When to use hazards lights?

Question

I have driven in many countries and now live in Dubai & was a bit confused about the culture pertaining to the use of hazard lights. There is an accident today (see here http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Traffic_and_Transport/10196597.html) and the comment from the police & people mentions about NOT to use of HAZARD LIGHTS?

I mean, let say that I was driving at the speed limit of 120 km/h & then I saw that the traffic in front of me slows down to below the min speed limit, I would certainly turn on my hazard lights, signaling the car behinds me to expect some "hazard" & slow down....

Can you enlighten me with some traffic rules reference etc....

Answer 1

I have been driving since 1977 and have been driving semi's since 1986,am an owner operator,a driver instructor, and have over 1 million safe driving miles in a semi.and common curtsy you should put the 4 ways on to let other drivers know of the hazard in front of them and you do use your 4 ways when you are operating under the min speed limit to let the other drivers know that you are the hazard on the highway...

Answer 2

no thats what brake lights are for...hazards are when you are broke down on the side of the road or when there is heavy percipitation, to make sure you are seen by other drivers..

Answer 3

Using your hazard lights is appropriate when your car breaks down and you're on the side of the road.

But is it illegal to drive around with them flashing.

The fine ranges from $50.00 to $100.00.

Answer 4

The rules are one thing, they differ from country to country anyway, as you surely know.

But then there's safety - brake lights are fine but you may brake because you just went a bit over the speed limit....

They do not indicate that you're braking heavily from 100 mph to 40 or even standstill, that there may be danger ahead that you can see but the drivers behind you may not.

That's what hazard lights are for. Now, are US-only friends may never experience that but if you are on a German highway and the slowest lane moves at 80 mph, you are in the middle one doing 100-110 and the left one is for everything faster (all legal, by the way), there's no other way to tell those behind that there's something going on ahead.

You're on a highway and suddenly there's a queue forming ahead - in most of Europe it is actually recommended that you use hazard lights in such situations and also when you are the last car in the unexpected queue on the road. Obviously, you use the hazard lights when you are in an accident - whether you were directly involved (they'd come up automatically on modern cars) or just assisting.

I've driven in many countries too, most of Europe, Canada, US and the UK, I actually had a right-hand drive car, and using hazard lights to indicate "problem ahead" was kind of a general thing, be it a sudden traffic jam, accident or just a sudden patch of thick fog.