Flashing lights to show speed trap.

I don’t flash because it could distract people too much. If they are speeding then they should get caught - I did and it was a warning for me in the future. I haven’t done it since. Lesson learned.

StoneofDestiny

Flashing gets them to slow down - job done.

No it's not. Job done would be getting a fine/points on their licence/losing their licence and maybe their livelihood. That might make them see sense, someone alerting them never will.

I’m a flasher too! So many speed cameras near us and never a sign of a proper policeman. Much more profitable. Try very hard not to exceed speed limits but my husband was two miles over on a quiet Sunday morning in a tiny village by mistake and got another speeding ticket, so my sympathy with both police and husband has run out.

People who drive slowly cab be a danger to other drivers as they try to overtake them. I’m not sure that drivers are aware that the speedometer on their care can be slightly inaccurate and on the slow side ie it shows you are driving at 30 mph when the actual speed is 27 mph. I became aware of this years ago when my speedometer differed from the speed shown on my sat nav.

It can be really frustrating driving behind someone driving at 28 mph for miles, especially if they also brake unnecessarily on bends and slow down even more. I realise that will make me unpopular with some people on here!

It was when my mother began driving slowly and not being aware of other cars trailing behind her that we became aware of the beginning of her dementia as her spatial awareness was affected.

Direne3

*Esspee
Must say I haven't seen a speed trap in over 10 years and thought/hoped the police were using their resources to deal with crime.* When did speeding cease to be a crime?

Sadly, plenty of people don’t see it as a crime. Those who’ve had someone they love killed or maimed by a speeding driver tend to look at it differently.

Last time I was flashed by an oncoming car I checked the speed limit signs and found that I was doing 38 mph in a signposted 40mph max. speed limited area.
A few weeks later I received a summons for speeding in a 30mph area.
I actually returned the 25 miles to where I’d been accused of speeding. Only to find that I’d remembered correctly and that I had been accused of doing 37mph in a 40mph signposted area.
I called in to a garage for a coffee and cake before starting off back home. Chatting to the girl serving I told her about my summons and she said she knew of a number of other drivers who’d received summonses. That it was due to the distance between the lamp posts on a short part of the road. That the law said there was a 30mph speed limit when the lamp posts were a shorter distance than normal between each other.
I pleaded not guilty but had to return to court to be found guilty. So for the first time in nearly 60 years of driving have points on my licence, have had to pay a £120 fine and an inappropriate and silly £50 towards of all things victim support, when I was the victim of driving past lamp posts closer together than average.
It must be 3yrs since that happed but it still makes me angry. Very Angry. Fuming at what I consider a complete travesty of speeding rules.

I warn others why would you not. But I’m not a miserable bug ? lol

When there is a speed trap in our area it is often reported on the local social media groups. It works in that drivers slow down in that area. I do wonder sometimes if there actually is one or it is just a local person calming the traffic.

I flash for hazards and put hazard warning lights on if there’s something ahead so those behind me are alerted, a habit we picked up in France.

*Germanshepherdsmum

StoneofDestiny
Flashing gets them to slow down - job done.
No it's not. Job done would be getting a fine/points on their licence/losing their licence and maybe their livelihood. That might make them see sense, someone alerting them never will.*

I agree. I don’t flash for a speed trap because I want people who speed caught and deterred before they hurt someone.

It has always stayed with me that if you hit a pedestrian at 40 mph they are 90% likely to die, but if you hit them at 20 mph they are 90% likely to live.

Nannashirlz you wouldn’t because it’s an offence and if caught you would be fined. Didn’t you read that upthread? And those of us who keep within the law by not tipping speeding motorists off are not miserable old b*****s. Speeding motorists need to be caught and punished in the same way as any other criminal. No ‘lol’ (how I hate that) about it.

Lots of speed traps round here by cops on motorbikes. It is an offence to flash to warn of a speed trap. I used to flash but I don’t any more as people shouldn’t be driving so fast. I became very protective of my license when my disabled son was alive as without me he would have been stuck at home. He always used to shout out a warning at speed cameras in case I was over the limit.

Esspee

Must say I haven't seen a speed trap in over 10 years and thought/hoped the police were using their resources to deal with crime.
Traffic generally moves at a safe rate, roughly within 10% of the speed limit.
I do flash people possibly going a little over the limit but anyone really speeding I wouldn't dream of warning them. They are the ones we need to catch.

I am glad to hear you live in such a safe area.

I don't unfortunately.

Speeding and road racing is great fun apparently to the thoughtless, the young who shouldn't have been allowed to past their tests as they don't seem to realise that cars can be dangerous. (Nor all young drivers are in this category, obviously.)

Even experienced drivers are tempted to drive too fast on a quiet country road or race the lights.

I have lost one cat to an idiot who couldn't brake in time due to the speed he was doing. But better a three year old cat than our three year old human neighbour!

My local parish council purchased a hand held speed gun and various upstanding members of the council and community stand on village corners trying to catch unsuspecting drivers. I object wholeheartedly to my parish precept being used in this way. But there’s nothing I can do about it.

It can often be them checking on insurance and tax for vehicles, not speed.

I’m with Kim19 on this one, I always flash other cars if I see a speed trap.

PippaZ

I have always understood oncoming traffic flashing their lights meant a general "slow down". It could be for anything, Calistemon's herd of deer, an accident, flooding, etc.

Obviously the pious on here have a direct route to God and will have already been warned of these things.

Not sure what you point is. People aren't saying you shouldn't flash drivers to warn them of animals on the road or flooding ahead.
They're saying you shouldn't flash speeding drivers to help them avoid being caught by the police.

I flash speeding drivers to slow them down, but there are no speed traps, I just think that they may think there are, and will slow down anyway.

Nannashirlz

I warn others why would you not. But I’m not a miserable bug ? lol

Tell that to people who have lost loved ones to speeding drivers.

Do you also think anyone who would stop a drunk person from getting behind the wheel is a miserable bugger?

Never, it's an offence. Just equate it with warning someone you see breaking into a car, house that they better be careful as police round the corner.

I am also a flasher after being caught doing 34 in a 30 zone.

I only flash in the one specific location where I was caught. There is a hill which flattens out with a change from 40mph to 30mph just at the bottom immediately as it flattens out.

A police van 'hides' by a farmers gate and behind a hedge. They are directly under the 30mph sign. Half of the time you can't see the sign for the hedge.

I have never seen anyone properly speeding there but for the police to sit directly under the speed sign is a bit much.

The police should be spending there time trying to sort out the anti social behaviour that seems to be increasing lately

Anyone remember the AA warning system in the 1940s?
A man in AA uniform would appear on his motorbike coming in the opposite direction
i hope I have got it the right way round but if he saluted a member's car which was displaying the metal AA badge, all was well and there were no policemen lurking anywhere for the next few miles. If he didn't salute, the AA member would slow down immediately

When will people realise that a car is a weapon. It can kill in the wrong hands.
There are too many deaths on the roads due to speeding and anyone who condones this by warning speeders should be fined too if found.
Speeding is dangerous and people should safeguard their own families by not condoning it.?

I am grateful if someone flashes to warn of danger, like accident etc.

I endeavour to keep to the speed limit wherever I am, although I do tend to go over it on motorways.

It never occurs to me to warn oncoming drivers of a speed trap, but I do warn if there is potential danger ahead.

You can be fined for flashing! Also saw in news a woman was flashing madly as someone had collapsed in road and she dazzled the oncoming driver and he ran over the man and killed him. It was proved that he was dazzled.