Claim: Flashing your car's high beams at a traffic signal will cause it to change from red to green more quickly.
Verdict: REFUTES

Retrieved passages:
title: Traffic-light signalling and operation
text: are sometimes designed with a red cross to indicate that the light is red. In Austria, Cambodia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, most of Israel, Malaysia, parts of Mexico, Turkey, and in certain other parts of Europe, the green lights will start flashing at the end of the Go or Turn phase to indicate that the yellow (Caution phase) lights are about to be engaged. This is useful in fast-paced roads to allow for longer slowing down time, and for pedestrians crossing broad streets. Some traffic lights in Pennsylvania illuminate the yellow light a few seconds before the green light turns

title: Automotive lighting
text: moving traffic, a disabled vehicle, a vehicle moving substantially slower than the flow of traffic such as a truck climbing a steep grade, or the presence of stopped or slow traffic ahead on a high speed road. In vehicles with a separate left and right green turn signal tell-tale on the dashboard, both left and right indicators may flash to provide visual indication of the hazard flashers' operation. In vehicles with a single green turn signal tell-tale on the dashboard, a separate red tell-tale must be provided for hazard flasher indication. Because the hazard flasher function operates the vehicle's left

title: Traffic-light signalling and operation
text: for better progression (coordination) between signals. This saves gasoline by stopping fewer vehicles. The flashing yellow arrow is also meant to prevent yellow trap, which occurs when the circular signal turns yellow, and then red, while oncoming traffic still has a circular green. This traps left turning cars in the intersection while oncoming traffic continues to flow. It can also fool drivers into mistakenly assuming that oncoming traffic also has a yellow light, so they turn across live traffic, causing an accident. When the opposing direction has both a circular green and a protected left turn green arrow, the flashing

title: Headlight flashing
text: Headlight flashing Headlight flashing is the act of either briefly switching on the headlights of a car, or of momentarily switching between a headlight's high beams and low beams, in an effort to communicate with another driver or drivers. The signal is sometimes referred to in car manufacturers' manuals as an optical horn, since it draws the attention of other drivers. The signal can be intended to convey a variety of messages, including a warning to other drivers of road hazards, telling a driver they can pass through or alerting a driver of speed traps, and it can also be

title: Traffic-light signalling and operation
text: with a corresponding (or similar) sign facing oncoming traffic. When a flashing-green phase occurs after a normal green phase, it as known as an "extended green", but this sequence is much less common, as it can create a hazardous yellow trap for oncoming left turns. The advanced green was originally chosen to be represented by flashing green because at the time of its introduction, in Ontario, a green arrow had meant that all traffic *must turn* in the direction of the arrow, although this is no longer the case. Additionally, an advanced green could be more easily added to existing

title: Traffic-light signalling and operation
text: of yellow, then red (at which time the pedestrian crossing gives a signal) as in a conventional set of traffic lights, then returns to flashing green until another crossing is requested. This indication is also used in Massachusetts at fire stations. In several European countries and Mexico, a flashing green light is used in crosswalks to indicate that signal is going to change from green to red soon. Therefore, flashing green has roughly the same meaning to pedestrians as ordinary yellow signal has for motorists. Slow-moving pedestrians are warned about oncoming signal change and have opportunity to wait for next

title: Traffic-light signalling and operation
text: to a double red light. Tianjin in the People's Republic of China has two very special systems of traffic lights, in use since : One system is where there is a horizontal bar in a specific colour, with the colour changing and the bar shrinking. The shrinking bar indicates the time remaining in that colour. The colour itself is either red (stop), yellow or green (go). A blinking green one-third-full bar means "reduce speed now", and a blinking yellow full-bar indicates "proceed with caution". When lights of this system turn from green to red, the diminishing green bar will flash

title: Traffic light
text: a left turn in front of opposing traffic, which is being held by a steady red lamp. (This "advance green," or flashing green can be somewhat startling and confusing to drivers not familiar with this system. This also can cause confusion amongst visitors to British Columbia, where a flashing green signal denotes a pedestrian controlled crosswalk.) Another interesting practice seen at least in Ontario is that cars wishing to turn left that arrived after the left turn signal ended can do so during the yellow phase, as long as there is enough time to make a safe turn. A flashing

title: Headlight flashing
text: activity, it is sometimes considered courteous to flash back. Flashing can inform drivers of problems with their car, such as headlamps left off after dark, burned out or misaligned lights, or misuse of high beam rather than low beam in traffic; or to berate a driver who poses a risk to traffic. Headlight flashing coupled with blowing the car's horn can help clear deer from a driver's path. Flashing can indicate the intention to overtake or pass another driver, or to signal a driver who has just overtaken that he or she can now return to the original lane. Flashing

title: Traffic-light signalling and operation
text: It also informs drivers who may be approaching the intersection at speed that a green light is imminent, so they may proceed through the junction without having to stop (or, with enough of a lead distance, even having to slow), reducing the potential annoyance (and safety risk) of braking sharply to a halt only to have the green light appear immediately after. In some areas, a "prepare to stop" sign with two alternately flashing yellow lights is installed in locations where a high-speed road (design speed usually at least 55 mph / 90 km/h) leads up to a traffic light,

title: Headlight flashing
text: oncoming vehicle is using its high beams, driver’s manuals suggest a motorist flash his or her high beams momentarily). In Alaska, a State Trooper has probable cause to stop a driver who flashes a vehicle’s high beams based upon a violation of 13 AAC 04.020(e)(1). In Arizona, flashing high beams or headlights is a violation of A.R.S. Section 28-942.1 (Failure to Dim Headlights). However, A.R.S. Section 28-942.2. states: If the driver of a vehicle follows another vehicle within two hundred feet to the rear, "except when engaged in the act of overtaking and passing", the driver shall use a distribution

title: Traffic-light signalling and operation
text: yellow lights are displayed together for one, two, or three seconds at the end of the red cycle to indicate that the light is about to change to green. This phase aids the drivers of vehicles to turn on the engines again (there are requests/advice to turn off engine in front of red traffic lights in some countries, e.g. Switzerland), or drivers with manual gearboxes, giving them time to change into first gear during the short phase, as well as drivers of vehicles that may have been yellow-trapped whilst turning right a chance to clear the intersection in more safety.

title: Traffic-light signalling and operation
text: countries), for which there is no direct equivalent in North America. The new US 2009 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices specifically prohibits flashing any green signal indication. Some signals have a special phase where there is a red light illuminated simultaneously with a green arrow. The meaning of this configuration is that a motorist may only proceed in the direction of the arrow. In the Province of Quebec, a signal may display a green straight arrow alone, usually for 5 to 9 seconds, and then the full green (or right turn arrow) illuminates. This allows pedestrians to engage into

title: Emergency vehicle lighting
text: attracting attention far quicker than alternately flashing versions, although this did increase discomfort glare. In general, as light intensity and the number of beacons present increased, the time it took to gain the attention of other drivers decreased. This same study compared different light colors for glare and detection time under both daylight and night conditions. While red and blue both compared favorably with amber for glare under various conditions, some contradictory findings were observed for detection time. When all colors were held at equal intensity, amber had the poorest detection time both daytime and night. However, when the light

title: Traffic-light signalling and operation
text: they will begin to flash alternately. In some parts of the United States, a few traffic lights have slowly flashing white strobe lights superimposed on the center of the red light, which are activated when the red light itself is illuminated. These are common on highways with few traffic signals, in high-traffic, and/or high-speed areas (where drivers running red lights are a major problem), in a place where a regular traveler wouldn't expect a signal (such as a newly erected signal or one put up for construction) in other situations where extra work may be needed to draw attention to

title: Traffic-light signalling and operation
text: yellow or a flashing red arrow—signifying caution or stop before turning, respectively—can be used for turns across oncoming traffic, but a steady green arrow cannot be used because the turn is not protected. The yellow trap issue was originally addressed by the configuration known as Dallas phasing; however, engineers changed the configuration for two reasons: a flashing yellow arrow was less confusing than a louvered green ball, and problems might ensue if the left turn signal comes out of adjustment and its indications are visible to through traffic. The flashing yellow arrow was introduced not because of a perceived lack

title: Signal timing
text: fulfilled. The final mode is FLASH operation in which all vehicle signal heads continuously display a flashing red, or the main street shows flashing yellow while others show flashing red. Pedestrian heads are dark. When the volume of vehicles at an intersection no longer warrants the signal to be active, the signal can switch to FLASH mode. When volume picks up again the signal switches back into either FREE or COORD operation. For example, the daily operation of a signal may involve it being in FLASH mode early in the morning, COORD during the day, FREE in the evening, and

title: Traffic-light signalling and operation
text: to accelerate to cruising speed from a red light. These are relatively common in areas such as the United States, Canada, Western Australia, New South Wales, New Zealand and Liberia. Japan uses a variant signal with two lamps, a green one and a flashing yellow one, for the same purpose. A common way of warning that an obscured traffic light ahead is red is a red-signal-ahead sign. It is shaped like a standard yellow diamond shape sign with LEDs spelling out "Signal Ahead". Just before the traffic light goes yellow, the word "Red" will light up above Signal Ahead and

title: Traffic-light signalling and operation
text: a RED light. Similarly, a flashing green may be an Extended Green, for left turns after the opposing traffic's full green phase. The flashing light may be a "full" green, or a green left arrow, both meaning the same thing. At least one traffic light in Montreal (on the Island of Montreal, 'Right-on-Red' is not allowed), has a flashing "right"-turn arrow, indicating that the pedestrian crossing has a red light, so it is safe to turn right and drive across it. At some intersections in Winnipeg, Manitoba, a flashing green right-turn arrow appears with a red light when traffic from

title: Traffic-light signalling and operation
text: once two-thirds (note: not the full bar) of the green bar is "eaten up", with the remaining third intact. A full, uninterrupted yellow bar will appear for a few seconds before, after a short blink, lights turn red. Immediately after the full red bar appears, a tiny (almost unnoticeable) split/division appears to signify the bit that will "not" be "eaten up". This corresponds to the usual position of a red light (leftmost, or rightmost if at the other end of the road and at the other side of the pavement; or the upper third). When two-thirds of the red bit