Hazard Lights in Rain Rant...

Definitely don't disagree. I can't imagine transplanting 250 drivers from my area and putting them into ACTUAL bad conditions using their driving practices from here. It'd be a total nightmare.

 

What I recall from driver's ed was, you are only permitted to use your 4 way flashers if you are traveling under 40mph on an interstate or highway, or if you are stopped. So people that put them on in the rain and don't slow down to below 40mph are assholes and always will be.

 

Nobody seems to signal around here either, central Texas.
I think what's worse than not signaling is slowing down and beginning to turn, then signaling in the middle of the turn. Yeah, no shit, you're turning.

 

It's somewhat of a common practice in this area....but only on the highway.....and only under the most extreme downpours. It just helps to heighten awareness that other vehicles are moving slower than normal and possibly increasing visibility too.

Because there is always a mouth breather or two that simply can't comprehend the laws of physics and the potential for reduced traction and visibility and the dangers those introduce.

 

The only time I’ve seen it is when I was growing up in Alabama and then when I moved to Florida.

And then sometimes when people from out of state would come to Colorado and get stuck in a hail storm.

 

A hail storm, I would most likely always use my hazard lights, because I would most likely always be stopped when in that hail storm.

 

Yeah sure, you might be more visible. But since I'm now seeing 4x more flashing lights from you and everyone else, it makes it harder to tell if you and everyone else is:
-Identifying an actual road hazard not apparent to others
-Identifying stopped traffic ahead
-Stopped, on the side of the road
-Trying to turn or change lanes
-Stopping

To your last point, not all that drive should. And there's no way to stop that.

 

Nope. Just driving along at 50 mph.

 

Which is it? "Might" be more visible or "4x more lights visible"
I think the thing getting lost in translation is that if you're able to see 4 sets of lights, the flashers aren't needed and we agree. If you can't see anything at all except maybe a faint blur of someones flashing lights, they could be useful.

 

Kinda fits here, driving on interstate today, rainy and someone wrecked so the whole interstate backed up. So this dude on phone comes ripping in from on ramp to 3 lanes of traffic almost hits me in middle lane. I lay on horn. He gets back into his lane. He later gets beside me in far left lane and looks at me like im the asshole. I just stare back at him...

 

Only time I can remember driving with the hazard lights on was on my motorcycle in the fog at night. I stayed in the far right lane and hoped no one ran me over as I was doing all I could to see any road. In hindsight I should have just pulled over and waited, but just finished a 12 hour shift and wanted to be home.

 

People who drive with flashers on in the rain, while traveling with a pack of traffic are morons, usually. I see it somewhat frequently; it is lightly to moderately raining yet they drive along unencumbered and think that somehow turning their fancy flashy lights on makes them safer—no speed reduction, no increase in following distance, just flashy lights.

Let’s think about what problem we’re trying to solve and how it works: The problem is that you are afraid you can’t be seen and you want to make yourself more visible. Fair enough. For other drivers to see you, light from your car (either reflected by the body or emitted by a light source such as your hazards) needs to first pass through the air where rain or mist will have the effect of diffusing the light, reducing contrast until any perceivable image fades away; then it needs to pass through their windshield. This leaves 3 factors that can reduce visibility (1) rain, (2) mist, (3) obscured windshield.

(1) Rain drops by themselves don’t reduce visibility as much as you might think. Take a look at the study in the link pasted below, specifically equation (6) on page 22. Even with an EXTREME rainfall of 20”/hour, you’d expect a visibility of ~750’. To put that in perspective, 750’ is 19 stripes down the highway and is enough distance for virtually any modern car/truck to stop from 100 MPH on a wet road even factoring in reaction time. Rain (by itself) will NOT obstruct visibility to the point of needing to use flashers.

(2) Mist is a b***h. Small droplet size is more effective for obscuring visibility and absolutely can reduce visibility to the point where even lighted objects can’t be seen within your stopping distance. The study below explains some of this and you’re certainly free to indulge in reading it. Mist can largely be avoided however by staying away from large vehicles such as semis. Furthermore mist is “stirred up” proportionally to vehicle speed. Flashers can be helpful MOMENTARILY if you’re caught up in an area of extremely poor visibility. The goal, however, would be to realize this visibility reduction is very localized and to immediately exit the condition…and then turn your flashers off once they’re no longer needed. If you can’t avoid this situation, you really need to be looking at getting off the road at your first opportunity.

(3) Finally there’s visibility obstruction due to water on your windshield. All I’m going to say is, if your windshield wiper is not keeping up with the rain and you can’t see unlighted objects up ahead, you need to SLOW DOWN and PULL OVER immediately. This kind of heavy rain is rare and subsides quickly. Flashers would totally be warranted and help people see you, but why would you keep driving if you’re in a situation where it’s not safe to NOT have your flashers on? Are you seriously counting on everyone else to use theirs so you can see them? What about inanimate objects, animals, pedestrians, road debris, etc?

I think one thing to sum up my opinion is that if you need to turn your hazards on to warn people that you’re a … hazard, then you need to stop being a hazard and get off the road.

https://static.tti.tamu.edu/tti.tamu.edu/documents/135-3.pdf