Increasing trend of motorists using hazard lights in the rain

[whynot]

Start rant ...

It has been another wet summer where I live, and I am seeing more and more people driving around in heavy rain with their indicator lights flashing in hazard mode. At first, I thought this was due to idiot influencers from TicTok passing on their advice to snowflakes on how to drive. But then I read the latest and official “Your keys to driving in Queensland – No 19, Nov 22” and it says this on page 151;

“Only use your hazard lights if you are driving in hazardous weather conditions and you are driving slowly and likely to obstruct other vehicles, or your vehicle is stopped and is obstructing the path of other vehicles or pedestrians.”

And places this sentence in ahead of better advice like, turn on headlights, using fog lights, slowing down, and doubling following distance.

Given the way people read, interpret, and retain information, it is no wonder that the first recallable action from a driver’s Checklist Memory Items, in a task saturated activity like driving in heavy rain, is to activate hazard lights.

Yeah, I get it. Driving in heavy rain is no joke. It is a valid, often sensible, option to pull over to the side of the road in heavy rain where safe to do so. And to then activate hazard lights to let other drivers know you are stopped. I can also understand leaving hazard lights on while slowly repositioning vehicle to an even better stopping point.

However, somewhere along the line, the message about using hazard lights has gotten lost. At first, I was seeing drivers turn on their hazards in heavy rain, but still whizzing along at the speed limit. Now, it is getting to the point that even in moderate rain, on come the hazard lights in some cars. And because “that car over there is doing it” results in copy cat behaviours.

Sigh. Rant over.