Why didn't I know this? (Police car red lights)

Akagi

Akagi

Akagi

Caporegime
Joined
29 Jul 2011
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In acme's chair.
*I know now that flashing red lights on a police car mean that the vehicle is slowing to a stop or is stationary, and it is to indicate that cars around it are safe/allowed to pass, because I looked it up.*

Right so, I was never told what this means, not in my theory test nor my practical test, it was not in any of the documentation I read before taking my test (or since), nobody ever mentioned it, and whats more I had never seen a police car flash its red lights, and I didn't even know they had red lights in the roof cluster!

I saw a police car do this tonight and I didn't know what it meant, so I tentatively went past.

So how is it that this sort of thing was never covered when I was learning to drive? I have been driving for just over 2 years now and I have never seen this.
 
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You mostly see it on traffic cars that have pulled someone over, only flashing on the rear of the light unit - tbh it's not exactly hard to work out
 
rodenal said:
You mostly see it on traffic cars that have pulled someone over, only flashing on the rear of the light unit - tbh it's not exactly hard to work out
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Yep, and all our traffic have matrix signs in the back.

tbh red lights can mean a few things it's all down to the circumstances. They're also used when trying to slow traffic if they're closing the road up ahead.
 
You didn't realise that a non-constantly-illuminated red light means that a vehicle is slowing or stationary?

What do you think your brake lights are for? Obviously this works in a different way but the principle of an on-off red light meaning 'slowing or stopped' is surely not something thats escaped you lot :p
 
On avg there are 18 changes made to the highway code every year. Thats nearly 400 since I last read it. Thats more than what was in it when I read it.
 
There's loads of useful stuff you never get taught, like the arrows on a bend are placed on the apex and that the number of arrows signifies how acute the bend actually is.

I didn't know about the red lights until I was taught to use them.
 
Youre right, it wouldnt be hard to figure out, but like I said, I had never seen the red lights before. Yesterday was the first time I saw them, and I was the only other car on the road, so I was confused. I initially thought they wanted to pull me over, but they then beckoned for me to go past as well. I'm glad they did, otherwise I would have stopped! :p
 
They only go on when you hit the brake. Additionally, they flash when braking hard on modern cars.

Red has always mean stop/stopped/slowing.
 
Just to clarify I mean alternating red lights in the roof light cluster, where the blue lights are.
 
Acme said:
Just to clarify I mean alternating red lights in the roof light cluster, where the blue lights are.
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For example:

But yeah, roads policing etc vehicles have had them for a long time, it's only a bit more recently that response vehicles have started getting proper lightbars with the additional rear reds in them. Though like most things, it varies from force to force.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
There's loads of useful stuff you never get taught, like the arrows on a bend are placed on the apex and that the number of arrows signifies how acute the bend actually is.
Click to expand...

And here's me thinking it's a sign to tell you to move back in after an overtake as there's a bend coming.
 
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