Just wundering.
Has anybody here been told not to flash at passing artics to let them know to move back in.
Ive noticed more and more drivers dont do this now and mentioned at a job in colchester to a BTS driver who replied," we’ve been told not to, duno why."
Just curios if anyone else has heard this and why this is only really noticed as the mirrors on the new MAN and ERF range are absolutly arse and everything lookes like its a km away regardless of which mirror ur looking in to.
More and more drivers don’t do it as it is rare to be given the chance, most trucks seem to want to be back over before they have passed you. More often than not these days I’m waiting to give the flash but they are coming back over before there is sufficient distance for me to flash. Even more strange are those who do that then even though you haven’t flashed they give you a thankyou for flashing them in. Kind of proves they weren’t really looking.
Then there is the other side of the coin. The driver with loads of spotlights on their truck and they can’t wait to use them. You have barely cleared their cab and FLASH. You ignore it because you want a bit more room before moving over and within a split second, FLASH. You ignore it again as you are still not convinced that a couple of metres gap is enough for you to be pulling back over. Another split second and they go for the long FLLLAAAASSSSSHHH. Still, at least you are doing them a service, the longer you stay out there the more they get to play with their lights. I imagine it must be pretty rewarding for them and I often wonder if they light up a cigarette, lean back and ask the lights if it was good for them as well. 
With regards to companies telling driver’s not to do it I’m guessing it’s because if they do flash and something goes wrong while the vehicle moves back over, then the flasher could be held partly responsible. For instance if you flash a vehicle back in near an entry slip, someone on the slip could assume you are flashing them out so they move right as the one who has just passed you moves left and bang. In the ever more claim and blame society we live in companies want to cover there arse for all eventualities.
It would be along the same lines as not waving a person across at a zebra crossing, which is what the Highway Code states. Pull up and stop but leave the decision to cross up to them. If you wave them across and another vehicle comes up, doesn’t stop, and hits them you could be held partly responsible.
I ignore headlamp flashing and will move over when I know it is safe. As Coffee said some drivers will cut in so close as they pass that my reactions are not quick enough to flash them in.
No one needs to solely rely on headlamp flashing. It comes from the days of Albions and Atkinsons when rear view mirrors were smaller than a CD and about as reflective. They were also bolted on the end of a vibrating stalk with no heating.
In the highway code it says this:
90: Flashing headlights.
Only flash your headlights to let other road users know that you are there. Do not flash your headlights in an attempt to intimidate other road users.
91: If another driver flashes his headlights never assume that it is a signal to go. Use your own judgement and proceed carefully.
What is with the manic repeated flashing of indicators now? almost all the indicator stalks must be warn out after 6 months 
Just as an afterthought, In Belgium or France you will often find a car so close up your chuff that you cant see him flashing manically. If you think that the truck flashed you back in then you will both get a shock
Coffeeholic:
Then there is the other side of the coin. The driver with loads of spotlights on their truck and they can’t wait to use them. You have barely cleared their cab and FLASH. You ignore it because you want a bit more room before moving over and within a split second, FLASH. You ignore it again as you are still not convinced that a couple of metres gap is enough for you to be pulling back over. Another split second and they go for the long FLLLAAAASSSSSHHH. Still, at least you are doing them a service, the longer you stay out there the more they get to play with their lights. I imagine it must be pretty rewarding for them and I often wonder if they light up a cigarette, lean back and ask the lights if it was good for them as well.
Thats a new monitor you owe me Neil this one having just gained a full blast of coffee, talk about irony 
My hunt for post of the year ends right here
It is a perfectly legitimate use of paint fading spotlights is running up and down the UK motorway network in the day time NOT
Coffeeholic:
Then there is the other side of the coin. The driver with loads of spotlights on their truck and they can’t wait to use them. You have barely cleared their cab and FLASH. You ignore it because you want a bit more room before moving over and within a split second, FLASH. You ignore it again as you are still not convinced that a couple of metres gap is enough for you to be pulling back over. Another split second and they go for the long FLLLAAAASSSSSHHH. Still, at least you are doing them a service, the longer you stay out there the more they get to play with their lights. I imagine it must be pretty rewarding for them and I often wonder if they light up a cigarette, lean back and ask the lights if it was good for them as well.
pmsl
I was told by a ROSPA driving instructor many years ago not to flash other “trucks in”, he reminded me that according to the highway code flashing your headlights has the same meaning as sounding your horn, " to make another road user or pedestrian aware of your presence". It doesn,t mean its safe to change lane or pull a fully loaded artic out of a layby into 70mph traffic on a dual carraigeway! I usually cruise at 85kph on the motorway and never need to flash people in as they usually change lane sooner than I,d have liked anyway.
the flasher could be held partly responsible
It is very true that you rarely get the chance. 
It is our depot’s policy that you do not flash in other drivers, due to the litigate society we live in. 
mikermhh:
I was told by a ROSPA driving instructor many years ago not to flash other “trucks in”, he reminded me that according to the highway code flashing your headlights has the same meaning as sounding your horn, " to make another road user or pedestrian aware of your presence". It doesn,t mean its safe to change lane or pull a fully loaded artic out of a layby into 70mph traffic on a dual carraigeway!
Especially as in other parts of the world, flashing headlights means other things as well. In Italy (well, Sicily at least), if you’re waiting to pull out at a T-junction, and someone flashes you, it means “I’m here and I’m not stopping” - the opposite to what it (colloquially) means in the UK.
Coffeeholic:
More and more drivers don’t do it as it is rare to be given the chance, most trucks seem to want to be back over before they have passed you. More often than not these days I’m waiting to give the flash but they are coming back over before there is sufficient distance for me to flash. Even more strange are those who do that then even though you haven’t flashed they give you a thankyou for flashing them in. Kind of proves they weren’t really looking.Then there is the other side of the coin. The driver with loads of spotlights on their truck and they can’t wait to use them. You have barely cleared their cab and FLASH. You ignore it because you want a bit more room before moving over and within a split second, FLASH. You ignore it again as you are still not convinced that a couple of metres gap is enough for you to be pulling back over. Another split second and they go for the long FLLLAAAASSSSSHHH. Still, at least you are doing them a service, the longer you stay out there the more they get to play with their lights. I imagine it must be pretty rewarding for them and I often wonder if they light up a cigarette, lean back and ask the lights if it was good for them as well.
Its another sign of the camarardary (sp) that is getting less and less in our industry. Yet again the health and safety ■■■■’s and the ambulance chasing society is taking away our old image of “knights of the road”
I will still flash people in, even the tuppaware mansions (unless they are trying to take my front bumper off by coming in early)
The git I have the misfortune to be sharing a cab with at the moment, flashes every vehicle that passes us - even when they are doing 80, and are half a mile away by the time he finds the stick !
One of the sheds we have to drive has a faulty switch for main beam, so it takes 2 or 3 minutes of jiggling the stick to get back to dipped - but he still does it
Makes me laugh, we got all the way to south mimms from enfield the other night (about 2.30am, M25), before he noticed we only had side lights on (i have given up telling him now, coz it happens so often).
See i’ve never quite understood the exact purpose of this, I always assumed it was a combination of trucks giving eachother the all clear for them to pull back in after an overtake, combined with a kind of truckers equivalent of the biker ‘nod’, along with the left, right, left right of indicators afterwards to say thanks.
What threw me was the number of artics i’d get flashing me in my Sprinter, and i’m sure it’s getting more and more common. I mean it’s a Sprinter, it’s about 6-7 metres long? I honestly don’t need telling when i’m clear to cut back in after having just overtaken a truck, but I just took it as a kinda idle and pointless “yo” rather than a “clear for manouevre” signal so flip the indicators anyway even if i don’t actually intend to change back lanes (coz i’m often doing 20-30mph more than the truck so am a good sitance down the motorway by the time they do it).
Kiowan:
What threw me was the number of artics i’d get flashing me in my Sprinter, and i’m sure it’s getting more and more common. I mean it’s a Sprinter, it’s about 6-7 metres long? I honestly don’t need telling when i’m clear to cut back in after having just overtaken a truck,
I’ve been flashed in driving my 110 landrover before ( ok so it does say Livestock Transport on the spare wheel cover )
obviously not going as fast as a Sprinter, but I can usually work out where the back of it is
I suppose if you’ve spent several weeks wages fitting 42 spotlights to someone elses truck it gives you a thrill to flash them
catclan:
Just wundering.Has anybody here been told not to flash at passing artics to let them know to move back in.
Ive noticed more and more drivers dont do this now and mentioned at a job in colchester to a BTS driver who replied," we’ve been told not to, duno why."
Just curios if anyone else has heard this and why this is only really noticed as the mirrors on the new MAN and ERF range are absolutly arse and everything lookes like its a km away regardless of which mirror ur looking in to.
lot of new Drivers in Your Country 
Coffeeholic:
I often wonder if they light up a cigarette, lean back and ask the lights if it was good for them as well.
FPMSLMAO
Coffee wrote:
I imagine it must be pretty rewarding for them and I often wonder if they light up a cigarette, lean back and ask the lights if it was good for them as well.
Got to agree with MM too!
I generally only flash people in if I have eased off to let them pass. It does amaze me though that when I go past a slow (legal I suppose) Tesco/Asda motor they flash me in, I mean jeez they must need new bulbs by the end of the day I should think, but thanks to them anyways I suppose
You ungrateful lot! I did flash such vehicles as sprinters in cos judging by the amount of times they try to take my front bumper with them, some of them do need the help! I will stop with immediate effect.
Are we really now at the stage where we moan about people just trying to be a bit helpful and courteous in a world where no-one gives a ■■■■?