I've always done it as well. I used to see my dad doing it when I was young, and naturally it just passed onto me.

OP, I feel the same way you do when you're the only one flashing high beams to warn others, and it seems like nobody gets it.

I do it and I've been saved tickets by others doing it to me.

Buses apparently have this system, i think. Just driving tonight down 49th and letting multiple buses in after they pulled over at a stop, they then double flashed their hazards. And I knew what it meant from reading your post. Seems like a hassle though, for cars that don't have that, or for ones where the hazard button is kinda out of the way.

It is just the left coast. I've noticed most people don't warn here, while in Ontario/Quebec it was more common.

Or give the "whirly bird" aka 1 finger straight up and make a few circles.

or that too...depends on what im doing..

i always flash my highbeams if i see a speed trap, somebody else did this before and saved me a ticket

I do both the High beam and the hazard thank you. Ppl in the states r more receptive to these gestures. Ppl in van r generally quite clueless. I had a frd who went apeshit on the highway cuz someone highbeam him. Told him to slow down and sure enough, 30 secs later we saw a popo.
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couple times a person on the opposite side flashed their headlights and warned me. Thanks to them, they saved me, but then I already knew that those places are high risk for speed traps.

Once was heading southbound on granville. There was a cop around 49th ave just lurking.

Second time was today at the bottom of the knight bridge this afternoon, cops on motorbikes were catching ppl speeding down to the bridge towards richmond.

I flash my highbeams for roadblocks and speedtraps.

If your headlights are off and I'm in front of or coming towards you, I switch my lights off and on.

If you let me into traffic, I flash my hazards.

If you're behind me and your signal is on, I'll do the same signal, followed by hazards.

If you're highbeaming me on the freeway, be prepared to go 50.

If you're driving slow in the passing lane and I have to pass you on the right, I'll signal right and go left.

I've flashed high-beams on 16th before going Westbound near UBC. Unfortunately, I was pulled over by a speed trap on my side and the officer threatened me with "Obstructon of Justice" and gave me a warning. Doh!

Ahaha, I was going down SFU and was high beaming traffic to warn them about cops.

Next day my DRL was burnt out.

I tap the brakes to let the guys behind me know that there's a cop ahead. Or generally if it's a high risk area for speed traps.

I got pulled over for this before..... The cop said I could choose between a malfunctioning headlight, or warning others or a speed trap... I went with the later and he let me off...gave me a big speech about just trying to save lives. I asked him how many people have died on the SFU mountain:troll:

i understand everything you posted and agree except for this... Why 50? I'm going to assume you are in the passing lane, in which case you should move over. If you're on the slow lane, that's another story.

i thought these were all common knowledge for all drivers out there

At first I never knew about these signals until one day someone told me about the warning for speedtraps. Then less than a month later I noticed a fee cars high beaming me while coming done cypress and there was a speed trap.
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Yea this is something that was passed down to me by my father as well.

I flash highbeam, indicating speedtrap ahead, or just a Police car and telling them to slow down.
I do tap my brakes warning those behind me.

I also do the hazards as a thank you or throw up the peace sign.

I also flash my high beams to warn ppl in the opposite direction. let's spread the word and try to get this happening more often, hehe.

When I was a kid I remember my parents seeing this all the time when we were on the highway. Nowadays I rarely see it. It has saved me a ticket once though, people got mad that I slowed down on the highway and ripped past, only to get pulled into a huge speedtrap (there's a prime spot here that they use a few times every summer).

My methods are:

-toggle highbeams fast at oncoming traffic if there's police ahead/any kind of reason to slow down (stalled car, etc)
-put on the hazards when I'm at the back of slow moving traffic
-toggle my highbeams slowly if I'm behind you and your lights aren't on at night (has gotten me yelled at and flipped off a lot though...*sigh* I'm just trying to help!)
-take my foot off the brake and slowly toggle my lights on and off if I'm in front of you at a light and your lights are off
-just barely touch the brake pedal to light up my brake lights (without actually braking if I feel you're tailgating

I've never heard of/seen the hazards as a thanks for merging before, but I'll add it to my usual wave.

i do this all the time too, i've thought about highbeaming but i didn't think anyone would get me, they'd just think they have their own highbeams on or sth.... *sighh* c-lai's....

I only do it to other riders...either than that too many drivers in Richmond don't even bother looking when getting honked at, so why would they understand what high beaming is
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Always do it when I'm riding too, never on a car. I really don't see a point high beaming since people don't even seem to give a shit in Richmond when I honk at them...they don't even look, so obviously they're not even aware that there are other drivers
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i high beam people if there's a trap ahead.

i high beam people if they are going too damn slow in the fast lane.

i highbeam people who put HIDs in reflectors or have their highbeams on for no reason and it blinds the crap out of me.

Yup. A lot of people do it for SFU. I have been saved many times. :)
I do the same for others to slow down as well.
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I always feel warm and fuzzy when I get the hazard double-flash by the bus drivers for letting them in :p