Your driving down the road in your truck, dual carriageway doing 522mph on the CC a truck has just overtaken you and is still in lane 2, at the same time your about to pass a slip road - a vehicle is on it and they are getting towards the end of the slip road, the road ahead is clear apart from the artic in lane 2, the vehicle joining off the slip is faster than you so, as you do you give them a friendly “flash in”.
BOTH the vehicle joining and the artic in lane 2 think the “flash in” was for them, they both pull in and collide,
As flashing in is not a recognised signal in the highway code, it does not really mean anything, should still check mirrors etc.
As the HGV in the main carrigeway has priority whatever lane he is in, the vehicle is joining from a slip road which means give way to traffic on the main road, Its the joining vehicles fault.
Whether it would be seen that way is another matter.
I think to a degree all concerned would have a share of the blame, in real life though I suspect both trucks would have some worrying to do and the car would get away without - with us being “professional drivers” and all
A flash is a recognised signal by us lorry drivers to return to the nearside lane, so the lorry would come back in assuming it’s safe to do so, the car would assume that you were letting him out, so strictly speaking your flash would be a majot contributory factor in any resulting crash, however the lorry driver should still be looking in his nearside mirror as he comes over and should spot the car, the car should also realise that the lorry is coming over on him and should take evasive action, maybe going onto ther hard shoulder, rather than letting himself get mangled by the lorry.
Probably best to leave the full beam alone in this situation
The insurance companies would probably take it knock for knock on the other two’s insurance, I don’t know, but I would say the driver in lane 1 would really be to blame because he caused the accident through incorrect use of the headlight flash, according to the highway code it is to let another driver know you are there, not giving them the OK to do a manouvre. The problem for the two people who actually collided would be proving it was driver 1’s fault.
I just wouldnt flash the lights at either of them then the other lorry driver would wait till he knew he was well clear of you hopefully and in the meantime the car wouldve ■■■■■■ off out of it.
All this crap about it being the fault of the driver that flashed the lights. You can flash your lights all day long and cause as many accidents as you like as a result of and you’re not to blame. It is the fault of the drivers that acted on your signal. If I told you to jump off a cliff you wouldn’t do it so why swing over to the left just because someone flashed their lights. I would say if the truck in lane twa had given a second or two on the indicators before moving to the left then it’s 100% numpty in the slip lanes fault as he is joining the road and has sod all right of way.
Your driving down the road in your truck, dual carriageway doing 522mph on the CC a truck has just overtaken you and is still in lane 2, at the same time your about to pass a slip road - a vehicle is on it and they are getting towards the end of the slip road, the road ahead is clear apart from the artic in lane 2, the vehicle joining off the slip is faster than you so, as you do you give them a friendly “flash in”.
BOTH the vehicle joining and the artic in lane 2 think the “flash in” was for them, they both pull in and collide,
who would get the blame for the accident?
just curious.
cheers
CC
can i ask what fuel and braking system would you be using?
probably do it as a knock for knock, so both lose
but, in that situation, i would not give any signal so that i could not be blamed
In the days of no limiters there were lots of cases where you’d get a flash to come in but ignore it and stay where you were for a whole range of reasons.In that case instead of sending back a thanks when you’d got in you’d send it back without changing lanes which means thanks but no thanks.There’s an even worse scenario of getting a flash and coming in just as the traffic/trucks ahead in lane 1 start to slow up for some reason.In that case the seperation distances can reduce to a dangerous level before you know it resulting in a pile up involving truck moving over and the traffic behind it and in front.
Your driving down the road in your truck, dual carriageway doing 522mph on the CC a truck has just overtaken you and is still in lane 2, at the same time your about to pass a slip road - a vehicle is on it and they are getting towards the end of the slip road, the road ahead is clear apart from the artic in lane 2, the vehicle joining off the slip is faster than you so, as you do you give them a friendly “flash in”.
BOTH the vehicle joining and the artic in lane 2 think the “flash in” was for them, they both pull in and collide,
I always find it best to just hold out that little bit longer if I am overtaking next to a slip road. It just means I can see whats maybe coming down it. If its ok, then I’ll pull back in and if I have had a ‘flash’ then he/she will get the wags. Easy peasy, jobs a gud 'un.
522mph = 840km/h (ish)…a round trip for me to Cannock would take a shade over 2 minutes no need for a break n all that nonsense…sweet And i certainly wouldn’t be looking in me mirrors for someone flashing me in cuz the fact is,there wouldn’t be anybody behind cuz they’d be vapourized I’d have me main beam on to let the ■■■■ 'ers in front know i was gaining ground and to clear the way though!! As for braking,i’d have the first dozen or so straps on the trailor on a quick release system so when they were deployed,the air would rush in the back of the trailer acting as a ‘ram’ .
Back to earth now, in that situation,i just stay out in lane 2 waiting for the car to join and if he lets me in,fine…if he decides that he wants to shoot up the inside,fine…why hold everybody else up behind me cuz mumbnuts in the car dunno wot to do and may sit up my inside for the next 5 miles… or would he panic n jump on the brakes causing the artic in lane 1 to follow suit n end up with carnage behind him?? On the other hand, i do have a habit of looking at what is on the onslip…cars normally try n race u anyway but if its a truck and i’m already out there, i’ll hang back enough to let the guy in lane 1 pull out into lane 2 if it looks like they might meet at the top of the slip
Your driving down the road in your truck, dual carriageway doing 522mph on the CC a truck has just overtaken you and is still in lane 2, at the same time your about to pass a slip road - a vehicle is on it and they are getting towards the end of the slip road, the road ahead is clear apart from the artic in lane 2, the vehicle joining off the slip is faster than you so, as you do you give them a friendly “flash in”.
BOTH the vehicle joining and the artic in lane 2 think the “flash in” was for them, they both pull in and collide,
who would get the blame for the accident?
just curious.
cheers
CC
can i ask what fuel and braking system would you be using?
I would say Avgas, and the brakes of a Tornado GR4 or Harrier GR9.
Well this is one of those situations were you should leave your lights well alone
Flashing your headlights is not a recognised signal and means different things in different countries. Lorry drivers in this country have used the headlight flash as a means of giving another lorry driver the signal that they are safe to pull back in after overtaking but car drivers have also seen it as a signal that the lorry driver is giving them the chance to make a manouvre without impeding the lorry’s progress.
You can bet that If a collision occured the car driver would say you had flashed them out although I don’t for a minute think it would make any difference to a court or an insurance claim. It is the drivers responsibility to make sure that all manouvre’s are carried out safely, so if somebody flashes their headlights it still doesn’t mean it’s safe to make that move unless you, as the driver, are sure the gap is there.
Wish my motor went that fast
In this case I wouldn’t flash atall because regardless of whos too blame if they both think you were flashing them in/out it would/could cause an accident, ok not your fault I guess as you shouldn’t rely on a flash alone without looking for yourself but if someone is killed how well will you sleep that night? Also I’ve been flashed in a few times when overtaking and there’s a joining slip road but I never move back in until I know I’m well clear if the slip road and I know there’s no car’s on my inside for this very reason
Your driving down the road in your truck, dual carriageway doing 522mph on the CC a truck has just overtaken you and is still in lane 2, at the same time your about to pass a slip road - a vehicle is on it and they are getting towards the end of the slip road, the road ahead is clear apart from the artic in lane 2, the vehicle joining off the slip is faster than you so, as you do you give them a friendly “flash in”.
BOTH the vehicle joining and the artic in lane 2 think the “flash in” was for them, they both pull in and collide,
who would get the blame for the accident?
just curious.
cheers
CC
Can’t see the need to flash anyone in that situation but have often seen confusion arising from such un-necessary signals.
Flash just informs other road users of your presence.
If you flash, you are just telling them that you are there. They may know that already, but no harm telling them again.
If they choose to manoeuvre based on the flash, that is up to them. In that situation I would place blame on the joining vehicle for two reasons - they are entering the carriageway and therefore the paths of vehicles on the carriageway and secondly they should be playing second fiddle to trucks anyway. The former having more grounding in law.
Surprises me how much misunderstanding there is about the flash though? Is this just ignorance of the Highway Code and habit of doing it for years, or does anyone have any proper cases in which flashing someone caused you to be at fault? I’ve certainly never heard of it.
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