Sunday, January 5, 2014

When to use hazard lights

When to use hazard lights


It’s all in the name. Even then I remember very well what happened when we were passing through the tunnel of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. The moment you enter the expressway tunnel, 9 out of 10 drivers switch on their hazard lights immediately until the tunnel ends. In my first instance, I was astounded to see so many vehicles having hazardous trouble all of a sudden. Later I comprehended it to be an irony of another show-piece of innovative Indian driving rules. So I will restrict the usage of this post to "when not to use hazard lights" instead "when to use".

People, and with that I mean not the uneducated drivers, I mean literate and supposedly educated people, for godforsaken reason start assuming that driving through a well lit and well maintained tunnel on the Mumbai-Pune expressway demands switching on their hazard lights. Perhaps they never really get an opportunity to use it very often during their driving tenure. Perhaps the hazard light button is so beautifully and conveniently placed in the centre console of the dashboard that one is enthused to use it as and when they get an opportunity. Or perhaps they just find it increasingly amusing that both the indicators can glow at the same time.

Whatever be the reason, the use of hazard lights inside the tunnel is a mockery of driving rules; is a derision of the actual use of hazard light and shouldn’t be practiced by the educated drivers. The tunnels are so well lit and maintained, why on earth people consider it as a hazardous condition? This fact is beyond my comprehension of driving intelligence.

Another instance I have noticed where people tend to use hazard lights. I have noticed it is usually on the cross junctions, where people switch on their hazard lights to indicate that they are going straight and are not going to turn either left or right. Goodness gracious me! Why on earth would you have to indicate your indicators if you are not turning. And believe me people are really smarter than you, to understand that you are going straight if there aren’t any indicators. There is absolutely no reason to switch on the hazard lights. Once again, defying the actual purpose of hazard lights.

Imagine what if someday somebody actually has a hazardous situation of a brake fail or something like that and he switches on the hazard light, we all will start thinking it is either a tunnel or probably the person only intends to go straight.

Having said that, in India we don’t have much specified and designated traffic rules as the western world. Even if we have, most of the people don’t follow them. And some of those who follow, the infrastructure and ever rising population compels them to break it every now and then. But I still hope that people understand a simple concept of life that – “Little knowledge is a dangerous thing”.

10 comments:

  1. nice blog. Very informative.click to find restaurant at kota .

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  2. Hi!
    Thank YOU for writing this...
    We are couple sharing your passion, but much younger in terms of road-miles :)
    I have seen similar cases and can very well relate to this blog.

    I would also like to add to your list - never use hazard lights when you are driving in rain (especially on highways). When the hazard light is on, both the indicators blink making it impossible for the vehicle behind to undestand whether you would be shifting to left/right lane, even if the land change indicated - because..... BOTH the blinkers are on, thanks to hazard light button :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot for adding that point, I missed it somehow. Very well said.

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  3. Hi Sumeet,

    Excellent observation I must admit, though the debate for hazard lights go on. One reason could be in low visibility situation, it's used to alert the car behind it, however as one pointed out it runs a risk of confusing the turn signals. Different states in US have different laws wrt hazard lights, in India, well....!!

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    1. yes exactly! for rear visibility brake lights are far better than turning on the indicators. As i mentioned in my post as well, the wavelength of red light is far more than yellow hence red is visible from a further distance than yellow.
      Still people needlessly turn on the hazard yellow light and confuse the others on the road.

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  4. This is because Indians have reached the bottom of the rung where discipline or self-discipline is concerned. "Little knowledge is dangerous". Try and tell a person from India to maintain lane discipline. In the final analysis, there is no governance. The machinery seems to have collapsed. Authorities look the other way (for a variety of reasons).

    I will add to the consequence already listed,(about the collision) of inappropriately switching on the hazard lights - And could add several more, however, would like other readers to build on the list -
    1. A genuinely stalled vehicle with its hazard lights on, will be mistaken for one among the many others that are moving ahead.
    2. These 'misinformed' people with their hazard lights in rain or worse in a tunnel, will switch lanes and the driver behind has no way of knowing (other than knowing that he/she is driving in India and should expect this to happen at any time).
    3.
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    5.


    Refer to
    https://www.gov.uk/general-rules-all-drivers-riders-103-to-158/lighting-requirements-113-to-116
    http://transport.bih.nic.in/Acts/The-Road-Regulations-Rules-1989.pdf
    http://www.chandigarhtrafficpolice.org/readytodrive.php
    http://www.tn.gov.in/sta/Cmvr1989.pdf - page 94
    http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-of-the-road-eng.pdf - page 149
    http://gurgaon.haryanapolice.gov.in/writereaddata/Images/pdf/Level%20-3_Driving_Manual_English%20Part_1.pdf - Page 23
    http://www.indoretrafficpolice.org/traffic/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36&Itemid=148
    http://www.indoretrafficpolice.org/traffic/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=172

    For Sumeet Mukherjee - Maybe you meant rear tail lights instead of 'brake lights'.

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    1. Thanks for adding those points, and the reference links. It is indeed informative.

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    2. Oh yes! I meant Rear Tail Lights and not brake lights. Sorry for the confusion.

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  5. Just reading this article as i pass through the tunnel on the Mumbai - Pune expressway... ��

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