Hazard lights are not a place to stop

A hazard warning is a message, not a bay. This week the desk watched the same drop-off do the same thing: a car stops in the moving line, the lamps flash, a door opens toward the traffic, and a child steps out between two vehicles. The button had been pressed. The lane had not been cleared.

The lamp is the easy part

The switch is small and the car becomes obvious. That is useful on a hard shoulder, where the flash tells other drivers that this car is in trouble and staying put. It is a poor substitute for pulling into a place that was actually meant for stopping. We watched drivers treat the flash as permission. The car behind still had somewhere to go, and the flashing car was in that somewhere.

A number plate you can read does not help if the door opens into the lane. The child is not looking at the plate. The child is looking for the pavement, and the gap is the width of an open door.

The bag makes the stop longer

The boot was often why the car had stopped where it stopped. A coat, a sports kit, a bag that would not come out of the front. If that comes through the back while the car sits in the lane, the stop gets longer and the flash gets more confident. The bag can wait until the car is in the bay marked for it. A phone in the driver's hand makes the same stop longer still. The lamp cancels neither one.

What we will keep

We will not call a flashing car a parked car. The list stays short: a place that is actually for stopping, a door that opens toward the pavement, and a bag that stays shut until the car is there. The button can wait.