Iran is a society where an unmarried man and woman alone in a car together can trigger a ticking off, fine or worse if stopped by the Basij – a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. As well as the more common parks and shopping malls how else to meet the boy or girl of your dreams without falling foul of the authorities? For some younger driver’s Tehran’s car 2 car flirt culture has evolved to fill the niche.

Rules of the game? Pile in a car and head with your same sex possie to one of the city’s flirt strips, cruise up and down until you spot a likely target, being careful to pick a car that’s broadly your car’s equal and then aggressively use tail lights, fog lights and rear windscreen wipers to initiate the courting ritual. A response is equivilent to a pick-up and the cars cruise side by side to arrange later rendezvous through open windows and over the sound of preferred music tastes. Rapid excelleration and braking are optional.

Need a social excuse for getting out of the vehicle and interact face to face? Nudge someone elses car and swap personal details for ‘insurance purposes’. Iran as lead use case for anyone developing car to car communication solutions?

Cheers to our local guides for the heads-up.