just said to that lorry-driver? You suggested he and you stop at the next layby for... ". He speeded up in a panic and didn't do it again. Heh.

[(Anonymous)]

many on express way use it to indicate that they will not shift to other lane when the driver at the rear ask for side.