She flashed me so I flashed her back.

I will usually flash a truck in, without waiting for the blinker, because truckers usually understand the signalling. I generally wait for a blinker from cars, because car drivers are more often confused by the flash. If I have the option, I will flash by turning off my low beams, and turning them back on, but not every vehicle is equipped with headlight interrupts. Sometimes, all I have is a flash of the high beams, but I try to be as gentle as possible. I try not to give a flash if there is some reasonable ambiguity about who it's for, or if I see a hazard that perhaps the other driver may have missed (such as another vehicle vying for the spot, or someone on an adjacent shoulder). Finally, courtesy takes a back seat to safety; if something is going on with me, that requires my hands or my attention, I may miss an opportunity to be courteous. If I am sneezing, for example, it may not be a good time to make the nod to courtesy...

I give the thank-you flash to drivers who flash me in. Not everyone does so, even among truckers, and sometimes I do merge earlier than I would like, flash or no flash, because someone is tailgating me more closely than I would be to the vehicle that I am passing. The reasoning, here, is that if I don't get over, the tail-gater will do something far more dangerous, far closer to the vehicle that I am passing, in an effort to get past me on the right. Sometimes the tailgater turns out to be a law enforcement officer responding to a call, and maybe trying to keep a low profile as they do so. Again, not every vehicle is equipped with running light interrupts, so I will sometime give two or three emergency flashes, instead.

I do these things, whether I'm driving a commercial vehicle, or a four-wheeler. Courtesy is courtesy, regardless of the size of the vehicle.

 

As from this point on you'll now be known as the "Flasher"

 

I hear ya', driver, I was way off.

 

Semi Retired, awesome truck where have those days gone? OLD SCHOOL RULES!!

 

We turned our heads, only for what seemed like a minute,,,and they were gone. I had a lot of fun with that old Pete!! ( and I drove it 'round the clock, Feds!! Got that paper log book(s) real close with a pencil)

 

It seems some need validation for their actions. I can take the guys flashing me over but I decide when it is safe to do so not you. Flashing 3-4 times only makes me stay I the left lane longer and want to get far away from you.

 

flashers mean I am disableing and need to exit safely, markers mean thank you, blinkers mean I would like to turn, headlights flashing I frown on.

 

Fair enough... but it's worth pointing out that if I flash you more than once, it's (probably) not because I'm trying to annoy you. You probably have a tailgater about to do something stupid in front of me, trying to get past you, and I'm just thinking that you didn't see the flash...

 

Is anyone else confused by what I see as overuse of the term "flashing"?
In my view, flashing is when you high-beam someone, and I only do that at someone coming at me who has their high beams on, as a reminder/request for them to turn them off until I can get past them. I never use them to signal safe to merge.
"Dimming" my headlights is what I used to do to signal someone passing me that it's safe to get back over. I don't do this anymore due to the potential liability, plus ,as someone said in a previous thread, a professional driver should be able to tell when it's safe to move back over on his/her own.
"Flashers" is, I think, what we normally refer to as "four-ways", which indicate either approaching some sort.of slowdown or hazardous condition, or as a thank you if you don't have marker light interrupt. Anybody else agree?

 

It's a fair use of terminology, but perhaps more precise than the common usage. In fact, technically, we don't "dim" the lights, we shut them off and back on, but that's probably *much* too nit-picky. Somewhere along the way, someone only had the option of emergency flashers or high-beams, and started calling it "flashing", and the name stuck - however inaccurate it may be, for other drivers. Language is a contract to communicate. If the message is communicated successfully, the contract is fulfilled - despite any form and manner violations, along the way...