Signaling is good. Signaling at the appropriate time is even better. Driving down the highway for miles with the blinker on… that’s another problem. Many drivers are lost in their own world to know there actually people in all those other cars and trucks!
My dad was 47 years old when he purchased his first car with turning signals. The year was 1951 and the car he purchased was a 1949 Dodge. He adapted to them right away and using the turning signals became automatic. He would even signal a turn at the end of our driveway as he pulled out onto the road.
His only complaint about the turning signals on the 1949 Dodge was that the click wasn’t audible. For some strange reason, the Dodge had the flasher unit under the hood. His later cars had the flasher under the dashboard where the click was audible and he thought that was an improvement. I never understood what is so difficult about using turning signals or why anyone would be annoyed with the clicking sound of the flasher.
In most states, it is the law that you are required to use your turn signal when changing lanes, turning into another street or road, turning off the road (as in a driveway). It is not a matter of law rather than preference.
Pretty much every state requires that you signal your turn.
I was really disappointed to hear Tom and Ray condone not using turn signals in a ‘tun only’ lane. I realize it’s obvious to people who use the road and intersection frequently, and should be obvious to traffic behind them, but those are the only people you can hope to know you’re making that turn. The disuse of turn signals is one of my biggest pet peeves, especially as a cyclist! I have been hit by cars on more than one occasion because a motorist doesn’t see me coming up behind them, and so makes a turn in front of me. I realize that’s an isolated incident, but for the benefit of EVERYONE around the car, turn signals have to be used! I’m glad the caller realized that if he made an exception for the ‘turn only’ lanes which should be more clear than other situations, he may start forgetting to signal at other times.
If his wife doesn’t like listening to the ticking of the turn signal, I would encourage her to imagine how annoyed she’d feel if she, or someone she knew, was hit by a car while biking because the motorist couldn’t be bothered to use a turn signal.
I have just a quick comment on the turn signal discussion from the March 10, 2012 show. I keep my turn signal off while waiting in the designated turn lane but I turn it on when I actually pull into the intersection to make the turn. This way, I avoid the irritating clicking while waiting and I alert the oncoming traffic of my intentions when it comes time to make the turn.
Of all the possible things your callers could ask, the question that requires no answer was finially asked. The caller was asking about using the turn signal while in a marked and signed turn-only lane. Says his wife gets quiet when waiting at a light, the ticking ticks her off!
I have heard many many reasons why people will not use their signal, i.e. the other drivers cut you off, my hands are full of food/drink/phone, no one is around to see it…
Unfortunately I have only ever found that the law of land clearly says you must signal when changing lanes. Period. It does not list any exceptions as to when you can fore go this instruction. This is also “high” on the list as to why people run into each other or have a “panic” moment. Please continue to tell your callers. You must signal when turning or changing lanes. (don’t even get me started with the idiots who go 70 and NEVER signal a lane change)End of discussion.
Do people really go through an entire conscious thought process like that every time they could potentially use their blinker? “Is the lane clearly marked? Is there a risk to pedestrians? Any bicyclists around? Are there cops watching?” I always use my blinker, it’s automatic, and I don’t have to think about it. If the sound of the blinker bugs you that much, I suspect you were likely on the verge of a breakdown anyway, and not using your blinker is only delaying the inevitable meltdown.
The answer to the question is not “use your blinker” or “don’t use your blinker”, it’s “time to book a cruise”!
For those who say “It’s the law” should check their individual state to be sure. The state of Maryland has repealed that law decades back… and it has made everyone in the state, which has an official crustation of the Chesapeake blue crab, crabbier ever since!
jcooperrider has it right. Many people in the dedicated turn lane do not mean to turn and will suddenly dart into the straight-through lane, endangering all around them. Your signal indicates your intention to turn and is necessary to notify those passing that you will not suddenly pull into their lane.
You guys are nuts. The argument that it should be obvious is totally irresponsible thinking. There is SOOOO much going on on the roadways these days that all it takes is one split second to miss something important. And then someone is dead.
I was riding my 1970 Triumph Bonneville through the UC Berkeley campus one day when a kid (presumably a student) stepped right out in front of me as they ALL do at UC Berkeley, like they’re invincible. I yelled at him "you may have the right of way, but if I hit you, you die, not me."
Moral of story - just because you’re right doesn’t make it right. Besides, in this case…YOU"RE WRONG!!!
In my state, cars built and sold after a certain date (I think it was 1956) were required to have turning signals. However, many cars in the late 1940s and early 1950s were sold without turning signals today. The 1947 Pontiac and the 1948 Dodge cars that I once owned didn’t have turning signals, although I did buy aftermarket kits and installed the signals. I did license the cars to drive before I installed the turning signal kits. I wonder if the law exempts cars that were manufactured before turning signals were required or if the cars must be updated with turning signals. If the cars don’t have to be updated, this would solve Bob’s wife’s problem with being annoyed by the clicking of the turning signal flasher unit, although it might be more annoying if he had to give hand signals and roll down the window in zero degree weather.
I do know that the school bus I rode didn’t have turning signals, but had to be updated when it became a law for commercial vehicles to have turning signals.
I may not have construed my idea in my previous post (hence the “off topic” badge). I was saying that people should always use their signals as a courtesy to other drivers, and to help save lives, maybe even their own. And further more, think about what’s happening around you. If you’re going 50 mph you should put it on sooner than if you’re going 35 mph.
Keep it simple: using a turn signal in a dedicated turn lane is the law in Illinois where Bob from Deerfield is from.
But you guys totally missed it: this guy has been married 55 years. To the SAME woman. He must be doing something right. If a wife doesn’t like to hear the click and clack noise of the turn signal, why don’t you tell Bob how to disconnect the sound of the clicks and clacks?
Love and kisses to you both,
MarthaBaby
I know I’m going to get some disagreements here, but I’ll say this anyway: I agree with CharlieTallahassee, jangirl, and Mahon about the compromise on keeping turn signals going while stopped at a light in a dedicated turn lane. Don’t get me wrong, I fully agree that turn signals must always be used for making lane changes and turns; however, when I’m sitting in a long line of stopped traffic in a left-turn lane with a red light, I most often cancel my signal AFTER moving into the turn lane AND coming to a complete stop; then, when the light turns green and I see that I’ll be making an imminent turn, I’ll turn the blinker back on. It makes no sense to me to keep a turn signal going for 3-5 minutes while stopped at a light, because you’ve already made your move into the turn lane, and keeping the signal on just puts extra wear on your bulbs and flasher unit and will only cause these items to burn out prematurely; the clicking doesn’t bother me at all, but quite frankly, I’m in NO HURRY to need to go to the local Advance Auto Parts store to buy a new flasher unit or new bulb(s); I’d rather save my blinkers for situations when I truly need them. Make no mistake, I believe in safety, for sure, but I’m also about saving money. Besides, if I can avoid or postpone having to stick my arm out the window to make a hand signal because the blinker has become defective, it’s a good thing. And another thing, I think many drivers these days could easily mistake a hand signal for waving at someone.
Triedaq, in an older thread I mentioned that I once owned a 1947 Oldsmobile; this car, like your '47 Pontiac and '48 Dodge, did not have have turn signals; it also lacked seatbelts and a license tag light. When I bought it I was living in Virginia, and was able to get it tagged and insured “as is”, signal lights weren’t required due to the car’s vintage. I quite well remember having to use hand signals out the side window when signalling a turn.
Bob’s wife complaining abot the click and clack noise of the turning signal flasher reminds me of a complaint about the Rolls Royce back in the early 1950s: the clock ticked too loudly. Of course, the clock tick seemed too loud because the car was too quiet. What Bob needs to do is have a powerful sound system installed in the car with a very loud bass speaker. This would do two things: 1) it would drown out the sound of the turning signal flasher; 2) it would blow out his wife’s eardrums so she wouldn’t hear the turning signal flasher. If Bob has been married for 55 years to a woman who complains about something is trivial as the turning signal flasher, he is probably deaf anyway.
@Drifter62 Your 1947 Oldsmobile had the parking lights built into the uprights of the front bumper as is shown in the picture below. If the turning signal shared the same location as the parking light, I’m not certain how visible the turning signals would be from the front. It would, in my opinion, been better to have had the turning signal indicators at the extermities of the front of the car.
I can’t believe your 1947 Oldsmobile didn’t have a license tag light. Even my Dad’s 1939 Chevrolet had a license plate light. The 1947 Oldsmobile 66 and 68 had the license plate mounted on the trunk in the same place where it was mounted on my 1947 Pontiac and my 1947 Pontiac had a license plate light. The 1947 Oldsmobile 76 and 78 series had the license plate mounted on the back bumper with a horizontal bar over the license plate as did the Buicks of this time period. I know that the the Buicks had license tag lights and I would bet that the upper series Oldsmobiles did as well. Your license plate light may have been removed by a previous owner. I have attached pictures of a 60 series 1947 Oldsmobile and a 70 series 1947 Oldsmobile.
I also find the sound of the blinker a bit annoying after awhile. I leave my signal on if last or first in the turn lane at a red light, otherwise I’ll wait for light to turn green to activate it. If I’m in the middle of a line of cars all turning the same way no one else will see it until then anyhow.
This is more concerned with BF Skinner than Dan Mathews.
With regard to the turn signal call this past Saturday, you may want to read the introduction (free on the web) of the book called, “The uncommon reason of Digby Delgado” by W. Jimminy Branford III. While turn signals should not be used in obvious turning lanes (where there is no place to go but to turn), drivers who don’t use turn signals to “signal” their intentions prior to turning or entering a marked turning lane should have their front wheels locked to prevent all future turns. This would eliminate much confusion, road rage, highway murders, and rear end collisions. There are also other practical driving suggestions in this section.