I think we do a lot of these kinds of gripes on this forum, here is one that occurs to me almost daily and I bring it up because in my 35 years behind the wheel, this seems like a fairly new trend. Maybe you guys agree or don't?
4-ways or hazard lights, whatever your term is. Seems to me that a lot of folks these days don't use these properly. I was taught that if your vehicle has a distinct problem and is sitting somewhere near traffic, you use them. Or if you have stopped in some manner of an emergency and your car is in an odd place, you use them. And especially if your car is traveling down any road and your car is some kind of disabled in any form, you use them. (if you have huge cargo hanging off, if you are being towed, if you are driving on a donut spare, etc)
If you are still with me so far, here is my gripe. It seems like in the last few years... drivers are turning these on when they are scared in the driving conditions. When it is snowing and the road is icy. When the rain is hitting heavily. When traffic on the expressway is backed up.
^^ I don't understand this, I think this helps nobody, I think it adds a lot of visual chaos to an already less than ideal situation and very specifically, it makes it far more difficult to notice brake lights on the vehicle with the hazards on and it almost always entirely removes all effectiveness of that vehicle's turn signals.
It's like the car with the hazards is trying to tell the 40 of us behind him that it's snowing.
I find this problem much worse when a semitruck with trailer is doing it. Specifically, a truck will be in a far left lane to move to another expressway and that lane is clogged so they are moving only 5 miles an hour (bumper to bumper) but you can only see the RIGHT side indicator blinking. He has hazards on but to almost everyone that can see him, it appears that he is trying to leave this slow moving left lane an he is indicating a lane change to the right.
It seems to me that if you believe conditions are so hazardous (for all of us) due to traffic or weather, you should get off the road and stop the vehicle rather than turn on your hazard lights.
But I've also coped by lowering my expectations... daily... with no end.
4-ways or hazard lights, whatever your term is. Seems to me that a lot of folks these days don't use these properly. I was taught that if your vehicle has a distinct problem and is sitting somewhere near traffic, you use them. Or if you have stopped in some manner of an emergency and your car is in an odd place, you use them. And especially if your car is traveling down any road and your car is some kind of disabled in any form, you use them. (if you have huge cargo hanging off, if you are being towed, if you are driving on a donut spare, etc)
If you are still with me so far, here is my gripe. It seems like in the last few years... drivers are turning these on when they are scared in the driving conditions. When it is snowing and the road is icy. When the rain is hitting heavily. When traffic on the expressway is backed up.
^^ I don't understand this, I think this helps nobody, I think it adds a lot of visual chaos to an already less than ideal situation and very specifically, it makes it far more difficult to notice brake lights on the vehicle with the hazards on and it almost always entirely removes all effectiveness of that vehicle's turn signals.
It's like the car with the hazards is trying to tell the 40 of us behind him that it's snowing.
I find this problem much worse when a semitruck with trailer is doing it. Specifically, a truck will be in a far left lane to move to another expressway and that lane is clogged so they are moving only 5 miles an hour (bumper to bumper) but you can only see the RIGHT side indicator blinking. He has hazards on but to almost everyone that can see him, it appears that he is trying to leave this slow moving left lane an he is indicating a lane change to the right.
It seems to me that if you believe conditions are so hazardous (for all of us) due to traffic or weather, you should get off the road and stop the vehicle rather than turn on your hazard lights.
But I've also coped by lowering my expectations... daily... with no end.
