Driving etiquette………..

No, not in the UK, but it does elsewhere.

Is there a difference between the short flash and the long flash?

In my experience in Britain it can mean just that, or it can be an invitation to maneuvre with the flasher volunteering to give way ...   It depends on context and how done!  A great one for being misread, although it seems motorists are pretty good at assessing at the time.

however, as with the horn, the officially sanctioned use of flashing is to let other road users know that the flasher is there, so technically the 'look out I'm hurtling towards you at twice your speed' use actually fits that better, and the courteous invitation is perhaps more a quirk of British nature - as is our wide acceptance of two meanings!

Alertness in all cases is what's required...

Yes, if it's a short flash it generally means "I'm letting you out". A longer, sustained flash or series of them usually means "you're annoying me", "you've done something prattish", or "I'm commin' through, sod you!".

I've always found it difficult on the Continent when I want to allow someone out but there's no way of indicating it.

Goes without saying that common sense and experience needs to be used, as with anything else related to being a road user.

tbh I'd think twice before flashing anyone to say it's okay to come out..... If it goes wrong then it's on your head. Years ago I was flashed by a van driver to turn right in front of him only to find someone zipping up the inside lane... result the other car was a right off.... my landrover had a dent in the bumper. Insurance hit me though :-(

A short flash gives you more chance to fasten your mac and escape

The lady who pulled out of a side turning into the passenger door of my TR4A was being flashed out by a car coming the other way. He meant, pull in front of me, not it's clear to pull out. She didn't look my way.

If you flash someone out the responsibility for anything that subsequently happens will be down to the other driver. Although this flashing business isn't an official thing, practically everyone understands how to interpret it. If in doubt, do the other thing...

Joining the Motorway……….

Yesterday I was tootling along the old A303 (yes I know, but it has a variety of slip roads, just like a motorway) at a steady 60 mph in the nearside lane.

As I approached the next intersection, I could see a Ford Mondeo enter the slip road and accelerate to join the A303. It only accelerated sufficiently to match my 60 mph and wound up more or less along side of me and at the same speed as me. I would normally have pulled out into the outside lane, but I also had noticed through my rear-view mirrors, a BMW in the outside lane moving faster than me, probably about 70, possibly 75 mph. To pull out now or at anytime since I had noticed the Modeo (and maintain my steady 60 mph), would have inconvenienced the BMW driver.

The Mondeo driver had clearly seen me, but showed no inclination to either accelerate or slow down such as to leave clear a space in front or behind me.

What would good Driving Etiquette suggest I do ?

I'd forget driving etiquette in this instance, and adopt defensive driving. Back off early, maybe showing a quick flash of brake lights to the BMW driver, and then carry on at 60mph in lane 1 once the Mongdeo driver has joined the carriageway. 

When riding my bike I tend to prepare for slip roads by avoiding the nearside lane.

Often, as you approach, a vehicle in front of you will be leaving the motorway/road and you may have moved out to overtake. In this case I would observe the slip road and only come in if it was empty sufficiently far back to allow me to pass its exit without risking coinciding with another vehicle.

It doesn't protect you from the arses who join and immediately track out to their 'fast lane' but it makes for more relaxed riding.

Possibly, being only a bike rider, I am more protective of myself than car drivers feel the need. Bikers know that all car drivers will try to kill them.

And many car drivers know that many bikers seem intent on becoming organ doners as soon as they can, without a car driver's intervention.

Let's start a fight - not.

Sorry you are so unnecessarily sensitive - what I might have said is:

Bikers would do well to act as if ALL other road users were going to try to kill them. Even though not all are.

When I rode a bicycle and motorbike I took my father's advise. He told me to assume every other road user is an idiot.

I think the word "bikers" should be replaced by "all road users".

What I do not understand is, and this is gained from 30k+ miles a year, why do the most vulnerable behave in the most hazardous manor. By this i mean, and these are generalisations, the most cautious drivers are of HGV's then cars then motor cyclists then cyclists. I'll leave van drivers out of it as these are all total nut cases with total disregard for everything and anything.

Not sensitive, just tired of the same ol attitude that bikers have.

The statistics don't bear out your observations. Too many cyclists are killed by motorists, of course, but statistically, 80% of car/bike crashes are found to be the fault of the motorist. The number of people killed by cyclists is close to zero. Cyclists are perhaps perceived as acting in a hazardous fashion because they aren't surrounded by a steel cage. I don't know.

I see all road users doing dumb and illegal things all the time. When it suits us, we all break the road rules pretty much all the time. There are no good guys or bad guys, it's just that the consequences for pedestrains, cyclists and motorcyclists are often much greater.

This is my interpretation of being in the shoes of a motorcyclist on the M25.

im happy sitting in the outside lane in the flowing traffic, doing about 75mph. Actually think ill whizz up the inside to get up the traffic a bit, only doing 90mph not too fast then. Bored again think ill pull back into the outside lane right in front of this chap, piss him off a bit. Ooh theres a clear bit two lanes over to my left, ill whizz over there and get up the traffic a bit. Right lets get back to the outside lane and yes he will be the one for me to cut up this time. Traffics slowing down, time to get out onto the white line and slid up the inside of these vehicles, but i must put my hazards on because that will protect me. Oi bloody van and car are squashing me, a quick kit on the side of the car should sort that, and let me gesture my disgust to that car driver while i undertake them. 

And yes i know its raining but i can see fine

Winky

we have had this conversation before and our views differ. But i agree mostly with what you say. When on my bike if i cycle like a nut case the chances are if i have an accident with a motor vehicle i'm very likely to come off badly. 

when im in my car I've more chance of surviving. I know this and would suggest I'm way more cautious on my bike than when driving. I said cautious, i did not say anything about paying attention.

I'm particularly senstive to the undertone that cyclists deserve to be murdered because they somehow "have it coming". The justification is that they are scofflaw risk takers who have the temerity to venture out onto "our roads" (without paying the pre-requisite taxes, licencing and insurance) and, gasp, break the road rules, don't wear a helmet and wear spandex (Just who do we think we are? Lance bloody Armstrong?).

Would that be bikers of all shapes, attitudes and sizes, bikers who also drive cars, bikers who also drive HGVs, bikers who cycle when they are not biking, bikers who cycle when they are not driving HGVs, bikers who cycle when they are not driving their cars or bikers who never get off their bikes and can therefore never be classified  pedestrians?

Winky, I don't want to be disrespectful but by god you read more into things than the person who wrote it intended.

I have to say i have never met anyone who does not do their utmost to avoid any form of collision, let alone someone who deliberately goes out of their way to mow cyclists down. 

All i can say is if I'm the one who's vulnerable then i take the necessary precautions to keep myself safe. I do not rely on others to do it for me. I do feel too many road users think that its everyone else's  responsibility not their own.

I wasn't meaning to imply that you meant this at all. Apologies. I'm sensitive to it, that's all. I've had people tell to my face that cyclists deserve what they get.

Your quote: "I do not rely on others to it for me."

Where we perhaps differ is that I passionately belive that we should look out for each other, not just look out for our own interests. Accordingly, I think it is enitrely reasonable to expect that motorists pay attention, get off their bloody phones, don't speed, indicate before truning, look before opening their car doors into my path, don't overtake where it is unsafe to do, don't "right hook" me etc. So it p!$$e$ me off that so many don't.

I also believe that they should be held fully accountable for their behaviour when undertaking what is the single most dangerous thing that most people do on a day-to-day basis. The penalties for murdering cyclists and pedestrians are laughable. It's often just considered an "oopsie". If motorists can't be expected to drive with due care and attention (and many don't) then we've really lost the plot.

If you've not encountered motorosts who deliberatly try to hurt cyclists, you've not ridden in Australia.