Guest

I've been doing the flashing bit with all the previous cars I've own (>15 years now).
I think it gives me a little piece of mind [more than anything else] when used in this manner.
I think it's harmless. It's just another way of telling the guy behind to be cautious.

Going a bit further...
During night driving, my friends and I would use this to communicate (this was pre-cellphone era of course). We would have a caravan of more than 10 cars at times so you could imagine we would get split-up (from traffic lights, other cars, big rigs, etc.). We would use hi-beams the same way. For example, if someone behind needed to pull over.

Thank god for cellphones.

Rudy

Or, in the case of you multi-car caravans, FRS radios are pretty useful too!

JDN

I've still got an old CB I rig at times for caravan service on marathon jaunts. RejeX seems to protect well with the magnetic mount. I have a through-the-glass mount, but have not been able to figure a way to mount on the E60.

Now back to flashing . . .

wiszmaster

down here in South Florida we do the same, during summer time when we get our "RAIN" hour.
nearly everyday in the summer rain season, it will start to rain at about ... 2-3PM for an hour or 2, sometimes a little longer - but there will be so much rain at once, that you can barely see the car in front of you, and there will be 2-3" of water on the road, puddles a foot deep, and the canalisation over flowing. drainage ditches 3 feet deep will overflow onto the road, and be to normal levels 2 hours later. rain drops that feel like HAIL, so large.

EBMCS03

I think that's the thinking behind BFD. In my opinion, unless the hazard switch gets wired to the brake pedal, it'll take much longer for complacency to set in. If a human has to turn them on, people will realize the difference and hopefully take extra notice -- that is if they're finished eating their lunch, putting on their makeup, reading the afternoon newspaper, talking on the phone, and fiddling with the CD changer...
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I think the threshold for the BFD to kick in is too high rendering it almost useless... I said almost... Theres not many times where I need to stop so hard that ABS kicks in!! I think BFD shoud come on during HARD braking... and hazzards should come on in addition to BFD when ABS kicks in.

EBMCS03

I'd have no problem with some "confused" person thinking I was stopped. That's the point, to slow them down and take notice that something is happening in front of them...
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EXACTLY!!! I dont care what the auto-mobile association says...
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That's fine if everyone thinks you are stopped. When you are stopped and if drivers behind think you are moving, then good luck. Brake lights are supposed to be that signal but everyone gets so used to it and its effect is no longer as obvious. Hazard lights seem to be something diff, so others may take notice. Once everybody gets used to it, complacency will step in again. :'(
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Well u are suppose to turn it off once you stopped or noticed that the rear person sees you and will not hit you. By that time its safe already no need to keep the hazzards on. Thats waht I do I turn them off when I need to do heavy breaking and then once I know the person behind me notices and is stopping I turn them off... If people on the road can think logically like that then things would be good.. but Nooooooooooooooooo Like you said... I'm sure there will be idiots who will keep the flashers on for a long time and use them improperly...

Rudy

I think that's the thinking behind BFD. In my opinion, unless the hazard switch gets wired to the brake pedal, it'll take much longer for complacency to set in. If a human has to turn them on, people will realize the difference and hopefully take extra notice -- that is if they're finished eating their lunch, putting on their makeup, reading the afternoon newspaper, talking on the phone, and fiddling with the CD changer...
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I think the threshold for the BFD to kick in is too high rendering it almost useless... I said almost... Theres not many times where I need to stop so hard that ABS kicks in!! I think BFD shoud come on during HARD braking... and hazzards should come on in addition to BFD when ABS kicks in.
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I wasn't trying to imply that BFD, in it's current implementation, was a substitute for hazards in the types of situations we described earlier. I was addressing the fact that the use of the hazards "wakes up" people because it's something different. BFD is something a little different than the typical brake lights.

One of these days, they'll refine BFD to be more or less an infinitely variable intensity so under light braking, the lights could be fairly dim but they would become brighter as you braked harder, etc. That would be nice but until most cars have something like this, you'll always have people that don't understand what the lights are telling them -- especially the clueless drivers we have over here...

Iceman

The hazzards come on automatically. A little later though... In case of a crash, when the crash sensor notices an impact.

EBMCS03

The hazzards come on automatically. A little later though... In case of a crash, when the crash sensor notices an impact.
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Ya I know... then it should stay on after a crash... but I think it should turn on with ABS and then off when the car stops and then if you did crash stay on. Thats just me and what I want.

Iceman

The hazzards come on automatically. A little later though... In case of a crash, when the crash sensor notices an impact.
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Ya I know... then it should stay on after a crash... but I think it should turn on with ABS and then off when the car stops and then if you did crash stay on. Thats just me and what I want.
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I know what you mean, but just wanted to throw this into here, so that everybody who wasn't aware of this knows it.