Driving with Hazards On!

[Gau_8]

Please allow me to vent.

A couple of days ago I had to drive in a toad strangler of a thunderstorm in South Florida. Visibility was bad and made it unsafe to drive more than 20 MPH.

IT IS ILLEGAL AND UNSAFE TO DRIVE WITH HAZARD FLASHERS ON!!!

It renders your turn signals inoperative and makes it hard to tell if you apply the brakes. Plus you can't tell if the vehicle is moving or stopped.

Hazards are for vehicles parked or disabled along the roadway. Turns your headlights on and leave the flashers off. If it is too bad, try to pull well off the roadway and only then turn on the hazards!

The number of people driving with the flashers on created a very scary and dangerous condition.

[Francesca_Knowl]

Gau 8 wrote:

2chiefsRus wrote:
Hazard Light Use - State by State
While that may be true in Florida, it is not true in all states. I have been in some western states, where the signs specifically say to use your Flashers when slow going up long grades.

Your own link shows it to be illegal in the vast majority of states. For good reason. In my example it made a bad situation worse.

Suggest you look again- hazard lights are forbidden altogether in only a very few states.

In most other States with any restrictions at all, there are exceptions for "hazardous road conditions", and in most cases that would include a vehicle traveling well below the speed limit on a highway.

My mother never forgot witnessing a horrible wreck on the Banfield Freeway (Oregon) in which a slow moving vehicle was blown off the road by a driver coming up at "normal speed" from behind. The use of hazard lights in that situation might have saved the lives of the two people that were killed going over an embankment.

[Dakzuki]

In Europe rear fog lights on cars are used in inclement weather. You see see them sometimes here but not often. Look for a tali light that is extra bright, usually the left one.

Many states advise using flashers when you are a slower vehicle (like climbing). There are advisory signs posted indicating as much.

A "disabled" vehicle is not necessarily a stopped vehicle. One can easily make an argument it is one that cannot perform normally for any number of reasons. If I am forced to climb slowly I have the flashers on.

[Avatab]

skipnchar wrote:
I have used hazzards when traveling at unsafely slow speeds with very bad visability. I have FOLLOWED police cars who were using their flashing lights for the same purpose. Being unseen is the absolutely MOST unsafe habit. I have ranted like you but from people who don't even BOTHER turning on headlights in low visibility situations of heavy fog and prefer to just depend on DRL to do the job. I find it MOSTLY happening from owners of vehicles that have DRL systems as many of them don't work properly and light only one light or none at all and NEVER do they show any lights from behind so THOSE are the unsafe individuals. I'd MUCH prefer to be in charge of making SURE my lights work when visibility is low and I want them showing from both front AND REAR.

Agreed. It's more of a problem when drivers don't use any lights at all. Generally, the more lights the better in low-visibility conditions. That is why some cars have extra-bright red rear lights that come on when the fog lights are turned on.

Hazard lights are meant to alert other drivers that there is something unusual going on and those drivers should use caution when approaching / passing the vehicle with them on regardless if that vehicle is moving or stopped. Many States now have "Move-Over" laws that require drivers to slow down when they see emergency vehicles. That same caution should be used when seeing anything out-of-the-ordinary on the roadways....

[Homer1]

If it gets your attention in a cautious situation I will use mine every time. The life you save may be mine.

This cost you just what you paid for it.....y

[Dashonthedash]

Not to digress from the main topic, but one should be careful interpreting state traffic laws from websites such as AAA (or atlases that list state-by-state rules, for that matter). The statements on law are summaries, and often leave out important information that can only be garnered from the state websites themselves. For example, if one took the AAA description on "windshield stickers" literally, it would be illegal to place a Colorado State Parks sticker (or many local parking permits) in its usual place in the lower right corner of the windshield of a car or RV. The website leaves out the important word "non-transparent" in defining what constitutes a windshield sticker as stated in the Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 42 (the park stickers are transparent). Of course, anything that actually impedes a driver's view by definition is illegal.

In regard to this particular debate, Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 42-4-215 (7) clearly indicates that hazard lights may only be used "when the vehicle is not in motion or is being operated at a speed of twenty-five miles per hour or less and at no other times". It does not exempt trucks or commercial vehicles. Bottom line is that many vehicles openly violate this ordinance, but it is not a high-priority enforcement.

[Pepperoni]

I use the hazard lights to alert drivers behind me to accidents ahead, deer on the highway and debris in the lanes, as well as black ice and heavy fog banks. Forwarned is forearmed. They are, after all , road HAZARDS.

[NC-Hawk]

I used flashers just last week in a torrential downpour on 95. Rear LEDs really get out there as for visibility.

Sorry if it annoys you....

[wrvond]

On most highways in WV, the maximum speed limit is 70 MPH and the minimum speed limit is 45 MPH. The law is, turn on your flashers when travelling at less than the minimum speed limit.
One flaw in your argument concerning turn signals is that under the conditions you describe, nobody should be changing lanes. Lane changing when you can't see is dangerous and little flashing lights aren't going to improve your ability to see one whit.
Pulling over to the shoulder to wait out the hazardous conditions is always preferable when it can be safely done, but if you must press on, then slow down enough that you don't overdrive your visibility. If you leave enough gap between you and the vehicle in front of you, you are not going to rear-end them regardless of whatever maneuver they may perform.
The recent pile up near Fancy Gap Mountain in Virginia was not caused by the use of flashers, but by people driving too fast and following too close for conditions.

[steelpony5555]

As a ex Verizon cable splicer I have probably driven in more bad nasty weather then the average bear. When moving along in very poor visiblity at maybe 20-30 mph I always had my flashers on and I appreciated others having them on also. The bright flash gives you maybe a 100 ft more of warning which on slick roads means a lot. There are times when I could not see the normal driving light but when it flashed I could see it. No, you don't mistake it for a parked car. If it is parked you will have plenty of time to react, you are not doing 60 mph remember. I high doubt you will ever find a hwy patrol that will pull you over for having flashers on, in fact I have followed Pa Hwy Patrol with their flashers on. Oh if it was illegal why do snow plows run with their flashers on all the time. If you can pull over, do so, but if you must press on then get your flashers on if you are only traveling 30 mph in poor visibility, some of us want to be able to see you and have time to react.

[WyoTraveler]

I suspect the reason they don't use them while drivng in Florida because it is all flat land. In the western mountains they are used so a passenger vehicle traveling at highway speeds won't come around a curve & run into the back of a large vehicle pulling the grade at 20 mph.

[skipnchar]

I have used hazzards when traveling at unsafely slow speeds with very bad visability. I have FOLLOWED police cars who were using their flashing lights for the same purpose. Being unseen is the absolutely MOST unsafe habit. I have ranted like you but from people who don't even BOTHER turning on headlights in low visibility situations of heavy fog and prefer to just depend on DRL to do the job. I find it MOSTLY happening from owners of vehicles that have DRL systems as many of them don't work properly and light only one light or none at all and NEVER do they show any lights from behind so THOSE are the unsafe individuals. I'd MUCH prefer to be in charge of making SURE my lights work when visibility is low and I want them showing from both front AND REAR.

[ChooChooMan74]

It bugs me in a snow storm, people drive with them on. Umm, you are not a hazard because everyone else is driving slow around you.

[MotorPro]

It may not be illegal everywere but it is unsafe everywere. You have no turn signals. You are causing a hazard by using them. Especially on multi lane highways.

[chevor]

I have a problem with wreckers driving 5-10 over the speed limit with their flashers on pulling a smashed vehicle.

[jetboater454]

I have yet to see anyone pulled over for having their 4 ways on in bad weather. They don't even stop grandma or grandpa with their left turn signal on for miles here in Florida.:B