Do you flash your high-beams at people with HID kits?

I sure do. I frequently hear "No one flashes their lights at me so they must be fine."

Just doing my part to make sure they know they're blinding the crap out of people.

Unfortunately, it then means I get a dose of their high beams on top of their glaring HIDs. When I'm getting excessive glare from low beams, I try to deal with it most of the time, but sometimes I can't tell what beam they are on and get dosed with their highs anyway.

I really wish I could flash "fog lamp disabler rays" at people using fog lamps inappropriately.

Depends. Usually dont. If it really glares then ill go ahead and flash.

People running high beams in traffic, people with a burned-out headlamp, people with glaring lights of whatever kind (misaimed, "HID kit", blue, etc.), people driving after dark with only DRLs or with no lights all get flashed.

Yup,they get the full 10,000+ lumen treatment from the 2 85/80 watt H4's and 2 HIR1's.

Since I have no idea if they are running HIDs or not I just flash all cars with lights that are blinding me. If they do hit their brights and leave them on I just do the same and return the favor so I can see the road in front of me.

-Virgil- said:

People running high beams in traffic, people with a burned-out headlamp, people with glaring lights of whatever kind (misaimed, "HID kit", blue, etc.), people driving after dark with only DRLs or with no lights all get flashed.

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This.

Qship1996 said:

Yup,they get the full 10,000+ lumen treatment from the 2 85/80 watt H4's and 2 HIR1's.

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And this. Except I have hir2 and hir1, all 4 lamps on on high.

When I drove, I would flash my high beams at people who didn't dip theirs, HID kits, misaimed headlights, and occasionally at fog lights (too bright, HID kit in fog light housing, or off-road lights used as fog lights - I'm looking at you, LED cubes). I tried to make it a quick flash so as not to incite some overly aggressive drivers out there who like to make blinding each other a competition.

As for people who hadn't turned their lights on yet at dusk or in adverse conditions (rain, fog(!), snow), I tended to cycle the lights on and off instead of flashing the highs. Looking back, I'm really not sure why... :thinking:

Franco said:

As for people who hadn't turned their lights on yet at dusk or in adverse conditions (rain, fog(!), snow), I tended to cycle the lights on and off instead of flashing the highs. Looking back, I'm really not sure why... :thinking:

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That's a nice balanced approach. Cycling on and off communicates a "heads up" message much better than flashing highs and lows.

Sometimes. Does flashing the high beams (halogen) greatly reduce the service life of the halogen bulb?

At another forum (BITOG) I visit, one poster shared his method a few years ago: flash the high beams, and simultaneously swerve your car into the offender's lane! I don't know if he is still alive, or died in a head on collision.

SubLGT said:

Sometimes. Does flashing the high beams (halogen) greatly reduce the service life of the halogen bulb?

At another forum (BITOG) I visit, one poster shared his method a few years ago: flash the high beams, and simultaneously swerve your car into the offender's lane! I don't know if he is still alive, or died in a head on collision.

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That's going too far! I'd say an 'armed response' notice on one's car and a suitable high calibre weapon held in readiness at all times would suffice.

Franco said:

I tried to make it a quick flash so as not to incite some overly aggressive drivers out there who like to make blinding each other a competition.

As for people who hadn't turned their lights on yet at dusk or in adverse conditions (rain, fog(!), snow), I tended to cycle the lights on and off instead of flashing the highs. Looking back, I'm really not sure why... :thinking:

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Same, and for people that leave turn signals on I will pull in front of them and turn the same signal on, usually on multilane freeways. With in seconds they wonder why I have not turned, then they realize their turn signal is on and turn it off, so I turn mine off. I found this works years ago.

-Virgil- said:

People running high beams in traffic, people with a burned-out headlamp, people with glaring lights of whatever kind (misaimed, "HID kit", blue, etc.), people driving after dark with only DRLs or with no lights all get flashed.

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Just thought you would enjoy this...its a perfect example of what happens...

On my way home this morning I meet a car (a late 90's blazer/jimmy to be exact, easy to pick up on from the distinct headlamps).. its raining, its cold, and the general rule of thumb is do not stop cars this close to shift change (or in the rain!) lol.. the dead body you find in the trunk is hours upon hours of paperwork which kinda throws a wrench in the whole going home thing =-)

Just seconds after we meet this guy flips his high beams on... I flash him but he leaves his on.. So today I make an exception for this special individual and roll the dice on the dead body.. I turn around and go introduce myself to him... Something told me it was an honest mistake, the way he turned them on and left them that way left no other reason other than he didn't have a clue.. either that or it was done with malice intent, which is a good thing it wasn't, cause that means he would've get a strange room to stay the (rest of the) night in that has iron curtains... What do I find? A 20 year old male, scared to death, is driving someone else's car and doesn't know what the blue light on the dash is for.. /me sighs.

-Virgil- said:

People running high beams in traffic, people with a burned-out headlamp, people with glaring lights of whatever kind (misaimed, "HID kit", blue, etc.), people driving after dark with only DRLs or with no lights all get flashed.

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The people with burned-out headlamps get flashed because almost invariably, they're running on their high beams.
The people with only DRLs or no lights make me occult mine a few times, and *then* I go ahead and flash the high beams if they haven't responded to my own lights going off and back on rapidly.

drmalenko said:

What do I find? A 20 year old male, scared to death, is driving someone else's car and doesn't know what the blue light on the dash is for.. /me sighs.

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How are people like that driving on the road? Blue light = engine is still cold. C'mon!

Regardless, I'm surprised enough at all the members who have admitted to flashing others. I'm even more surprised to read that you, a law enforcement officer, are flashing people on the road. Where will this indecent exposure stop?!

Franco said:

How are people like that driving on the road? Blue light = engine is still cold.

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Or, there's a sale at K-Mart.

Regardless, I'm surprised enough at all the members who have admitted to flashing others. I'm even more surprised to read that you, a law enforcement officer, are flashing people on the road. Where will this indecent exposure stop?!

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Then there are the people going around with only their fan belt and their brake shoes on. It's more common than you think.

Alaric Darconville said:

Then there are the people going around with only their fan belt and their brake shoes on. It's more common than you think.

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Ha! You've got quite the wit, Alaric.

Franco said:

Ha! You've got quite the wit, Alaric.

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Now .... how do I flash the idiot with the annoying HID kit that is driving behind me?

As much as I hate approaching cars with annoying HID kits, I find that the ones driving behind me can be more dangerous as it can make using your mirrors almost impossible leaving you blind to what is happening behind you. It defeats the concept of defensive driving.

SemiMan said:

Now .... how do I flash the idiot with the annoying HID kit that is driving behind me?

As much as I hate approaching cars with annoying HID kits, I find that the ones driving behind me can be more dangerous as it can make using your mirrors almost impossible leaving you blind to what is happening behind you. It defeats the concept of defensive driving.

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Agreed, it makes it hard to see if the lane next to you is clear from the blinding lights in the mirror.
So if it's more than one lane, I'm not going to risk an accident changing lanes when I can't see.
I'll slow down to the point were the HID lights behind me decides to change lanes and go around me.