# Changing lanes? Signal properly **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 19, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030 "2016-10-19T15:15:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/1 "2016-10-19T15:15:31Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/2 "2016-10-19T15:19:27Z")
Around here, that is considered giving aid and comfort to the enemy. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Terrific](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tom_terrific/32/342_2.png) [@Tom\_Terrific](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Terrific)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/3 "2016-10-19T15:32:45Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/4 "2016-10-19T15:38:42Z")
Why would I want to alert anyone about what I was going to do? I know better than that. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/5 "2016-10-19T16:15:57Z")
> [@Tom\_Terrific](#): > > I live in rural North Carolina, if you see a turn signal used it has probably been on since the car was bought. Yet every goddamned four-way stop turns into a politeness retardathon. POLITENESS DOESN’T TRUMP THE RULES OF THE ROAD you frickin’ Carolinians. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/6 "2016-10-19T16:50:07Z")
I think _some_ of the rules of the road are pretty polite… ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/7 "2016-10-19T17:08:04Z")
> [@Tom\_Terrific](#): > > 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. Naaah, already in the late 80s nobody ever signaled around the parts of Martland where I lived. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/8 "2016-10-19T17:12:23Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/9 "2016-10-19T17:53:54Z")
Maybe I’m going to change lanes. Maybe I’m not. Either way, I don’t see how it’s any of your business. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/10 "2016-10-19T18:16:13Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > Yet every goddamned four-way stop turns into a politeness retardathon. POLITENESS DOESN’T TRUMP THE RULES OF THE ROAD you frickin’ Carolinians. My mother would say, “better to be wrong than dead.” ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/11 "2016-10-19T18:35:20Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > 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. In a lot of places, including here, if you are in a “turn only” lane, there’s no requirement to use a signal. It would be redundant. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/12 "2016-10-19T19:00:58Z")
There really should be (requirements), though. Signals are viewable from an equal vertical plane. Road markings (and signs) are often not. ---
**Author:** ![NeonMadman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@NeonMadman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeonMadman)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/13 "2016-10-19T19:52:27Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/14 "2016-10-19T21:29:24Z")
“I need never indicate my intentions I can stop and go and turn just as I please For I am the emperor of the highway” Todd Rundgren ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/15 "2016-10-19T22:14:22Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > In a lot of places, including here, if you are in a “turn only” lane, there’s no requirement to use a signal. It would be redundant. How does the oncoming traffic know which opposing lanes are turn-only? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/16 "2016-10-19T22:25:43Z")
> [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/17 "2016-10-20T01:48:54Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/18 "2016-10-20T12:30:56Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > 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. People in small towns don’t bother to signal because everybody know where they’re going. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/19 "2016-10-20T12:44:29Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > In a lot of places, including here, if you are in a “turn only” lane, there’s no requirement to use a signal. It would be redundant. Folk should use the turn signal at least to show their intent to move into the turn only lane even if they don’t use it to signal the turn itself. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030/20 "2016-10-20T13:57:57Z")
> [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > How does the oncoming traffic know which opposing lanes are turn-only? 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. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changing-lanes-signal-properly/769030.md?page=2)