It is so difficult to adapt technology to compensate for human flaws. The human should make decisions while driving that will increase the chances of a safe outcome for her and the other drivers. So many humans do not consider the fact that each choice and action will either increase or decrease the chance of a crash-free commute.
What are most drivers concerns while driving? Millions of other topics, seldom safety. Or maybe not. My friend from NYC does not use turn signals because she wants to be safe from someone following her and attacking her. I am not kidding. She thinks a man will know from her turn signals where she is going and use that info attack. So is it really that bad to drive in Brooklyn?
Because most roads in the world aren’t part of a checkerboard pattern.
If you want to deliberately follow somebody then it’s not hard to figure out after they make a turn that they made a turn. It’s not like the lack of a turn signal is going to foil them (“Wait! There was no turn signal! Where did she go?!?”). (That doesn’t even take into account the likelihood that someone would actually follow her.)
Yes…here’s the obligatory 
That would be a big surprise to the majority of drivers around here.
There are driving instructors around hear /teaching/ people “Look over your shoulder, then put the turn signals on, then diverge”.
I understand what they are saying: “you pay so little attention that you;ve got no idea where the other cars are, so you shouldn’t decide to diverge until you have checked”. But they are obviously missing three points:
(1) You should be checking for other vehicles all the tiime, not just when you plan to diverge.
(2)You should have enough time to check over your sholder after you turn your indicators on.
(3) Your indictors are to warn other drivers: they don’t control what you decide to do. If you decide it’s not safe to diverge, you don’t, even if you’ve already indicated.
anyway, the effect of the training is that people check if it is safe to diverge, and if it, diverge and put their indicators on. You can see them decide to diverge, drift, swerve as they do the shoulder check, diverge and indicate.
The real problem is that the blinker fluid used to operate the signals is scarce and expensive. So drivers tend to wait to use their signals until the last minute - or omit it entirely - to conserve this scarce resource.
Also, in some areas, turning on your turn signals is viewed in much the same light (hah) as waving a red flag in front of a bull: it’s a challenge to all the nearby cars to do their best to get in your way.
At least, that’s how it appears whenever I go out for a drive. Me, I’m a spendthrift and I use that blinker fluid without limits.
More seriously: yeah, there’s no use in having the signals come on automatically when you turn the wheel. I assume that the self-driving cars (or regular ones that have some self-driving abilities) have some mechanism to turn them on automatically.
I’m about 85% certain that even if cars came equipped with anticipatory turn signals that somehow knew where you were going to turn and when, people around here would find a way to disconnect it.
I want to go further, and have car that is connected to your bank account that will automatically debit money from your account if you turn without having signaled a short time before (maybe 2 seconds?). Each time the amount debited would increase, perhaps decreasing over the long term. That way the financial penalty for emergency evasive action would be trivial, but for habitual nonsignaling would quickly become substantial and deterring.
You’ve never driven on roads with curves? In lanes that are dedicated to turns only? Etc. Sheesh.
Anyway: my example of the day of why this is a bad idea:
I was behind one of those idiots who would drift to the left when the person in front of them started turning left. This happened repeatedly. Went over the line a few times.
With an auto-turn signal this would have been very misleading.
No. No. NO!!! Late turn signals make me stabby. They are* far *worse.
When there’s no turn signal at all there is at least a chance that the driver forgot or it’s broken. When a driver turns the signal on late it usually means the person is so simple-minded they don’t even realize what turn signals are for. It’s like they think they need to flip the switch as they turn or otherwise the steering wheel locks up or the engine explodes or their hair falls out. They do it merely out of superstition or because their parents did it that way (but who knows why?) They show zero appreciation of the reasons for, or benefits of, signalling to other drivers that they are about to turn into their path.
Yes Virginia, there is a Sanity Clause.
I like the one where I am following behind someone, and they just, completely out of the blue, start slowing down. The fuck? I’m thinking they’re having a cardiac event or something. Then they get to the point where they’ve almost stopped… then turn on their fucking blinkers.
I’d rather they didn’t bother with the blinker at that point. I’m just assuming that they’re using it now to underscore the fact that they’re a complete and unrepentant asshole.
Tesla does this, currently only on the highway when using “Navigate on Autopilot”. It will pass slower vehicles, or switch lanes to navigate interchanges or take an exit for you. It signals and waits a short time before making any of these maneuvers.
The path Tesla is taking here to to incrementally add more driver assist features and collect a ton of data as they progress toward self driving. The SAE defines a standard for levels of vehicle autonomy, the first three levels of which are various levels of driver assist.
This annoys me too. But this thread—and the OP’s question in particular—are making me wonder whether turn signals are broadly misunderstood. That is, maybe a plurality of people are reasoning by analogy from brake lights: brake lights exist to make it unambiguous that you’re braking, so turn signals must exist to make it unambiguous that you’re turning.
I think that’s absurd—turn signals indicate intent, or so it seems to me. But if lots of people believed that you signal to show that you are actively turning, that would explain a lot of the behavior I see on the roads.
I suspect that driver semiotics aren’t as commonly understood as we tend to imagine. For example, I grew up with the understanding that, upon encountering a driver blocking the fast lane, one may flash one’s lights to convey, “I intend to pass you. Please move to the right.” Most drivers with any situational awareness move over reasonably quickly. But about 5% of the slower drivers get irate at being flashed once. They gesticulate wildly and extend middle fingers. On rare occasions, they’ll attempt to brake-check me. These drivers must be interpreting a brief flash of the lights as a very aggressive signal—they must see it as much more aggressive than most drivers do.
If interpretations of one blinkenlight signal can be so divergent, maybe interpretations of another—turn signals—diverge more than I thought.
Not very well, according to Consumer Reports.
nm
No. She’s just insane.
Until there’s an emergency, of course, and then, SPLAT!!!