Communication question.

A paint ball gun would be my choice.

Someone cuts you off... a single paintball to the rear deck.
A little Pop is all they would hear, and not even realize what had happened until the next time they went around back to open the trunk.
Too late, the paint is dried on.

 

I do for the most part. Like I said, I do appreciate the thought and will say thank you when I can.

 

I have never had an interupt switch and have always had a separate switch for clearance and markers. No jumper between brown and black wires. I like this in the event I have a problem with one or the other circuit I still have some sort of lights on the back of the trailer.

Most guys in the eighties would have kind of a trademark pattern in which they would shut off one circuit or the other, blink a certain number of times, or whatever. In those days you were considered a prick if you did not acknowledge someone letting you know you were clear.

 

What driver does not know when they are clear, if they are giving enough room in the first place?

Drivers flash me when I get about 20 feet in front of their hood, but of what use is that to either of us?
Cutting over that close is not safe for either of us if something unexpected were to happen.

This is NOT a game of see how close you can come back in, is it?


I will blink my tail lights when someone slows down to let me over when I need, but I do not flash or dim my headlights to let someone passing know they are clear. I want as much room in front of me as I can get.

 

I have plenty of bozos giving me the brown eye when passing me. Sometimes, I either slow or move left just so I can see. Sheesh.

 

I only flash, or dim, my lights when they are far enough ahead of me to safely get back over. Not as soon as they get passed me. Some idiots will move back over long before they have gone far enough to safely move back over. Whatcha gonna do? Click off cruise or take the foot off the pedal to slow down a bit and reestablish a safe following distance. What else.

 

Thanks, good point, but what they did have was "speed traps", a cruiser out of view would time the person as they went by, and the other cruiser, the one you saw, got the reading via radio. I suppose, early on, it was to inform of any cop, but the term I was told, was the 2 fingers sideways indicated "tuning bars", meaning a radar was indeed up ahead. I beg to differ, radar has been around since the late 40's and wide spread to police in the later 60's. I started driving, and consequently got my 1st speeding ticket on a motorcycle via radar in '72. For some, large car types, it was stylish to have a "radar detector",,that had iffy results. I never had to worry as I drove trucks that barely did the speed limit anyway.

 

A radar detector was standard gear for a long time. Then they came out with instant-on and ya kinda needed to find a car (bear bait) that was going the speed you wanted to go, let them pass, and then hang back and listen to the bird dog.

The speed limit was 55, and I ran mostly north/south through Nevada in those days. If you did get caught you didn't receive a speeding ticket, but rather a "waste of natural resources" ticket. $15 on the spot, no points on your license, good to go! It was kind of a fun game that we played back then.

 

Good point.

As I have said in one of the many other threads about this topic, I view the light flashing/dimming/blinking thing as more than just, “you are clear to come over.” Its’s also simply a means of telling the other driver, “hey man I have your back.” Sure, the other guy probably doesn’t (and shouldn’t) NEED me to have his back. But it’s still good to know isn’t it?

 

I remember the first radar detector I had.
A fuzzbuster model. Large black unit w a huge red light. Notoriously unreliable.
Got 3 speeds in one week back in the day.
Suspended my 4 wheel privilege but gave me a work permit for the truck. Lesson learned.

Ran a unit w updated technology till the mid 80s when I forgot to hide it in upstate NY at a pop up inspection stop. They confiscated my unit and I paid a significant fine . By then laser was becoming the thing and a K and R band detector became somewhat obsolete with new radar systems developing each year. I think there must be 5 or 6 frequencies used these days

Decided to just be a 5 over guy and haven't been stopped since.

Now rolling on my sport bike is a different story.
I still run a modern detector. But despite the high tech unit I still picked up a couple tickets out west in NV and WY but it's been over 10 yrs so...