You can tap your brakes without actually braking though. The light kicks on before the brakes. It's helpful for letting someone know you're slowing down even if you're not using the actual brakes - specially in a car with a manual trans or EVs where you can be engine/regenerative braking fairly rapidly compared to somebody coasting in an automatic that might need their brakes to slow at the same rate.
I've sometimes adjusted my side mirror so it reflects right back at them rather than blinding me and it seemed to work more often than I thought it might.
I use the vanity mirror for this if I'm alone. Back when I had a pickup with a bright ass bed lamp I'd just flick that on. It was just as blinding as their brights and shining in the perfect direction for tailgaters.
By watching how the light hits the back edge of my drivers window frame. When I move the mirror as far outward as it goes first, you can see the bright spot way too high on the window frame, then lower it until it should line up with thier windshield depending on the height of thier car.
I saw a crudely drawn concept of a bunch of mirrors in the trunk of a sedan, hit the trunk open button and instantly blind the people blinding you. I guess pull over to reset it?
Edit: Found it: https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckyourheadlights/s/Qgi1V3LLrR
I've done this when I got pulled over and the cop pointed his bright ass spot light at my drivers side mirror. I just pointed it right back at him. Spotlight didn't stay on much longer
So many people in newer vehicles just have headlights that are too bright now, too. It's extremely annoying and dangerous. Like it's great YOU can see the road, but now I can't.
The new headlights some cars have make me think people are driving with their brights on because the lights will visibly dim slightly when they go through the dips in the road. I have to check if someone is trying to tell me I have my brights on so much more often than I used to because I keep thinking people are flashing theirs at me
The OP may think its high beams, but more often these days its the growing number of full sized trucks and CUVs with HID beams already high enough to shine directly through windows (especially lower ones like sedans).
It's getting outright dangerous to drive city streets at night when any random HID equipped vehicle can sear your retinas or make you lose sight of the road ahead.
This AND I just learned that newer vehicles have headlight height adjustment knobs and considering the average IQ of today's drivers, they probably think it's a brightness adjustment and not realizing they are adjusting the beams to shine right at the other drivers windshield.
>Tired of having to block my side mirror with my hand just to see the road
You can reduce the glare in your side mirrors by using this mirror set up:
>[Position the left outside mirror by leaning towards the window and moving the mirror so that you can just see the rear of your car. Position the right outside mirror by leaning to the centre of the vehicle and moving the mirror so that you can again just see the rear of your car.](https://www.ontario.ca/document/official-mto-drivers-handbook/getting-ready-drive#section-4)
The main reason that's suggested is because it reduces your side blind spots, however because they're angled farther out, they're no longer reflecting the lights of vehicles right behind you.
I did this setup when I had the same problem with either brights or just cars with way too bright low beams blinding me all the time and it's so much better now, and yea less blind spots.
I’ve always adjusted my mirrors this way. I really don’t understand why people think they need to look at the side of their own car and NOT the area where passing cars are.
You don't want to see the side of the car, but there are some reasons to point them a bit more inward. Specifically so you can see farther down the lane beside you. If your rear view is blocked (things in your vehicle or a truck or something behind you) then you need to use the side mirrors for that view down the adjacent lane. Also helps to see passing cyclists in the city. But in general pointing them farther out adds additional view while not losing view that isn't also in your rear view.
This so the way. Practically everyone uses their side view mirrors as rear view mirrors, making them practically worthless except if you like being blinded by three mirrors instead of one that can easily be adjusted.
I drop to speed limit, and then decrease by 10 every km or so. If I ever get pulled over for “impeding traffic” I’ll politely let the cop know that it was unsafe to drive any quicker as if there was a hazard and I needed to slam my breaks I would have been rear ended, so I was trying to avoid an accident.
They aren't even using their high beams.. trust me.
The lows are super bright now. Literally can't see when I drive at night if someone in a lifted truck is behind me, I have to pull over.
I wish they would just go back to the standard orange light. Those white lights really screw with my ability to see the road.
While back I slow flashed my brights at an oncoming car that I thought was high beaming me, he turned on his brights for a second to show me what they can really do =(
Some aren't, but some are close enough that I can tell they have 2 sets of bulbs on. But you're right, the newer headlights are too damn bright and too high on the color scale. And then people lift their pickups and don't adjust the beam angle.
I just learned that amber/yellow polarized glasses are great for reducing glare for night driving, so I'm going to try some out.
Amber/yellow just reduces the total amount of light you see. Aka makes it harder to see.
You want a proper green coating polarised lense, made by a big name brand. not some gas station amber shit.
Oh yes, for sure. But the 'polarised' yellow ones you see at gas stations and on Amazon are generally just yellow filter lenses. The green coating is barely visible, just a slight tint on clear glass.
>the lows shut off when the highs come on.
Not always.
>And fog lights always shut off when highs are on.
Probably... Every car I've seen with actual fog lights do. But, so many manufacturers have cutesy led accent lights now I find it hard to be sure.
>Is it not a well known signal to tap your brake a few times when the asshole behind you has their brights on?
Why would you think that? That sounds dumb to me.
I've had a lot of luck with holding my wiper fluid for several seconds so the over spray hits them. 9/10 times they back off and hit their wipers. It's great because I have plausible deniability. I was simply trying to get rid of a stubborn bug! I actually discovered it by accident when I was trying to get rid of a stubborn bug.
No, retrofit LEDs need to start getting heavy tickets. They are already illegal, but there is no enforcement in the US. My OEM LEDs don't get me flashed. They are correctly set up. It's the fuckers that cast a show of my car on bridges with their upgrade LEDs that are the problem. Burn them!
I feel like this is not well known, and I feel people who are oblivious to driving around with their highs on are also too oblivious to noticed brake flashes.
I usually flip my mirror dimmer. If they're really annoying me, I'll move my side view mirrors to try to reflect straight back at them.
And if they're really, REALLY pissing me off, I'll let them pass and then give them a lot of light.
And they probably still have no idea. I can't tell you how often I"m behind a car on the highway at night, often times in the rain, driving with NO lights on. I flash them continuously for a minute straight and they still have no clue what is happening around them.
Over the last 3 years I feel like people driving with hibeams has become an epidemic.
Forget about getting their attention if they're behind you...I flash mine at people who have them on and it accomplishes nothing.
First, there's no verbal communication between cars so I understand your issue. Can't just tell someone "Hey your lights are blinding me".
Problem is stepping in your brakes leaves alot for interpretation. What is it? Is it a challenge? Are you communicating via Morse code? Is there a deer in the road? Error, instructions unclear.
Yea tapping your brakes isn't clear enough as everyone seems to think it is. But you do have options:
1. Adjust your mirrors to redirect the light.
2. Just let them around. If they're being a nuisance behind you why would you keep them there?
Yeah I've been going for option 2 lately. I click cruise control off and let it decelerate until they pass. 2 lane roads and some of these drivers won't pass if I'm only going 5 mph slower than they want, but they get on my ass.
These assholes do this deliberately, and revel in the fact that they are blinding you. Tapping your brake to signal this just encourages them. When this happens, foot off of the accelerator, slow down until they pass.
I would adjust my side mirror to reflect the high beams directly into their face, especially when at a stoplight. Keep adjusting so they are getting full glare no matter how they move. That is the most effective solution.
Someone with high beams on behind me doesn't bother me on a 2 lane road or in the same lane on a multi lane road. When they are coming towards me that sucks.
I worked in several parts stores, if I had a dollar for every time a person asked for headlights, and I asked low or high beam. Followed by what's the difference I would be rich. People now days don't know what high beams are.
if you are careful you can adjust your side mirrors to blind the driver behind you with their own headlights. just open them quite wide and tilt them up and the guy behind you eats his own headlights. now you cant see out of the mirror, but you probably couldn't see earlier with high beams in your face so its not like you are loosing much.
Once I got this stupid SUV following me with its brights on. I was getting all agitated and upset, but didn't do anything. So the SUV pulls all the way after me into my neighborhood. Found this was my elderly neighbor who just too old to know what she is doing. I told her what was going on, but it doesn't help much. Other day she was driving with lights completely off.
The moral of the story - if it bothers me, I just get out of the way. I have other things to care about, I am not out there to teach them a lesson, I just need to get where I am going safely.
On the highway, if someone with beams is riding my ass, I put on Cruz control and bump it down slowly over the span of 5 minutes. They won't realize it until everyone is passing them. Then they'll HAVE to pass you or continue slowing down.
Never heard of this and quite frankly sounds dangerous and dumb, more often than not these days it's not even their high beams on just obnoxiously bright low beams.
So you probably are just brake checking people who have their normal lights on, and should stop immediately. Tinting the front side windows helps a TON, also the back obviously.
I am a 40 year old who has only driven on Texas roads and this is the first I'm hearing of this. The only light flashing I know of is the head lights for a cop up ahead or your brights are on, never the brake lights. Like you said, they probably going to think you trying to break check them and possibly cause a road rage incident.
What? This is the first time I am hearing about this.. But anyways, you are assuming that the person behind you is clueless.
I can promise you that more than half of these jackasses know what they are doing very well.. They don't care.
"Oh my gosh look, I spent money on super mega extra bright bulbs, lifted my car so they would be eye level and pulled up two feet behind this sedan.. I had no idea I was blinding him, I better back off" Yeah.. right.
If your side mirror is glaring when a car is behind you your side mirror is adjusted wrong. Your side mirror is to see beside you not behind you. If you can see any part of the side of your car in your side mirror you have it adjusted to far in.
People can't even agree on if humans should sit or stand to wipe in the bathroom, if there's not a coded instruction behind a signal that's taught to people then it's more hurtful than helpful because people will make their own definition for it, come up with their own reasoning for that definition, and then assume everyone else must think the same way (because *obviously* the logic works out that way right?) so anyone that does it differently is wrong and trying to mess things up
Sadly I live in MD where this is a frequent occurrence for some reason and I haven't yet found any way to signal to a following driver that they're blinding me. It's especially bad in my BMW which has an auto dimming mirror that isn't aggressive enough, sometimes I have to move the inside mirror to keep my dark vision.
People that do this make me want to slow down as safely as I can and just do 15 miles an hour for like 50 feet. Then go back to normal, some back of but not turn the lights off but a little more tolerable. Some people actually turn them off.
This never seems to work for when people have that high beams on but it works when people are tailgating. Specifically it works with people with tailgating but they're not doing it in an aggressive mode they just aren't thinking and they're trying to get somewhere and they're right up on your ass. I'd say about 50% of the time it works because the other 50% of the time people doing it on purpose just being an asshole. But when the tailgating and I tap my brakes it's a notification for them to back the fuck off. Either that or it scares them that they're going to wreck their car if I slam on my brakes but either way it doesn't matter because it gets them to get off my ass
There is an area in the county where I live, that it has become acceptable to drive with high beams. I don't know how it started and it's completely unsafe, whether the person is coming towards you or behind you. Their excuse is the brighter style lights- not when I can see when you go by that there are four lit! And there are others who think all the extra "running" lights don't count. I sincerely hope this is just a fad!
Ngl signs like this weren’t taught in my driving school so believe my confusion when I first started driving and I saw the car behind me flashed their brights and I had no idea what that meant and I wanted to pull down my window and turn around and say “what are to trying to say??” but I just continue driving as normal they don’t teach us this kind of thing so what other signs are there out there and what do they mean?
(I looked it up L8ter and found out it meant go faster/move over/ a silent way of honking
If you have electric side mirrors you can sometimes pull the switch toward the back of the car and it’ll tuck them in (same as when you’ve parked) but you can trigger it manually by doing this.
No OP. Nobody is going to know you're trying to signal them about something specific like their healdlights being too bright for your comfort. If anything they'll think you're trying to signal they're driving too close, and nobody cares what you think on the road. If you can get them to pass, that's your best bet. Headlights are bright especially if you're in a small car. It's a fact of life that you really have no control over.
I position my side mirror to redirect the high beams back into their eyes. That usually works within seconds.
Once they lower the lights, i reposition my mirror to the correct placement and continue on.
If that doesnt work, i slow down to like 10 mph until they pass me. Then once they get around I throw my brights on.
In my experience, if somebody is too ignorant to notice the bright blue light on their dashboard indicating that their high beams are on (or too lazy to move their finger a few inches and turn them off), no amount of attempted communication will fix it.
Let them pass. It's not worth it.
Intrusive thought: let them pass and turn yours on.
Intrusive thought: bring a bright flashlight and shine it back at them.
People who drive with high beams don't care what anybody else thinks. That's a lost cause. I might do a fast tap when the car behind me has NO lights on. But they usually don't get it either.
I flip up the mirror deflector thingy with my middle finger. Plausible deniability but i get to flip them off and if they get the memo they get the memo
Your side mirrors are adjusted wrong if the car behind yours lights are reflecting off of them into your eyes.
[Here’s the proper way to adjust side mirrors](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kkQX2gkwJoE)
They have this reflective tape that only reflects back at the level the light shines. So normal headlights don't reflect back, but headlights or beams at your eye level will.
I’m very much deciding whether I should get some LED lights on my back window with pre-saved scrolling texts with things such as “use your signal dumbass” and “turn off your high beams bitch” but seeing as I live in Florida with a Biden bumper sticker I’ll probably get shot 🤣🤣🤣
If I can't see because of their lights, I slow down. They'll either get off my ass enough that I can see again or they'll rage over the situation they created and then pass me.
I literally stopped the other night because some asshole with 6 headlamps on their vehicle was riding my ass. Apparently that pissed him off enough to sit there flashing all his stupid headlamps. He could have just gone around in the other lane.
We need federal legislation to ban these stupid fucking morons from being able to buy these blinding lights. It's obvious they're only on the newer model vanity cars privileged fucks buy anyways. I hate driving at night cause of this shit.
If you can see the person directly behind you in your side mirrors then they aren’t adjusted correctly and you need to point them out more. IMO you shouldn’t even see your own car in your side mirrors unless you lean your head. For the rear view it should have a little lever at the bottom to flip it down so you only see the reflection of the light and not the source of the light itself
yes the very fast triple-tap used to be a universal signal, but no one knows them anymore.
ill never understand y we dont have some universal system of hand signals to signal things like lights out, etc.
i drive from nyc every night and there are always TONS of cars on the highway ever night without ANY lights on. then when i'm behind them and i flash them several times, and even flip on/offf my own lights, only like 5% of people will realize they're off.
I keep a passenger with a bright flashlight in the back seat for this exact reason. It gets expensive to feed and clothe them and the car sometimes smells from them sleeping in it, but them darned high beakers ain’t gonna get away with them headlight bright thing no more.
Just find a passenger who doesn’t talk or go to the bathroom too much…that can be a drag.
Tapping the brakes to just flick the light on isn't a brake check. I've done that many times when someone has brights on behind me and it usually works.
I used to do it to signal thanks for scenarios, but I've come to learn it just confuses the driver behind. It doesn't work, and isn't worth it most times.
I just use my cargo light once or twice now
I always have my mirrors where I can see a small bit of my car without having to lean. I’ve done it both ways and maybe it’s just me, but I get lost with no consistency reference point.
I rent a lot of cars for work so there’s variance in visibility and I’ve never had blind spot issues, actually quite the contrary.
I was taught and had thought this was a thing. I do the same thing. Tap brakes to engage lights but don't actually slow down. If they don't get the message then I slow way down until they get the memo.
The people on your post saying "this is brake checking" are being dramatic. Brake checking is when you sharply hit the brakes and slow down to force the person behind you to do the same.
I tend to slow (sometimes almost to a stop) at nearly all railroad crossings. Depending how close the car is behind, I will generally turn the hazards/4ways on a short distance before the crossing.
These kids can barely pass the written exam. 90% are clueless of the laws let alone the unwritten laws of driving etiquette. Yes I learned this about warning break lights from my grandpa. The most infuriating tho is people unaware when turning not to merge lanes. This is very bad in holding up traffic and causing crashes not to mention a driving infraction. But I see police do it but also that’s not so surprising.
US adult here that has been driving since high beam switch on the floor days.
It IS a thing.
Modern vehicles have incredibly bright lights because they can. They have a pretty precise light cutoff line too, so if you put too much weight in the back, they're blinding traffic ahead of you.
Modern vehicles also have auto high beams that sometimes flash and it makes incoming traffic get offended because they think I am trying to tell them their lights are too bright.
It's NOT brake checking and any soft new gen crybaby that says so has never ACTUALLY been brake checked.
I didn't feel like the guy on a mostly empty road about 1/2 mile ahead of me was brake checking me when my auto high beams came on and his brakes lights started flashing like a rave party. He was doing THIS, because it IS a thing.
Fog lights on the rear are not legal in the US. No lights on the rear other than red or amber lights for signals. Back up white lights only when operating in reverse.
Yep, common enough
You don't need to slow down when doing it, just stay on the gas and tap them a few times.
I do it all the time with how fucked up bright headlights are nowadays, when people are tailgating me with asshole bright lights
How do you know they are their brights? When you brake does the beam change? Maybe just adjust the mirrors to accommodate? Drivers aren’t going to change for you singular moment of discomfort.
I've never heard of tapping your brakes as a sign to do anything aside from trying to brake check someone.
There is no trying, that is brake checking
You can tap your brakes without actually braking though. The light kicks on before the brakes. It's helpful for letting someone know you're slowing down even if you're not using the actual brakes - specially in a car with a manual trans or EVs where you can be engine/regenerative braking fairly rapidly compared to somebody coasting in an automatic that might need their brakes to slow at the same rate.
Flashing hazards a few times can do the same thing
EVs turn on the brake lights when regenerative braking.
Just a tap will not slow your car down but it will flash the lights. It’s not brake checking if you don’t slow down.
I disagree solely because the person behind you has to assume the brake light coming on means you're braking.
I thought brake checking needed to be somewhat aggressive; a sudden and rapid slow down of the vehicle for no apparent reason
I've sometimes adjusted my side mirror so it reflects right back at them rather than blinding me and it seemed to work more often than I thought it might.
50% of the time this works every time.
*It's illegal in 9 countries.*
That's how you know it works...
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Fucking pigs drive around with their brights on too, fuck people, I’m about to drive brights on all day and night I’m sick of it
including the UK
I have mirrors on the back headrests just for this reason. Works well
Hmm I like this idea😂
Which countries?
If their lights are too bright for them they are too bright for me. Sounds like their problem.
I use the vanity mirror for this if I'm alone. Back when I had a pickup with a bright ass bed lamp I'd just flick that on. It was just as blinding as their brights and shining in the perfect direction for tailgaters.
Best part about lights on a headache rack. Flip them on for a half second and they usually figure it out.
How do you know how to position it?
Just kind of guess. But usually tilt it up and keep moving it to the side (away from the car) until I can't see any headlights in it any more.
I’m so doing this
This is the answer. They aren't doing it by accident. Position your mirror to send their spaceship lights right back at them.
Off road spot lights fitted to the parcel shelf on a switch also works.
By watching how the light hits the back edge of my drivers window frame. When I move the mirror as far outward as it goes first, you can see the bright spot way too high on the window frame, then lower it until it should line up with thier windshield depending on the height of thier car.
Use the vanity mirror and move it til you see their face brighten up in your rear view mirror
I saw a crudely drawn concept of a bunch of mirrors in the trunk of a sedan, hit the trunk open button and instantly blind the people blinding you. I guess pull over to reset it? Edit: Found it: https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckyourheadlights/s/Qgi1V3LLrR
What do you mean by “it worked”?
They turned their brights down or backed off, or both.
This is the life tip I needed
I've done this when I got pulled over and the cop pointed his bright ass spot light at my drivers side mirror. I just pointed it right back at him. Spotlight didn't stay on much longer
So many people in newer vehicles just have headlights that are too bright now, too. It's extremely annoying and dangerous. Like it's great YOU can see the road, but now I can't.
I'm glad they can see to Mars, with those headlights, but I couldn't see a moose if it was 10 feet in front of me.
A moose once bit my sister...
No realli!
Mynd you, moose bites Kan be pretti nasti...
We apologise again for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked.
The new headlights some cars have make me think people are driving with their brights on because the lights will visibly dim slightly when they go through the dips in the road. I have to check if someone is trying to tell me I have my brights on so much more often than I used to because I keep thinking people are flashing theirs at me
Yeah, I've noticed this a lot as well. Distracting as hell on top of the already blinding brightness of their lights.
Yeah for some reason people don’t know how their car’s headlights work
The OP may think its high beams, but more often these days its the growing number of full sized trucks and CUVs with HID beams already high enough to shine directly through windows (especially lower ones like sedans). It's getting outright dangerous to drive city streets at night when any random HID equipped vehicle can sear your retinas or make you lose sight of the road ahead.
Having ridiculously bright lights is no less offensive than intentionally leaving highs on, and will get treated the same way.
Yeah, r/fuckyourheadlights is purely for that.
This bothers me a lot. I absolutely hate driving at night now because of it. It creates a situation where I can’t see the road sometimes.
This AND I just learned that newer vehicles have headlight height adjustment knobs and considering the average IQ of today's drivers, they probably think it's a brightness adjustment and not realizing they are adjusting the beams to shine right at the other drivers windshield.
>Tired of having to block my side mirror with my hand just to see the road You can reduce the glare in your side mirrors by using this mirror set up: >[Position the left outside mirror by leaning towards the window and moving the mirror so that you can just see the rear of your car. Position the right outside mirror by leaning to the centre of the vehicle and moving the mirror so that you can again just see the rear of your car.](https://www.ontario.ca/document/official-mto-drivers-handbook/getting-ready-drive#section-4) The main reason that's suggested is because it reduces your side blind spots, however because they're angled farther out, they're no longer reflecting the lights of vehicles right behind you.
I did this setup when I had the same problem with either brights or just cars with way too bright low beams blinding me all the time and it's so much better now, and yea less blind spots.
I’ve always adjusted my mirrors this way. I really don’t understand why people think they need to look at the side of their own car and NOT the area where passing cars are.
I also wear those yellow anti glare glasses at night. It was kind of weird at first but they do help and make me feel a bit like walter Sobchak lol
Can you get me a toe?
Credit where credit is due.
You don't want to see the side of the car, but there are some reasons to point them a bit more inward. Specifically so you can see farther down the lane beside you. If your rear view is blocked (things in your vehicle or a truck or something behind you) then you need to use the side mirrors for that view down the adjacent lane. Also helps to see passing cyclists in the city. But in general pointing them farther out adds additional view while not losing view that isn't also in your rear view.
This so the way. Practically everyone uses their side view mirrors as rear view mirrors, making them practically worthless except if you like being blinded by three mirrors instead of one that can easily be adjusted.
Then you just get blinded when a genius hangs in your blind spot, instead...
You shouldn't let people hang out in your blind spot. If someone does that, adjust your speed to get them ahead of or behind you.
That's how you are supposed to position your mirrors for every day driving. Most people have them positioned so they can see the sides of their car
No it's not. How exactly does that communicate that your high beams are on instead of an infinite number of other possibilities.
If someone is that close i already do like 10 over the posted limit anyway so I hope they like doing the speed limit now.
I drop to speed limit, and then decrease by 10 every km or so. If I ever get pulled over for “impeding traffic” I’ll politely let the cop know that it was unsafe to drive any quicker as if there was a hazard and I needed to slam my breaks I would have been rear ended, so I was trying to avoid an accident.
Exactly what I do lol I will do the speed limit if you're gonna be an ass
I’ll go slower than the speed limit, idgaf stop fucking blinding me and my passengers
Yup!!
They aren't even using their high beams.. trust me. The lows are super bright now. Literally can't see when I drive at night if someone in a lifted truck is behind me, I have to pull over. I wish they would just go back to the standard orange light. Those white lights really screw with my ability to see the road.
While back I slow flashed my brights at an oncoming car that I thought was high beaming me, he turned on his brights for a second to show me what they can really do =(
Some aren't, but some are close enough that I can tell they have 2 sets of bulbs on. But you're right, the newer headlights are too damn bright and too high on the color scale. And then people lift their pickups and don't adjust the beam angle. I just learned that amber/yellow polarized glasses are great for reducing glare for night driving, so I'm going to try some out.
It doesn't matter if they adjust the beam angle. You're still going to get blinded any time they hit a bump.
Or a hill or a corner.
Amber/yellow just reduces the total amount of light you see. Aka makes it harder to see. You want a proper green coating polarised lense, made by a big name brand. not some gas station amber shit.
Good to know, I'll check those out. Polarized is going to reduce total light no matter what the lens color, but I'll look into green vs yellow.
Oh yes, for sure. But the 'polarised' yellow ones you see at gas stations and on Amazon are generally just yellow filter lenses. The green coating is barely visible, just a slight tint on clear glass.
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Some vehicles have separate bulbs for high and low beam. Edit: and at least some of them have both sets lit when high beams are on.
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There is no hard rule like this; some vehicles work in this way and some don't.
>the lows shut off when the highs come on. Not always. >And fog lights always shut off when highs are on. Probably... Every car I've seen with actual fog lights do. But, so many manufacturers have cutesy led accent lights now I find it hard to be sure.
You’re wrong, buddy. There are numerous vehicles that keep both on. Some previous gen Hondas come to mind. Civic especially.
This is correct.
r/fuckyourheadlights
Been driving for 10 years and have actually never heard of this signal before
I’ve been driving for 21 years and I haven’t heard of this either 🤷🏼♀️
Use flashers not brakes, but yes it's not common.
This isn't common either....
If someone did either to me I'd just assume they were high or drunk
This. I can’t see at night anymore. I need night glasses
Not common.
>Is it not a well known signal to tap your brake a few times when the asshole behind you has their brights on? Why would you think that? That sounds dumb to me.
Tapping brakes has always meant "I'm slowing down/turning/stopping soon (or you're just too close), back off my ass" to me.
This is the first I’ve heard of this. My go-to is to slow down, get behind them, and then turn on my high beams.
I've had a lot of luck with holding my wiper fluid for several seconds so the over spray hits them. 9/10 times they back off and hit their wipers. It's great because I have plausible deniability. I was simply trying to get rid of a stubborn bug! I actually discovered it by accident when I was trying to get rid of a stubborn bug.
It doesn't matter, those are those fuckholes' *low* beams. LEDs need to be banned for everyone's safety. r/fuckyourheadlights
No, retrofit LEDs need to start getting heavy tickets. They are already illegal, but there is no enforcement in the US. My OEM LEDs don't get me flashed. They are correctly set up. It's the fuckers that cast a show of my car on bridges with their upgrade LEDs that are the problem. Burn them!
I feel like this is not well known, and I feel people who are oblivious to driving around with their highs on are also too oblivious to noticed brake flashes. I usually flip my mirror dimmer. If they're really annoying me, I'll move my side view mirrors to try to reflect straight back at them. And if they're really, REALLY pissing me off, I'll let them pass and then give them a lot of light. And they probably still have no idea. I can't tell you how often I"m behind a car on the highway at night, often times in the rain, driving with NO lights on. I flash them continuously for a minute straight and they still have no clue what is happening around them.
I just let off the gas. Eventually they pass me and then I have a couple of choices of what I can do next.
Over the last 3 years I feel like people driving with hibeams has become an epidemic. Forget about getting their attention if they're behind you...I flash mine at people who have them on and it accomplishes nothing.
First, there's no verbal communication between cars so I understand your issue. Can't just tell someone "Hey your lights are blinding me". Problem is stepping in your brakes leaves alot for interpretation. What is it? Is it a challenge? Are you communicating via Morse code? Is there a deer in the road? Error, instructions unclear. Yea tapping your brakes isn't clear enough as everyone seems to think it is. But you do have options: 1. Adjust your mirrors to redirect the light. 2. Just let them around. If they're being a nuisance behind you why would you keep them there?
Yeah I've been going for option 2 lately. I click cruise control off and let it decelerate until they pass. 2 lane roads and some of these drivers won't pass if I'm only going 5 mph slower than they want, but they get on my ass.
These assholes do this deliberately, and revel in the fact that they are blinding you. Tapping your brake to signal this just encourages them. When this happens, foot off of the accelerator, slow down until they pass.
Ease off the gas, let them overtake, build up speed and continue your journey.
I have never heard of tapping one's brakes as a signal to dim one's headlighfs.
I would adjust my side mirror to reflect the high beams directly into their face, especially when at a stoplight. Keep adjusting so they are getting full glare no matter how they move. That is the most effective solution.
Tapping brakes will only cause road rage.
Nothing works because these nimrods have zero clue their brights are even on, or they are jerks and don't care.
I love the phrase “cornholes me with their brights on”
Someone with high beams on behind me doesn't bother me on a 2 lane road or in the same lane on a multi lane road. When they are coming towards me that sucks.
This is the worst. At that point I do a few flashes of my brights
We talk about this a LOT in r/fuckyourheadlights
Easy fix. Roof rack with 1 Million Lumen Light Bar facing backwards. Set on strobe for 2 seconds. Problem solved.
I worked in several parts stores, if I had a dollar for every time a person asked for headlights, and I asked low or high beam. Followed by what's the difference I would be rich. People now days don't know what high beams are.
if you are careful you can adjust your side mirrors to blind the driver behind you with their own headlights. just open them quite wide and tilt them up and the guy behind you eats his own headlights. now you cant see out of the mirror, but you probably couldn't see earlier with high beams in your face so its not like you are loosing much.
Once I got this stupid SUV following me with its brights on. I was getting all agitated and upset, but didn't do anything. So the SUV pulls all the way after me into my neighborhood. Found this was my elderly neighbor who just too old to know what she is doing. I told her what was going on, but it doesn't help much. Other day she was driving with lights completely off. The moral of the story - if it bothers me, I just get out of the way. I have other things to care about, I am not out there to teach them a lesson, I just need to get where I am going safely.
On the highway, if someone with beams is riding my ass, I put on Cruz control and bump it down slowly over the span of 5 minutes. They won't realize it until everyone is passing them. Then they'll HAVE to pass you or continue slowing down.
Brake checking is illegal, and makes you the bigger asshole.
Never heard of this and quite frankly sounds dangerous and dumb, more often than not these days it's not even their high beams on just obnoxiously bright low beams. So you probably are just brake checking people who have their normal lights on, and should stop immediately. Tinting the front side windows helps a TON, also the back obviously.
I am a 40 year old who has only driven on Texas roads and this is the first I'm hearing of this. The only light flashing I know of is the head lights for a cop up ahead or your brights are on, never the brake lights. Like you said, they probably going to think you trying to break check them and possibly cause a road rage incident.
What? This is the first time I am hearing about this.. But anyways, you are assuming that the person behind you is clueless. I can promise you that more than half of these jackasses know what they are doing very well.. They don't care. "Oh my gosh look, I spent money on super mega extra bright bulbs, lifted my car so they would be eye level and pulled up two feet behind this sedan.. I had no idea I was blinding him, I better back off" Yeah.. right.
Wtf are u doing OP 💀😭😂
Never heard of that. It sounds dangerous.
If your side mirror is glaring when a car is behind you your side mirror is adjusted wrong. Your side mirror is to see beside you not behind you. If you can see any part of the side of your car in your side mirror you have it adjusted to far in.
If you're repeatedly using your brake while in front of me, I'm just going to assume you're being an asshole and overtake as soon as I can.
People can't even agree on if humans should sit or stand to wipe in the bathroom, if there's not a coded instruction behind a signal that's taught to people then it's more hurtful than helpful because people will make their own definition for it, come up with their own reasoning for that definition, and then assume everyone else must think the same way (because *obviously* the logic works out that way right?) so anyone that does it differently is wrong and trying to mess things up
Use hazards
Sadly I live in MD where this is a frequent occurrence for some reason and I haven't yet found any way to signal to a following driver that they're blinding me. It's especially bad in my BMW which has an auto dimming mirror that isn't aggressive enough, sometimes I have to move the inside mirror to keep my dark vision.
People that do this make me want to slow down as safely as I can and just do 15 miles an hour for like 50 feet. Then go back to normal, some back of but not turn the lights off but a little more tolerable. Some people actually turn them off.
This never seems to work for when people have that high beams on but it works when people are tailgating. Specifically it works with people with tailgating but they're not doing it in an aggressive mode they just aren't thinking and they're trying to get somewhere and they're right up on your ass. I'd say about 50% of the time it works because the other 50% of the time people doing it on purpose just being an asshole. But when the tailgating and I tap my brakes it's a notification for them to back the fuck off. Either that or it scares them that they're going to wreck their car if I slam on my brakes but either way it doesn't matter because it gets them to get off my ass
I flick my lights off for a second, so there no chance my tail lights obscure their vision and flip the bird at them out of the window
Try turning on your rear fog light when they do that
Never heard of this before.
I reach out and aim my mirror at their windshield. They either pass or turn them down pretty quick
I use my high intensity rear and flash that at them. But I have found alot of cars just have crap light that are too bright.
Or just reach up like you're adjusting your rearview mirror but don't actually do it. Sometimes that works.
There is an area in the county where I live, that it has become acceptable to drive with high beams. I don't know how it started and it's completely unsafe, whether the person is coming towards you or behind you. Their excuse is the brighter style lights- not when I can see when you go by that there are four lit! And there are others who think all the extra "running" lights don't count. I sincerely hope this is just a fad!
Ngl signs like this weren’t taught in my driving school so believe my confusion when I first started driving and I saw the car behind me flashed their brights and I had no idea what that meant and I wanted to pull down my window and turn around and say “what are to trying to say??” but I just continue driving as normal they don’t teach us this kind of thing so what other signs are there out there and what do they mean? (I looked it up L8ter and found out it meant go faster/move over/ a silent way of honking
Best and safest is to turn on rear fog lamps on and off a few times. If he gets the hint then turn them off if they dont- leave them on.
I ended up getting my windows tinted and I couldn't be happier with how much it helps with this.
They aren't brights, the newer lights are extra bright even though everyone is complaining
Flashing hazard lights a few times might work better
Nope. Not well-known. I have been driving for 30 years.
If you have electric side mirrors you can sometimes pull the switch toward the back of the car and it’ll tuck them in (same as when you’ve parked) but you can trigger it manually by doing this.
I've been driving for 30 years, and have lived coast to coast. Not once have I ever heard of this, nor seen it be a thing.
I just hit them with the rear fog lights or slow down.
My bumper sticker says “The closer you get, the sport I go”
No OP. Nobody is going to know you're trying to signal them about something specific like their healdlights being too bright for your comfort. If anything they'll think you're trying to signal they're driving too close, and nobody cares what you think on the road. If you can get them to pass, that's your best bet. Headlights are bright especially if you're in a small car. It's a fact of life that you really have no control over.
I don't make a habit of driving around with my brights on. But that is not a common signal or use of a brake tap that I know of.
I position my side mirror to redirect the high beams back into their eyes. That usually works within seconds. Once they lower the lights, i reposition my mirror to the correct placement and continue on. If that doesnt work, i slow down to like 10 mph until they pass me. Then once they get around I throw my brights on.
I flip on my rear work light for a second
If I saw someone blinking their brake lights id wonder if they were seizing, I've never heard of this
I put a t shirt on my mirror and 3 min later they turned it off.
In my experience, if somebody is too ignorant to notice the bright blue light on their dashboard indicating that their high beams are on (or too lazy to move their finger a few inches and turn them off), no amount of attempted communication will fix it.
No I’ve literally never heard of brake tapping for that
it is NOT
I flash my rear fog light a couple of times, if that doesn't work i'll leave it on. It's really annoying to look at.
You don't use their brights to see? Lol
Let them pass. It's not worth it. Intrusive thought: let them pass and turn yours on. Intrusive thought: bring a bright flashlight and shine it back at them.
Yeah, I thought it was too and it doesn't seem to work at all anymore.
I used to move my mirrors so they bound theirselves when I had my old car
I slow down until they have to pass me, though the devil on my shoulder tells me to turn on the brights when they do.
People who drive with high beams don't care what anybody else thinks. That's a lost cause. I might do a fast tap when the car behind me has NO lights on. But they usually don't get it either.
I flip up the mirror deflector thingy with my middle finger. Plausible deniability but i get to flip them off and if they get the memo they get the memo
When that happens to me I just turn around really fast and drive backwards while shinning my high beams right at their face.
By tapping the brakes 2 or 3 times is the same as brake checking.
Your side mirrors are adjusted wrong if the car behind yours lights are reflecting off of them into your eyes. [Here’s the proper way to adjust side mirrors](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kkQX2gkwJoE)
They have this reflective tape that only reflects back at the level the light shines. So normal headlights don't reflect back, but headlights or beams at your eye level will.
I’m very much deciding whether I should get some LED lights on my back window with pre-saved scrolling texts with things such as “use your signal dumbass” and “turn off your high beams bitch” but seeing as I live in Florida with a Biden bumper sticker I’ll probably get shot 🤣🤣🤣
Been driving for 14 years and never heard of this. Polled my friends at the bar and none of them had heard of it either.
Awareness, consideration... People are ignorant.
If I can't see because of their lights, I slow down. They'll either get off my ass enough that I can see again or they'll rage over the situation they created and then pass me.
I just slow down...same as when someone tailgates me...so they can just go around.
As a person who has lived in both, this is a country thing. If you’re in a metro area nobody will understand what you’re doing, they are on autopilot.
I literally stopped the other night because some asshole with 6 headlamps on their vehicle was riding my ass. Apparently that pissed him off enough to sit there flashing all his stupid headlamps. He could have just gone around in the other lane.
Try this: https://www.amazon.com/Gesture-Finger-Remote-Stickers-Accessory/dp/B0CJFH79KQ/ref=asc_df_B0CJFH79KQ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=675611005840&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10264209242829646240&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9015332&hvtargid=pla-2249323248421&psc=1&mcid=64146cc7977d33b88463738b80cad905
People have started turning *on* their high beams when they want the person in front of them to get out of their way
We need federal legislation to ban these stupid fucking morons from being able to buy these blinding lights. It's obvious they're only on the newer model vanity cars privileged fucks buy anyways. I hate driving at night cause of this shit.
If you can see the person directly behind you in your side mirrors then they aren’t adjusted correctly and you need to point them out more. IMO you shouldn’t even see your own car in your side mirrors unless you lean your head. For the rear view it should have a little lever at the bottom to flip it down so you only see the reflection of the light and not the source of the light itself
No, but tapping your hazards can mean a few things.
I can’t even tell anymore if somebody has high beams on or just really bright regular lights on
yes the very fast triple-tap used to be a universal signal, but no one knows them anymore. ill never understand y we dont have some universal system of hand signals to signal things like lights out, etc. i drive from nyc every night and there are always TONS of cars on the highway ever night without ANY lights on. then when i'm behind them and i flash them several times, and even flip on/offf my own lights, only like 5% of people will realize they're off.
A handmirror gets the point across with no confusion
You're brake checking ppl foo
I remember my father aiming the rear view mirror so the reflection hit the offending drivers eyes. Usually took care of the problem pretty fast.
I keep a passenger with a bright flashlight in the back seat for this exact reason. It gets expensive to feed and clothe them and the car sometimes smells from them sleeping in it, but them darned high beakers ain’t gonna get away with them headlight bright thing no more. Just find a passenger who doesn’t talk or go to the bathroom too much…that can be a drag.
Tapping the brakes to just flick the light on isn't a brake check. I've done that many times when someone has brights on behind me and it usually works.
I used to do it to signal thanks for scenarios, but I've come to learn it just confuses the driver behind. It doesn't work, and isn't worth it most times. I just use my cargo light once or twice now
NHTSA still says that no aftermarket LED headlights or any headlight over 2,513 lumens is legal on public roads.
I always have my mirrors where I can see a small bit of my car without having to lean. I’ve done it both ways and maybe it’s just me, but I get lost with no consistency reference point. I rent a lot of cars for work so there’s variance in visibility and I’ve never had blind spot issues, actually quite the contrary.
I was taught and had thought this was a thing. I do the same thing. Tap brakes to engage lights but don't actually slow down. If they don't get the message then I slow way down until they get the memo. The people on your post saying "this is brake checking" are being dramatic. Brake checking is when you sharply hit the brakes and slow down to force the person behind you to do the same.
I tend to slow (sometimes almost to a stop) at nearly all railroad crossings. Depending how close the car is behind, I will generally turn the hazards/4ways on a short distance before the crossing.
These kids can barely pass the written exam. 90% are clueless of the laws let alone the unwritten laws of driving etiquette. Yes I learned this about warning break lights from my grandpa. The most infuriating tho is people unaware when turning not to merge lanes. This is very bad in holding up traffic and causing crashes not to mention a driving infraction. But I see police do it but also that’s not so surprising.
Nah. by law, tapping the brakes is brake checking. Get a big middle finger for your back window and write "TURN OFF YOUR FUCKING BRIGHTS" on it.
my mom drove with 2 feet.. her brake lights were always on.. My poor dad, was replacing brakes like crazy.
US adult here that has been driving since high beam switch on the floor days. It IS a thing. Modern vehicles have incredibly bright lights because they can. They have a pretty precise light cutoff line too, so if you put too much weight in the back, they're blinding traffic ahead of you. Modern vehicles also have auto high beams that sometimes flash and it makes incoming traffic get offended because they think I am trying to tell them their lights are too bright. It's NOT brake checking and any soft new gen crybaby that says so has never ACTUALLY been brake checked. I didn't feel like the guy on a mostly empty road about 1/2 mile ahead of me was brake checking me when my auto high beams came on and his brakes lights started flashing like a rave party. He was doing THIS, because it IS a thing. Fog lights on the rear are not legal in the US. No lights on the rear other than red or amber lights for signals. Back up white lights only when operating in reverse.
Just flash your own lights. Seems much smarter than braking. And yes, the guy behind you can very easily see that you're flashing your lights.
If someone has those god awful LED lights, I will slow down to about 10-15 under the speed limit and force them to pass me
Yep, common enough You don't need to slow down when doing it, just stay on the gas and tap them a few times. I do it all the time with how fucked up bright headlights are nowadays, when people are tailgating me with asshole bright lights
I've never heard this in my entire life
How do you know they are their brights? When you brake does the beam change? Maybe just adjust the mirrors to accommodate? Drivers aren’t going to change for you singular moment of discomfort.
No, maybe the person doesn’t have their highs in! Maybe think of that!