Should a flash of the headlights be used to warn of your presence or to indicate that you are giving way?

As we travelled along the nearside lane of a motorway recently, my husband flashed his car lights to indicate to a car driver wanting to join the motorway that we were there and that he should not attempt to try to go in front of us. Fortunately he did not do so, but I think my husband was incorrect and that by flashing the lights he was implying that he would allow the car to go in front of him. Please, who is right?

Asked on 22 April 2011 by JH, Twickenham

Answered by Honest John

A car horn should only be sounded and headlights should only be flashed as a warning. Unfortunately, in the UK, car horns are most frequently sounded as a rebuke and headlights are often used to 'flash someone out' or, in the case of HGV drivers, to let the driver of an overtaking truck know it has cleared your vehicle. That's the problem. In the situation you describe, the most sensible thing for your husband to do would have been to lift off his accelerator slightly and let the other driver join, despite the fact that the other driver has no automatic right to force his way onto the motorway.

Tags: lane discipline driving techniques safety headlights

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