I'm a four-wheeler, and have another question:

When I was learning to drive, my father taught me that when an 18-wheeler was passing me to flash my headlights when it was clear for the truck to pull back over. Generally, the truck would respond with a little flash of his running lights as a 'thanks'.

But no-one else seems to do this anymore, and I'm wondering if it's outdated now.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Gregory in Memphis

Well, if it's outdated then so am I.
I do this all the time.
I guess it's just repect for the DRIVER and to let him know that I got his back covered.
This kind of FLASHING I can deal with!

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The Truckers Report Merchandise

Now thats a flasher I can deal with....I also do this and have for years. My dad told me to do it when he taught me how to drive, and I think showing the big rigs some respect on the roads is just a MUST do kind of thing.

Once in awhile I see a rig that wont flash back, and I always wonder is the guy a jerk or busy doing something that he cant? Oh well I think it is a good thing and we should keep it going.

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LuvMyHubby

I've tied a knot in my rope and I am hangin on!

I will flash the running light's as long as the "flasher" does NOT use there brite light's to do this.
This only blind's the person whom you "flashed" I know alot of truck's do this also, it is not to bad if it is really quick flash of the brite light's but usually it last long enough to just blind ya real good.

very often i don't see the other driver flashing his/her lights to let me back over. sometimes they just don't flash their lights, nor say anything on the c.b. radio. when i can see that i have enough room, i use my turn signal, and move over, period. i think that its just the general ignorance of some of the drivers, new or old that are responsible for this. flashing of the lights was only done as a courtesey, not required by any laws. i'll tell you what i never do, and that is sound my air horns when someone, kids or grown-ups use the hand/arm motion to have me sound those horns. the driver may not be aware that someone in the 4 wheeler is doing that motion, and when the truck driver sounds the horns, it could very well scare the 4 wheeler. in fact, i rarely ever use my air horns, only when some dummy does something stupid, like cut me off or hit the brakes on the highway while we are all doing 70+ mph, and this just happened today.

Some companies don't want drivers to signal (let someone over, or acknowledge)--in fact, I've heard some will FIRE a driver the second time they are caught.

Also, on some trucks , you CANNOT flash the lights to thank the person who let you in.

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Jarlaxle Baenre
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RIP E. Gary Gygax 1938-2008

If I were fired for flashing my lights on and off or flashing my running light's then there would be a fight.
If it were in the company policies when I went to hire on not to do this....then I probably would go home anyway for such a tidbit rule as this.

As for some truck's you can't flash the light's.........I pull new truck's from the factory and deliver all over. We haul all the truck's except for Kenworth's and Pete's and all of them I have been in you can flash the light's or the running light's.

If you can't flash your running light's to thank someone then just pull your 4 way's on for a few second's has the same effect.

As far as I know it is not against the law to do this. I have flashed my light's before to Highway patrol to let them over to get around jerk's who like to hold them up in the left lane. They will usually think you by CB but I have had them to flash their light's back at me.

I do not run with my CB on unless caught in a traffic jam or when I am at the shippers awaiting information. Mostly I don’t care to hear what other truck drivers are attempting to clarify while chewing tobacco, or perhaps they have a serious speech impediment that it’s impossible to understand them. For this reason I would not thank others on a CB. Whenever switching lanes I do not look for anyone to flash me, I feel it’s more dependable and a safer practice to watch for the proper clearance, not someone’s headlights. When I am switching lanes, obviously I am watching my mirrors. At night when someone flashes their hi-beams it blinds me as I am trying to watch what I should be watching for. I wouldn’t take a gesture of someone else on the road. Who is to say that their judgment or depth perception is fair enough in allowing ample room that wouldn’t cause an accident. I could hear it now…”but officer, the other vehicle flashed their lights indicating it was safe for me to move back over”. Many times I have seen others flash me back over and if I had moved back over when they flashed me then this would not have been a safe distance between either vehicle. I feel that the safest and most professional/responsible thing to do is to use your own judgment, not someone else’s. After all, you are the one who is responsible in case something goes wrong, not the other driver.

You know something, I have grown tired of your constant insults of truckers in this forum. I will grant you this, you are entitled to your opinion and you have clearly stated in numerous posts how you feel, but it is getting rather old that every time you have a post you in some way have to insult the common trucker. This is in no way meant to be taken personally but I am, as you have, stating my opinion. I take a great deal of PRIDE in my status as a "trucker" and do not fit your generalization that you seem to want to put on me. I agree with your post above, I think you are dead on with that one. I just wish you could leave out the truck driver insults with every post you make. I just wonder there "MR. PERFECT" how you grew up to be so judgmental.... :thebirdman:

OMG!!! I hadn't seen THAT emoticon before, and I have to admit it...I laughed for five full minutes when I saw it....and leave it to Bubbabone to tell it like it is....

Anyway...I have kinda taken the following approach on the light flashing issue;

I don't flash my lights to let others back in, because I have found that most often, they will come in long before I am comfortable in them doing so. All day long, drivers will barely clear your front bumper and jerk it back over, and leave me basically at their mercy for a bit, before I can again see what's going on in front of them. I like lots of space in front of me, and for brief periods of time, I don't have it when these guys come on over.

Secondly, in some states, using lights as a method of communication is a citable offense. Florida is one that I know will ticket drivers for flashing headlights, BUT usually those cases are when they are used to warn others of law enforcement. I simply have chosen to remove myself from the possibility of coming under such scrutiny, because who knows what other states have laws on the books these days regarding the proper use of vehicle lighting?

Now, if someone is kind enough to dim their lights to let me know I have cleared them, I will flash the marker lights to thank them, but if they hit those high beams, I just cannot see thanking someone for blinding me, because it always seems that at the very moment I am checking to see what it looks like in that right hand mirror, that's when they hit 'em.

I still most often, will delay my coming over until I have left the other vehicle plenty of space. The bad thing is, that there are those that will blind you not once, but multiple times, because they are under some impression that you didn't understand the first blinding light transmission, even when I have "thanked" them with a blink or two of the marker lights.

That's when I usually key up and inform them that blinding me more than once is not necessary. Then an argument ensues, more times than not......<sigh>

I do not use the CB communication method, and there is one very simple reason for this. I cannot tell you how many times I have been passing a truck, and hear a driver key up to say, "Okay big truck, you've cleared me", or some variation therof, and a quick check in the mirror will let you know that it wasn't ME they were talking to. It was some other truck passing within radio range. I'm sure that somewhere, someplace, more driver than one, just whipped it on over, without looking when the same mistake was made, and an accident occured.

I suppose that I am one of those, "Hey, no offense, but I found my way out there, and I am quite capable of knowing when it's safe to come back over", kinda drivers. I don't express it verbally, unless someone takes me to task for not thanking me for blinding me for a few seconds....

In the days when this was truly popular, there were no such things as Quartz Halogen lighting, and even on high beam, filament headlights wouldn't fry your corneas like some of the more modern headlights will do, so I think that improvements in the lighting arena have more or less dictated that an old practice be amended for safer results.

It's not an issue of courtesy. Some things done in the past just don't fit well into today's traffic climate. This is one of them, at least in my own estimation.