(Apparently this has been successfully challenged in court as free speech though lol https://www.myimprov.com/flashing-headlights-in-florida-prot... )

Not that the contents of the message should be germane (in my opinion) when considering whether a specific act of speech should be considered legal or not.

Under the strictest scrutiny--applied when the law is restricting the expression of a viewpoint or opinion--it doesn't matter why the law is there; free speech wins. Under lower scrutiny, as seems applicable here, the government must show it has a "rational basis". That's what allows them to, say, require you to communicate your intention to turn via a turn signal. I believe that rational basis test is what's failing here.

* Strict scrutiny - The Government must prove there is a compelling state interest behind the challenged policy, and the law or regulation is narrowly tailored to achieve its result.

* Intermediate scrutiny - The law must serve an important government objective, and be substantially related to achieving the objective.

* Rational basis review - A challenger must prove the government has no legitimate interest in the law or policy; or there is no reasonable, rational link between that interest and the challenged law.

While I don't believe the Supreme Court has taken up a case of light signaling, it is likely that the Court would apply strict scrutiny due to the clear First Amendment considerations. If so, thus the government would need to prove that it's narrowly tailored solution to a compelling state interest. It would need to answer questions such as: is it okay to say flash your headlights for road hazard? Would the state prohibit the defendant from telling others at a gas station about the police officer? Etc. I'd suspect that it would be a hard case to win for the Government.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Carolene_Prod....

[1] https://www.findlaw.com/legalblogs/law-and-life/challenging-...

Oddly though, no one in Southern California holds Arizona drivers in high regard. Quite the opposite. Best I can tell they're the western equivalent of Florida drivers.

And I don't mean this in a, "I'm a luddite and wish cars were simple" type of way. I seriously think the number of controls on a vehicle (and burden of the owners manual) is so great that it is causing safety issues.

My car has more controls for the lights alone than my first vehicle had for everything. Literally.

"Automatic" features like headlights were supposed to make us safer, but I think that is backfiring as it is causing cognitive overload and making people complacent.

As someone driving a 2021 Subaru who grew up in a 99 Integra and an 01 Civic. I don't see this at all? The controls are extremely familiar for the lighting, except my new car has a no-friction option: I turn on the "Auto" setting and it automatically puts on DRLs or full lights for me given the lighting conditions. It even turns on my lights for me when I pull into my parking garage at midday.

How exactly could this be made less complex?

My older vehicles had 3 controls for exterior lighting: parking lights, headlights, high beam. They were simple on-offs with feedback that indicated their current state. If people couldn't see your car, you couldn't see your gauges.

My 2021 Honda has SEVEN pages in the owners manual dedicated just to the headlight operation -- not counting the several other sections it calls out for related information. Some sections are called out as US specific and some called out as Canadian model specific.

Let's take just the high-beams for instance:

Flashing the high beams is a different physical control than turning them on. Activating the auto-high beam functionality is somehow not a separate control, but is done flashing your high beams, and there is a not-very-clear symbol in the instrument panel that indicates the current state. This means that when you flash your high beams, you are also changing the current state of the auto headlights. If you flash it an even number of times you will keep the same state, if you flash them an odd number of times, you change the state. Furthermore if you hold the stick in for 40 seconds, you disable the auto headlight feature entirely. If you hold it in for 30 seconds, you turn it back on. Yes, there are two independent levels of "on" and "off" respectively just for the auto-high beams.

It works perfectly fine when you know what it's doing, but it isn't something that a person would automatically know if they were someone who started driving when you turned on headlights by pulling a knob on the dash.

Besides that one specific gripe, there's 160+ pages dedicated to just to controls and the instrument panel alone.

Anyone who reads a modern 600+ page owners manual will learn something. The problem is that people don't, and sometimes the thing they didn't learn is important.

On the other hand, we have legally required boilerplate sections like "how to decode tire ratings" that take up 20 pages, so there's definitely useless bloat.

I read nothing and intuitively understood my car's controls, this is what I also agree should be the clear state, and it seems to me in some sense it should be legislated to prevent what you describe. It is an interesting point though, should each vehicle manufacturer be obligated to put a light stick with some exact set of controls for the headlights in?

The annoying thing about that design is, if I want to turn my high beams on manually, and the car decides that a street light in the distance is a vehicle, it will ignore my request to turn on my high beams when I push the stick forward. I then also have to set my primary headlights to manual mode in order to override the car. This requires turning the knob at the end of the stalk which is not backlit and therefore not legible while driving at night. This is one area where I like the Honda design better: I can always turn my high beams with one operation.

I think the page count is relevant because it is indicative of complexity and is likely inversely related to the number of people who read it.

While I am sure you probably do understand the controls on your vehicle -- I think it is important to note that the people driving around with lights in an improper state at night are also under the impression that they understand their vehicle's controls. They're just mistaken.

I personally wish licensing and enforcement was more stringent. But this is not politically possible in the US.

It's an Outback for what it's worth, but... High beams work directly by pushing the stick forwards. I haven't experienced it denying such a request, only correctly toggling off when traffic is both oncoming and within a reasonable distance, but if it did behave incorrectly in this way, I would simply pull the stick back and push it forwards to re-activate high beams. I don't think there is any complexity in managing state with this implementation, it seems inherently obvious to me it would be this way. I am very surprised with everything else you've written here because it seems quite extraneous.

In the Toyota that I had, if it thought there was an oncoming car, asking it to do the same thing again wouldn't result in a different outcome. Maybe Subaru's system is tuned better, or maybe my driving conditions are an edge case.

Either way, this was just an anecdotal tangent to support my above point that vehicle controls are more complex than they used to be. What was once one single boolean value is now a logic tree containing four boolean values ([auto headlight system engaged][vehicle detected ahead][vehicle speed within operational parameters][highbeams commanded by driver]).

Why wouldn't the result of the action the second time be based on exclusively the stick's position and the current state the vehicle is in? Then it is a pure function of time. If they truly mixed up previous states in there, and somehow it's aware that in the history of positions it was at this position and at that time it rejected your request so it will also reject it now, that's braindead and you should phone Toyota and scream at them

My car's headlight's current state is a pure function of time T and position P. That's my mental model and I haven't observed deviations. I will look at these manuals later perhaps to understand if they really argue there are more stateful factors than this

I have never noticed this, fingers crossed you didn't Baader-Meinhof me. The feature to aim the lights where you steer and auto-dim high beams when traffic is approaching and re-activate them works quite nicely for me as well, so I would consider the headlights to be a great strength of this vehicle. It is crazy to get into my partner's mid-2010s sedan and laugh at how bad the lights are at nighttime compared to the perfectly aimed and calibrated Subaru lights

On the other hand, that mid 2010s sedan's headlight system will age gracefully - there are no aiming servos to fail or autodim relay output to stop working or such thing. It's just lights with a switch to turn them on or off.

Increased complexity also implies increased maintenance and often more troublesome failure modes when something does fail.

BUT, and this is a BIG BUT, it sometimes fails, and at the worst times - like when it is drizzly & foggy at night, in a tight bit of road and a lot of wet pavement glare from the oncoming car — so the workload is already high with bad visibility & grip, and now I have to ALSO flick the lever and move my eyes to the dashboard display to check whether or not I got the lights to the correct state (it may unpredictably finally work and my action goes back to high beams a half second later).

I keep being lulled into giving it a few more chances, but I'm pretty sure it'll get turned off for good. I already reliably switch the hi/lo beams at a subconscious level with near-zero mental workload, so I'm better off just letting that instinct work by feel, rather than randomly having to engage another higher-level attention task at particularly high-workload moments.

This is a Ford and I read that they had this same feature about a decade ago and had to remove it because it just wasn't good enough. It seems that they're a lot closer, but not enough.

Something like the uncanny valley of tech features - almost good enough makes it really bad?

Driver A is used to vehicles with manual headlights and always turns their lights off when they get out.

Driver B is used to "everything is automatic" and touches nothing when they get in.

Easily 5/8ths or more of every vehicle I pass at night has their high beams on, and in areas without fog lines it gets old in a hurry - and dangerous.

[1] a road with lots of turns, not one where the wind is blowing

My MDX does it, and they have had that capability since at least 2017.

Press release about the feature I am referring to: https://ir.gentex.com/news-releases/news-release-details/new...

Some can, though I have no idea on how common it is. My 2013 Dodge can do this. Unfortunately, it's also pretty terrible at it, resulting in a lot of on, off, on again, not quite flashing. e.g., a slight bend in the road, it doesn't seen anyone if front, turns high beams on, only for the road to bend back and all of a sudden your brights are shining in someone's face as the road bends back again. Sometimes, I've seen even changing lanes be enough for it to turn brights back on again. It also doesn't seem to give as much consideration when following someone as leaves them on way too close for me.

I live in an urban enough area with plenty of street lighting anyway, so I tend to use the auto high beam feature almost never (it can be toggled with a position of the turn signal lever). I do, however, use the auto-on lights in general, though. Nice to just not have to worry about turning lights on (or off).

I've also been pulled over before for flashing my brights at a police officer. It was entirely unintentional, though. I was a relatively new and young driver (17 or 18 yrs old at the time) and I was driving an older vehicle that still had a foot operated switch for the high beams that tended to stick.

Edit: I do actually see this on the road all the time where I live. Just saying.

I flash lights for oncoming traffics because of danger or police checks.

I flash warning lights (or raise right hand) for thank you. Others do as well (especially buses, when you let them out of the bus stop, since in Germany they don't have the right of passage leaving a bus stop)

I learned that truck drivers (and buses) flash left, when it's not safe to overtake.

There are also some official rules regarding bus flashing at a bus stop (right, warning). But most of drivers ignore that.

Parts of this make sense, and I appreciate the consistency, but the execution leaves something to be desired.

Why? Do you want dangerous drivers on the roads?

They're making good money off of these fines.

I do this in the UK for the narrow lanes where there is only room enough for one car, because my Grandad used to do it, and because it makes a lot of sense... although the "take up the whole road" part is kind of unavoidable, which is the whole reason to beep ur horn. There are just a huge number of country lanes here that are so narrow only one small vehicle will fit, and when you get to a blind corner you have to go slow enough to be able to quickly stop... a couple taps of the horn help to warn other drivers that something is coming regardless of your actions, and just reduce the chances of a collision.

To be fair I rarely hear other drivers do this any more, so it might be more of an old fashioned thing.

But I personally haven't heard of any other cases when this isn't considered a thank you gesture

It could also be used to call another driver's attention (e.g. if you have a broken taillight and did not notice), or to warn against a police trap (in the pre-Waze era) and maybe a few other things, but it never means "thank you".

Car coming the other way flashes and it means hazard ahead.

If it's at night and your DRLs are the only thing on it means "turn on your lights moron"

At an intersection it usually means "go" to whichever party should be yielding to the flashing party.

Of course if you're in the left land and flash your brights at someone who's clogging up the left lane there's a good chance they won't understand it because if they could understand the context they wouldn't be clogging up the left lane in the first place.

At least, that used to be the only time it was legal to use them here (Sweden). They recently added a rule that it’s legal to use warning lights while being towed, too. Either way, it’s certainly a traffic offense to use them while driving.

Flashing high beams quickly is either a warning about police ahead, or "turn on your damn lights" (there is also a hand gesture for this, spreading and closing your fingers towards them to illustrate a light beam). If someone is blinding you coming in front of you, you just turn on high beams and blind them back.

Between lifted pickup trucks and shoddy, poorly-aligned aftermarket HID lights, it's probably that a high percentage of them AREN'T using brights, even if it feels like it.

I do this too and would die a peaceful death if we crashed into each other with the feeling of fairness restored to the world.

I try to use this in the US, though my success rate is rather low. And I wonder if the distraction just makes things less safe every time I do it.

In Sweden it's common to do this by using your blinkers. You blink once in each direction. So first left, then right. Or the other way around.

(Flashing headlights is also "i see you trying to merge in front of me and i'll give you space." Which I also occasionally do but don't see that often).

I do this for the same reason - or more generalized - 'I see you are about to do _x_, and I acknowledge - go ahead'.

Not common, but maybe I see it 3 or 4 times a year.

I've had this a few times from truckers driving through Germany, too, when I let them merge. Truckers in Germany are from all over Europe so it's hard to tell how European this gesture is

I wouldn’t say it’s common here in Sweden, at all. I’ve driven all over Europe and the US, and nowhere is as uncommunicative as Sweden on the roads. People barely use their blinkers even when turning or changing lanes on the motorway, let alone ‘thanking’ each other - which in the 25 years I’ve lived here, I’ve seen maybe two or three times.

I guess using the warning lights as a “thanks” would be uncommon though, since it’s actually illegal. ;-)

Swiss busses even have a special horn playing a piece (three tones) of Rossini's, Wilhelm Tell Opera Overture https://youtu.be/wMWEQdxMhdA

At night i was on an airport transfer bus heading down the Amalfi coast and the driver was flashing his headlights before barrelling into a hairpin turn giving no room for oncoming traffic. I stopped stamping on the imaginary brake pedal quite so hard when i realised this signal must mean I’m coming through which is the opposite from here in the UK where it means I’m giving way to you.

The actual uses of flashing headlights are much more varied than the official version. For example "you are driving with your headlights off and it's dark", "you are blinding me with your main beams" and "a tree has fallen in the road ahead". I would wager that the unofficial version outweighs the official 10 to 1.

The only danger with flashing someone to give way is when there is potential for it to cause a conflict with other vehicles, for example a cyclist on your left. For that reason I always check my mirrors and slow to allow someone to cross in front of me rather than flashing them. Most people figure it out but don't completely disengage their own perception.

It seems like it should be illegal (and also partly suicidal) to go into the opposing lane in a situation where you cannot see if there is an approaching car. You're relying on someone in an opposing lane hearing and understanding your horn, for relatively little gain, and potentially fatal results.

Any situation where you can do everything 'perfectly' and you have a significant chance of dying or killing someone because someone else doesn't notice is a good situation to avoid.

If you hit someone's car under these circumstances it would be criminally negligent in my opinion.

These roads don't really have "lanes", it's more of a squeeze past each other kind of thing if you hear a returned honk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjPZhLiozAg

Being Italy, of course they do race cars down these roads :)

Hazard lights (both indicators): Used in yellow zone, both to confirm to the marshals that the driver has seen the yellow flag. For drivers behind it is extra indication that yellow zone is ahead.

Indicate to the right: Acknowledge the faster driver behind you, indicating it is safe to pass. Also to acknowledge to marshal that the blue flag was observed.

Indicate to the left: Indicate to car in front that you are faster, please let me pass (same as blue flag by marshal). Obviously not used in competitive racing, but very useful recreational for track driving.

High-beams are sometimes flashed to thank/acknowledge marshal on a flag signal.

While actual race cars don't have turn indicators, actual headlights are common in some racing classes (especially for endurance racing), and multi-class races are common (where multiple different categories of cars are racing on the same track, often with _very_ different top speeds). Flashing headlights is a common way for a faster car behind to indicate to the slower class of car ahead that they're coming.

I have driven in France loads and have literally never reached a police roadblock or radar trap without being warned by a vehicle coming the other way.

Motorcyclists do usually wave at each other, or sometimes point at the road with a foot or two fingers, just as a greeting.

The one I do see (in the USA anyway) is flashing your high beams to let a semi truck know they have space to merge in front of you (eg after passing). They usually tap their brake lights a couple times to signal thanks after merging.

Other motorcyclist signs are sticking the left leg out to say thanks, holding your hand out and rapidly opening/closing it to say "you've left your indicator on", and pointing at dangerous spots on the ground like potholes, gravel, or other unseen hazards.

Here in NZ will honk (or even call police) if you drive middle of the road - visibility behind corners isn’t great and tourists often confuse where they should drive. Whereas it’s fairly common to drive in the middle in Lithuania - sometimes it has better road surface.

It seems to me people haven't realised the behaviour displayed in their part of the world isn't as unique or quaint as they think it is!

I drive on a twisty road like that often, and I'd collect a cyclist every month if I did that.

Okay, that experience (dogs, theft and dead cyclists) was actually in Sicily, not north Italy, which is very different in many ways, except for the driving.

Flashing warning lights for thanks is also common in Poland.

Those behaviours are common in Ireland too

And self driving cars too, if they wish to reach full autonomy everywhere. But since currently they can barely keep themselves from crashing into obvious obstacles on the highway without human intervention, I think their prime-time is further into the distant future than pioneers like Elon would like to admit as I can't imagine they'd be able to handle the roads in Italy/Paris by themselves without an accident any time soon.

In India, the truck drivers blink right to tell you its safe (or want you) to overtake from right and they blink left if it's safe (or they want you) to overtake from the left.

Makes highway driving very confusing since a blinking left truck on highway means the exact opposite of city driving (YOU can go left vs I am going left).

yeah, self driving car is not coming anytime soon to India.

A headlight flashes to incoming driver is saying, I see you want to overtake, don't, let me pass first.

A honk at sharp turns on going uphill, telling opposite traffic that I am heavy, cant afford to stop & then start, you give me way if required. There, there is a text painted (officially or informally) "Honk" or "Horn Please"

I remember seeing a few of these (though never in use) when traveling in a country that still had a lot of old ladas - so i'm not sure it was only on trucks.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_lighting#Rear_overt...

There's a similar custom in South Korea, where the warning lights are often used as a "thank you" if somebody lets you cut in front of them.

Not in USA though.

As someone who grew up in a rural area, honking before going around turns on small roads or crossing single-lane bridges you couldn’t see the other side of was something we did regularly to avoid being hit.

I don’t experience this as much in larger cities though.

I've never found this in rural Indiana, but I wish it were common practice. I've found people often simply assume no one is coming because there are so few cars on the back roads; very nearly experienced a head-on collision approaching one curve a few years ago.

Does making the very tight turn faster get one home much quicker? Why not just slow down?

Tourists are generally advised to pick up on local customs. I used to live in Amsterdam. Cyclists expect pedestrians to hear the bell ring once and get the hell out of the fietspad. If you don't, you will get hit.

> Does making the very tight turn faster get one home much quicker?

In Italian Alps where you spend half the time turning? You bet!

> Why not just slow down?

Have you met many Italians? :)

You'd probably use the warning lights for this in Germany. At least with truck drivers this is a common thing.

This was common in Puerto Rico when I visited.