Tow trucks flashing lights.

[ANTHONYB1]

Hello everyone,Please can someone explain why do breakdown trucks and recoverey lorries keep their flashing rotating orange/red /white on whilst they are traveling. I,ve just been stuck behind one for about 5 miles in traffic, and they really begin to hurt your eyes after a while.After all thats they are is a lorry with a car strapped to the back,do they expect everyone to get out their way or what.

regards Anthony

 

[emmerson2]

It's the "hey, look at me" syndrome, and I think you'll find its illegal.

 

[Coops]

Can't remember precisely what year it was, but I was a traffic cop when yellow flashing lights were introduced, and in the opening legislation it was decreed that they could only be displayed on a stationary at the scene of an accident or breakdown and an offence was committed if they were used on any other occasion. Anyone know if the law was subsequently changed.

 

[Lutz]

.... and if the law was changed, for what reason? It defies logic.

 

[Coops]

Further thoughts on the subject. Agree absolutely with emmerson, the world is full of very important people doing extraordinarily important work. Think, though, that the original law might well have been changed, 'cos wide loads and a host of other users seem required to display these lights, not least the most recent one, agricultural tractors.

 

[Lutz]

Yes, but wide loads and slow agricultural tractors are a special hazard and flashing lights are useful in drawing attention to the fact. However, this does not apply to a breakdown truck on the move.

 

[Coops]

Wonder if you mind me widening the scope of your original post, Anthony, to include that other scourge of our daily life - the reversing "beep, beep, beep" of industrial machinery. I think the legislation which allows it(or is it prescribes it?) was very badly thought out and establishes strange principles. In what other aspects of our use of machinery in life does the use of "beep, beep, beep" (or similar device) put the responsibility on to some person other than the driver for his actions ? To do so assumes that such 'other person' has the intelligence/ability to interpret the information he/she/it is being given - what about deaf people, infants, animals ? In our cars we are required to have a horn. The Highway Code tells us that this should not be used as a 'get out of my way' device, but rather as an 'I am here'. By using it, in no way are we absolved from our responsibilities, and in the event of it being a deaf person/infant/animal, we collide with them at our peril.

Of course, all of this does not touch upon the social use of the 'beep, beep, beep'. In urban areas, as many as 6/7/8 hundred people can suffer days and sometimes weeks of torment because ONE man is working !!!

If a piece of machinery is reversing, it should only be doing so under the control of an intelligence, i.e. either the driver by means of a reversing camera, or by an assisting workmate.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest - I'm going to have a great day now !!

 

[joeby]

excuse me for widening the scope a bit further ,what annoys me most is people who pull up outside a house and toot there horn because they are to lazy to get out and knock on the door ,and if that person is not out in 20 seconds they are blasting the horn again dont they ever think of the poor person who is working nights ,such as doctors / nurses /police /fire fighters /factory workers ,and if they have just visited some one they wave goodbye say cheerio ,then get in there car and toot there horn as they drive away,

 

[colin(bridgend)]

I believe that when a breakdown vehicle is towing a sick car it has to have the amber flashing lights on but if the broken down vehicle is lorry mounted and no actual towing is involved then the lights should not be on.

I have been involved in two accidents as first on scene after the event. I have a magnetic amber roof light so I put that on to warn other motorists. When the police arrived I asked them if they wanted me to turn the light off. In both cases they asked me to leave it on as extra warning to drivers. I am no way connected with the motor industry but am a building surveyor and was issued with the light many years ago in case I was on the highway working. I believe that either the user of the light, or the employer, should have a certificate of some sort to use such a light.

 

[Dustydog]

Wonder if you mind me widening the scope of your original post, Anthony, to include that other scourge of our daily life - the reversing "beep, beep, beep" of industrial machinery. I think the legislation which allows it(or is it prescribes it?) was very badly thought out and establishes strange principles. In what other aspects of our use of machinery in life does the use of "beep, beep, beep" (or similar device) put the responsibility on to some person other than the driver for his actions ? To do so assumes that such 'other person' has the intelligence/ability to interpret the information he/she/it is being given - what about deaf people, infants, animals ? In our cars we are required to have a horn. The Highway Code tells us that this should not be used as a 'get out of my way' device, but rather as an 'I am here'. By using it, in no way are we absolved from our responsibilities, and in the event of it being a deaf person/infant/animal, we collide with them at our peril.

Of course, all of this does not touch upon the social use of the 'beep, beep, beep'. In urban areas, as many as 6/7/8 hundred people can suffer days and sometimes weeks of torment because ONE man is working !!!

If a piece of machinery is reversing, it should only be doing so under the control of an intelligence, i.e. either the driver by means of a reversing camera, or by an assisting workmate.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest - I'm going to have a great day now !!

Leslie

Another madness of Health and Safety in the work place. I am all for safe working but at a printing works a few years ago, ear defenders were mandatory as was the constant bleeping of reversing fork lift trucks.

How on earth are you supposed to hear the bleeps?? Weird!

Cheers

Dustydog

 

[emmerson2]

Colin, I too have one of those, but it must only be used when stationary, as a warning to other traffic that you are there.

 

[extrucker1]

blue flashing lights fair enough, but why do police who stop on the wrong side of the road at night leave thier headlights on?. even on dip beam they dazzle you. ray h.

 

[emmerson2]

If its a panda car, it'll probably be cos the driver is a plonker!

 

[Sproket]

I thought it was to help them find it again in the dark )

( Hmm !!

now where did we leave it ?? )

 

[WatsonJohnG]

I believe that when a breakdown vehicle is towing a sick car it has to have the amber flashing lights on but if the broken down vehicle is lorry mounted and no actual towing is involved then the lights should not be on.

I have been involved in two accidents as first on scene after the event. I have a magnetic amber roof light so I put that on to warn other motorists. When the police arrived I asked them if they wanted me to turn the light off. In both cases they asked me to leave it on as extra warning to drivers. I am no way connected with the motor industry but am a building surveyor and was issued with the light many years ago in case I was on the highway working. I believe that either the user of the light, or the employer, should have a certificate of some sort to use such a light.

TOOT TOOT ME TOO TOOT TOOT

 

[Oldsalt49]

My son works for a company that has the maintenance and emergency response on the M25. I asked him what the regulations were regarding flashing lights on recovery vehicles. His answer was that recovery vehicles are required to have flashing lights on if towing a breakdown and also if the breakdown is on the flatbed. I do however agree they are a nuisance, and irritate the eyes at night.

 

[Gumbo]

Reversing lorry going beep beep is an aid to pedestrians. Why you should point out that it is of no help to the deaf I don't quite understand. The deaf are a tiny % of the population who are extra aware of reversing vehicles etc.

These additions are brought in to help protect the public from machines that kill and injury countless people or a regular basis. See the benefits don't just try to pull them apart.

 

[Oldsalt49]

Not just the deaf Gumbo, the young uns with them b****y ipods too!

 

[Coops]

Can't you accept, Gumbo, that this is the one instance where you, as the driver of a chunk of machinery, can put your responsibilities onto someone else, and that you can get away in travelling backwards with things you cannot get away with travelling forwards? The reason I mentioned the deaf is because they can't hear !!! And infants and animals are not capable of interpreting what they do hear !!The size of the proportion who are too insignificant to be considered is significant ! Why should you (in this hypothetical situation) demand a course of action from me for something you want to do. In a day and age when reversing cameras are so readily available - and would put the responsibility where it belongs - I maintain there is little or no justification for the attitude of reverse beeping, nor the noise pollution it causes.

 

[Gafferbill]

Leslie...take it easy and keep well away from reversing machinery!

With your attitude of contempt for the driver, who is not trying to shift responsibility, just trying to keep you safe, you become a prime candidate to ignore the warning and get killed or injured.

The driver will be well aware of his responsibilities as will his insurers who my well insist that a bleeper be fitted and operated at all times when the vehicle is reversing (except excluded times of the day)

I have witnessed an accident where an articulated truck was reversing from a public road into a private factory entrance.

A reversing bleeper was sounding... hazard light were flashing...reversing lights were on... the driver was being guided by an assistant in a yellow florescent jacket at the rear of the vehicle.

A motorist failed to interpret the scene..drove around the assistant in a yellow florescent jacket and collided with the back of the reversing truck.

Why did the motorist do such a thing?

He said afterwards that the traffic light up ahead had turned to green so he moved forward!

We ALL have to play our part when it comes to safety.

A reverse bleeper does not mean .. GET OUT OF MY WAY.

More like ...I am carrying out a dangerous manoeuvre.. Can you help me by keeping well back until I have finished?

 

[Parksy]

More pedestrian areas exist now, many High Streets have become pedestrianised and sometimes delivery vehicles and pedestrians share the same space.

Even with a banksman to help with the procedure the responsibility falls on the driver of the vehicle to make sure that the manoeuvre is carried out safely.

If that means having a reversing beeper however annoying it is preferable to somebody being hurt or worse.

 

[Coops]

Sorry, Gafferbill. I wasn't trying to suggest that the beeps is a device that a driver joyfully accepts as a means of escaping his responsibilities - rather is it a device with which he is provided when far superior devices (cameras?) are available but not to him. And Parksy, I do take your point in pedestrianised areas where people are milling around, but I do think those cases are the exception rather than the rule. Am I right in thinking that beepers are illegal behind campervans and caravans, or am I mistaken. If I am not mistaken, what is the difference and where does it end.

 

[ANTHONYB1]

Hello everyone,Well this topic seems to have caused a bit of interest in tow trucks and their lighting habits,(bad or good) according to your own views on them. their charge rates could start another recession if there were no breakdown clubs such as RAC AA or Green Flag to name but a few.

Anyhow another pet hate of mine,is those drivers sit in traffic with their foot firmly on the brake,blinding everyone in line behind them with bright red brake lights, really considerate to other drivers aren,t they,I think not.

So I,ill sign off now as my rant is over, and I,m really a happy little chappie.

Best Regards

Anthony

PS If you havn,t guess, I hate driving at night in this horrible weather.

bye.

 

[Lutz]

If you drive an automatic, it does mean that you'd have to apply the handbrake even on level ground. That's especially awkward if you have one of those cars like mine which has a foot-operated 'handbrake'.

 

[colin(bridgend)]

What about the perfect driver who drives with front fog lights on when there is no need for them. Also when drivers have their rear fog lighs on in rain. They are only meant to be used in foggy conditions. There is also the centre lane hoggers who do 50mph oblivious to the trouble they cause behind them. I could go on and on. Sometimes I wish I was a traffic cop - hell my book would be overflowing - going on bookings alone I would be Chief Constable before I knew it LOL.