Ask Bob’s wife if she likes paying for moving violations vs. buying that new whatever she has had her eye on for herself because its the law in many many states is that the intention has to be indicated. Bob’s wife warrants a pair of foam ear plugs.
Bob you won this one!
" 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 "
Then don't pass on the right.
She’s annoyed by the clicking sound? Wow. Just wow.
Use your turn signal and turn the radio up. Problem solved.
I shouldn’t do this, but I’m going too anyway. Using your turn signals is a courtesy to other drivers, not a safety issue.
Other drivers do not need to know you intentions except in the case when you are on a two lane road and are slowing down for a left turn and the driver behind you is intent on passing, but last week that idiot driver still pulled out to pass me as I started my left turn, and my signals were on.
When you are coming up to an intersection where someone is at the stop sign waiting to pull out and you are going to turn right, a signal is a nice courtesy, but it is not guarantee of safety. Right after my son got is license, he was waiting to pull out and the car coming from his right had is right turn signal on, so my son pulled out.
It was a case of 16 vs 75 and the geezer didn’t realize that his signal was on, but it doesn’t matter, my son violated his right of way and was cited, and he learned a lesson.
Whether you use a signal or not, you are responsible for your driving. If you are turning left, you must wait until the on coming traffic clears so the on coming traffic really has no need to see your signal. But the law is the law and I will follow the law. But use of signals does not constitute a safety issue, just a courtesy.
keith wrote:
Using your turn signals is a courtesy to other drivers, not a safety issue.
More than once, when someone has moved into my lane without seeing my car there, I’ve been able to get out of the way because their turn signal alerted me to be ready for that to happen. Please explain how their use of a turn signal didn’t improve safety in that situation.
“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.””
Let’s look at that. According to you the pedestrian had the right of way, and you threatened him with death (not a sure thing in a motorcycle/pedestrian collision).
Moral of story - just because you’re wrong doesn’t make it right. Besides, in that case…YOU were WRONG!!!
A couple a things here:
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Good/Safe driving is all about good habits, as has been stated several times.
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Predictability: My mother always warned me about being too predictable in daily life, and I see her point by now, but my dear mother’s advice doesn’t hold true on the road. Whether you’re behind the wheel of a car, straddling a bicycle seat, or just taking your ass [donkey] for a walk, making sure that Everyone else sharing the road with you at that time and place, knows what you’re going to do next, dramatically decreases your chances of being involved in an accident. The less guessing the better. And, I’ll bet there’s some actual scientific data to back that up.
Every effort you can possibly make to signal your intentions to other drivers is an effort toward reducing your possibility of an accident. That includes using directional signals in designated laft turn lanes. Those that do not, and those that wait until they’re actually turning, are not only violating the traffics laws (read yours if you doubt me), but also subjecting themselves to getting slammed in the rearend some night by aomeone with a few beers in their belly. It’s been estmated that one in ten drivers on the road are impaired to some extent by alcohol, and even police cars with flashing blue lightbars get slammed into. Sitting in the dedicated lane with no directional is, IMHO, foohearty.
By the way, if I’m cruising down the highway and come upon something like an accident (as I did the morning), I also activate my hazard flashers to warn upcoming vehicles that something is wrong. I’d rather do that than get slammed into by someone not paying attention.
I am a regular listener to your show. When I heard the turn lane discussion I had to check with my future son-in-law. He is a Virginia State trooper. Yes!!! As you have already been advised, you DO have to use your turn signal even in a dedicated turn lane. So sorry about the spouse that does not like the noise, but safety triumphs here.
lion9car, when the guy moved into your lane, he violated your right of way. Maybe he though that when he gave a turn signal, he then had the right of way. I see a flaw in your post though, if you could see their turn signal, they weren’t beside you. they were ahead of you. Did you speed up to cut them off?
I guess you’re not aware that many cars have turn signals on the side of the car or in the side mirror.
Originally signals were left arm straight out, left arm up and left arms down. Those signals served one primary purpose - to warn people that you were going to be slowing down. You do not use a turn signal when the road bends left or right, so why use it when you are flowing the lane as it turns left. Since you can make a u-turn from a left turn lane - this is the only time the signal should be used. In Florida the state law says that the turn signal must be on prior to slowing down before a turn - again because you are slowing down. Again, Just like people assume that you will bend to the left if you lane does so, they should assume you will follow the left turn lane - as the law requires.
Tell Clunk he needs to use turn signals. I have 2 instance I dealt with as a paramedic. I helped clean up an accident where a car got t-boned. The driver went straight through a turn lane. She said she never saw the signs or light. The other driver ASSUMED that, even though there was no turn signal, the other car was going to turn since it was in a turn lane with a light arrow. It put a passenger in critical condition and totaled both cars.
In the other, a motorcycle was in the turn lane without a turn signal late at night. A driver at the red light decided to run the light because the motorcycle wasn’t turning. The motorcycle turned in front of him and he hit and killed the motorcyclist.
Both of these are like most accidents, a chain of events. In both cases, had one of the drivers acted differently, the accident would not have happened, and using the turn signal or believing the other driver’s signaled intentions would do that. In each, one driver is clearly at fault, but the people are still dead.
“I guess you’re not aware that many cars have turn signals on the side of the car or in the side mirror”
That is a very small percentage of vehicles, not “many”. As for all the other “examples”, it is only speculation that the use of the turn signals would have made a difference.
Another solution to quiet the noise of the blinker is to do as my father in law did. He cut a tennis ball down one side & stuck the flasher unit inside it. I laughed when he did it but it worked! Cut the noise about in half, but still audible so you know it’s on.
cavychauffer, in your first example, what kind of signal do you give if you intend to go straight when you are in a left turn only lane? As for the motorcyclist, how many witnesses were there that the motorcyclist didn’t have his turn signal on? Anyone but the driver that ran the red light?