It happens on city streets, county roads, and interstates. Drivers want to change lanes – fine. It’s perfectly legal.
But why the fuck do they begin to change lanes, then click their signal one time halfway through the lane change?!
Here’s what you do: signal before you change lanes. Not during the lane change.
Is that so fucking hard?
Oh, and I’d rather you not use your signal at all than use it improperly like a moron. At least if you don’t use it at all, I can still tell you’re changing lanes.
I live in rural North Carolina, if you see a turn signal used it has probably been on since the car was bought. No one uses turn signals for actual turns let alone changing lanes.
I do believe that since the use of cell phones has become so common the usage of turn signals has declined. I see it often, people driving with the cell phone in one hand and steering with the other.
Near here, there’s a main road with a central turning lane. I’ve seen people get into the turning lane, wait to make their turn, THEN their signal goes on.
I think it’s plain laziness. Why move your arm twice, when you can simply swipe the signal lever as you turn the wheel? It’s pretty routine here in New Jersey, for actual turns as well as lane changes.
When I was younger and lived in Massachusetts, it would have gotten you a ticket there for failing to signal. Hitting the signal after you’ve started the turn doesn’t count; we’ve already figured out what you’re doing by then.
And mind the solid white lines. Try not to cross them.
My wife and I life on a VERY rural road. It gets our attention when anyone else drives down it. There is one other house on it. But, slowing down to 5mph to get up our driveway, we still signal. Force of habit.
And while we’re on the topic of changing lanes. Don’t change lanes in front of me unless you can do so while leaving a safe following distance. The simplest way to figure this out? You should see both of my headlights in your rearview mirror. You absolutely should not start crossing the dashed lines when any part of your car is still beside any part of mine!
The keep right except to pass rule that we have on our highways does not negate the need to change lanes safely and give way to traffic that was already in the lane you wish to merge with.
Imagine an intersection where traffic faces each other. Each direction has three lanes with accompanying traffic lights. From your perspective, you have left turn only, straight, and right turn only. For the left turn only lane, the traffic light specifically signals when you can turn. In my area, that means the left turn only signal is a red arrow, meaning left turn only. When you are allowed to turn left, it turns a flashing yellow (turn with caution), or green (you have the right of way). Oncoming traffic has corresponding traffic lights–if your left turn light is green, then oncoming traffic will have the red signal.
Also, it involves common sense and observation. When my daughters were learning to drive, I told them driving is like dancing. Done right, it can be a thing of beauty and grace, and no one gets hurt. If something goes wrong (turning left into oncoming traffic, tailgating, changing lanes when it’s not safe, etc.) people get hurt or killed.
That’s why the cliche is driving is a privilege, not a right.
My original point is that it’s useless to begin changing lanes, then signal. It’s like slapping someone in the face, then warning them they might get slapped.