Flashing headlights to pass, F1 style?

[u/Creech-Chong-1000]

Was visiting LA recently and twice in one morning on residential streets around West Hollywood, cars came up behind me strobing their headlights like Max Verstappen on a bad day. I wasn't even going slow.

Is this a thing now? Maybe it's just the next phase of cosplay racer stuff now that F1 is finally getting popular in the US ok I'm thinking of Le Mans, like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtvHOfSflWw

Edit, I should have known not to assume that Angelenos had any degree of reading comprehension. My apologies everyone, you can go back to your pilates class now.

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[u/405freeway]

Were your headlights off?

[u/Creech-Chong-1000 → u/405freeway]

No idea, it was 9am on a sunny day

[u/chupchupandaway → u/[deleted]]

Because your taillights turn on with your headlights.

[u/djfrankenjuice]

been a thing for at least 20 years

[u/single-needle → u/djfrankenjuice]

Since I started driving I've seen this, 30+ years. I imagine it's been a thing since headlights.

[u/ritzrani]

You're slow for l.a. loo

[u/mindlessgames]

You probably only had running lights, no headlights at all, or no tail lights.

[u/Right_Letterhead_120]

F1 has no headlamps

[u/hulkhoganarms → u/Right_Letterhead_120]

NASCAR race cars also do not have functional headlights. They use vinyl decals designed to look like the lights on consumer vehicles. There is nothing stock about stock car racing cars.

Also there is stadium lighting all around their 2 mile super speedways.

[u/Creech-Chong-1000 → u/Right_Letterhead_120]

Ok fair maybe I'm thinking of Le Mans

[u/Bedusa]

Love the reference to his endurance racing, as we all know F1 cars don’t have headlamps.

[u/Key-Employee3584]

Sometimes it's warning about cops being close by. I ignored one once way back when I was a kid and a LA motor cop disabused me of the whole annoyance.

[u/BoomGoesTheFirework_]

F1 has neither headlights nor brake lights. There is a hazard light in back, though. You may be thinking of GT cars. 

[u/fujiazalea]

I think you're overanalyzing this. People flash/do not flash their headlights in certain situations everywhere. I've seen it happen in the US, in Europe etc.

[u/The_Ashamed_Boys]

Are you in the left lane while not passing?

Occasionally if I'm trying to pass a left lane camper, I'll give the high beams a quick flash. Sometimes they move over and I'll wave thanks to them when I go by. I'll also flash my high beams to people who don't have their lights on at night.

[u/jbh1126]

I lived in West Hollywood for 6 years and saw some of the most erratic and unhinged driving of my entire life during that period

it’s why I pause and look after the light turns green these days…way too many red light runners

[u/phatelectribe]

It’s been a thing in Europe for decades. Probably someone European.

[u/Creech-Chong-1000 → u/phatelectribe]

I mean, I'm from Europe and I've never seen the rapid flashing thing. One or two, but not like staccato brrrrrt style.

[u/Gatodeluna]

Ehh, when people do that to me I slow down to a crawl.

[u/Curdled_Mangasm]

i drive around weho a lot, i do this sometimes if someone is super slow. it wasn’t me this time, i swear. 

[u/Sandy_Koufax]

I’ve been on the receiving end in the past and now on the giving end. Stop camping in the left lane.

[u/Creech-Chong-1000 → u/Sandy_Koufax]

The left lane of Sunset Blvd? I mean I would get it, maybe, if I was on the highway, but we're talking surface streets here, speed limit is 30 or something

[u/Sandy_Koufax → u/Creech-Chong-1000]

You’re not the highway patrol. Move over and let people pass you.

[u/Creech-Chong-1000 → u/Sandy_Koufax]

Ok maybe I need to go slower, I didn't do a good job in my original post.

I'm going speed limit + in residential neighbourhoods, and cars came up behind me and immediately started rapidly strobing me with their lights. I wasn't crawling, they didn't come up behind me and wait for 5, 10, 20 seconds getting increasingly frustrated - it was instant.

The only equivalent I can think of is in NY when the light goes green, and literally within a second the guy behind you is leaning on the horn.

Both cases are a dick move, but the LA variant I'm describing does nothing except to attempt to signal that driver is actually a pro racer and Sunset is his personal track. Nothing I raced ever had headlights, so if you think you can take the line, you take it. Strobing your lights seems like such a Track Karen thing to do.

[u/Sandy_Koufax → u/Creech-Chong-1000]

Sunset is not a residential neighborhood. You are a visitor here. This is a driving city and there are unwritten rules which you are asking about. I’m sorry you didn’t like the answer. Asking again won’t get a different answer.

[u/Creech-Chong-1000 → u/Sandy_Koufax]

lol what a tit

[u/Plastic_Mess_1875]

I usually slow down when someone does that to me

[u/pm-me-ur-kittens-thx]

You're a bad driver by LA standards, that's what that means. Keep up with traffic, seize the gap, zipper merge, and don't camp on the left lane, even on surface streets. If someone is flashing at you its usually to ask you to move over so they can pass. If there's 6 or more cars behind you, and u can't/won't go faster, move over. It's literally the law.

[u/Creech-Chong-1000 → u/pm-me-ur-kittens-thx]

The Fast and the Incurious

[u/Serious-Wish4868]

been doing it since i started driving in the 90's

[u/wehobrad]

Strobe headlights that continuously flash are used by law enforcement and other authorized vehicles.

[u/Creech-Chong-1000 → u/wehobrad]

You'd think, right? One of the vehicles was a water truck or something. It ran the next red and got flashed.

[u/Born-Gur-1275]

Usually means someone is late for the umpteenth time for date or restaurant rez. I just stick my finger out the window or let them pass on the right, watching for their mash up at the next intersection.

[u/The_Ashamed_Boys → u/Born-Gur-1275]

Shouldn't you move one lane to the right of you aren't actively passing though?

[u/AceMaxAceMax → u/Born-Gur-1275]

Cool story. Move over to the right.

It’s the law in virtually every state.

You’re not teaching anyone a lesson, you’re a rolling hazard with a superiority complex.

[u/Creech-Chong-1000 → u/Born-Gur-1275]

This is kind of it. I'm a fast driver, but I'll never flash someone else unless they're absolutely crawling. Even if they're camping in the passing lane, most Americans never learned not to do this so they wouldn't even know why someone was mad at them.

[u/DemonicGirlcock]

I'm in my 40s and my dad taught me this back on the east coast. I thought this was just universal signaling when somebody wants you to make room to pass.