Sometimes when approaching a sharp curve in a road, I accidentally, absent-mindedly put on my turn signal.
When someone you are driving behind does this, does it bother you? If so, why?
I do this also. It seems like a lot of the neighborhoods where I live have streets that dead end into each other, but without an intersection. I am always using my turn signal on these corners, even though there is no other way to go except through someone’s lawn.
It does not bother me, because I figure the person is just like me.
I don’t do this every time, but I do pretty regularly.
I do this too, mostly in my own neighborhood.
The neighborhood where our Post Office is at has a street with a very sharp curve. There’s a stop sign there (to keep people from driving through the house at the corner of this curve I guess) and I always always put on my signal when I stop there.
It only bothers me if you also come to a stop (or nearly do), like you think you’re turning at an intersection or something and need to check for traffic. I was behind someone that did that this morning.
Does not bother me AT ALL. I can also totally see why the (excellent, laudable, to-be-encouraged) turn-signal instinct might fire off in that situation. If only the instinct could be installed in all drivers by default.
I do it on a road that has a couple curves about like you would find at an intersection. You have to go about 20 miles per hour or less to make the curves when the road conditions are great.
I have done this a couple of times on a local back road.
I’d much rather see someone do this than the people who don’t use them at all.
I’m glad to hear this.
I was afraid this was going to turn out to be one of those things that starts sanctimonious fights on the SDMB. 
Anyway, I asked because a passenger in my car told me that I was a terrible person for doing this, and, well, we kind of got in an actual fight about it. So I wanted to check my intuitions.
They said you were a terrible person for accidentally signaling on a forced turn? I didn’t realize your personal integrity was at stake here. :rolleyes:
I do this too, and I’m embarrassed when I do, for no other reason than I know I look like an idiot. 
Um, I’m lost. Why would you put on your turn signal when the road bends?
Shoulda turned that passenger into a pedestrian. 
It wouldn’t bother me at all.
I’d take it as a sign from the car in front of me that they may be slowing to make a tight turn. A precursor to brake lights.
Because you go through all the same mental and physical preparations that you do for turning into another road, so you automatically indicate as a part of that process.
And yes, when I see someone do it, I smile because I know exactly what they’ve done! I see no reason to think badly of the person who does it, that’s weird.
Oh, I guess I don’t. I think of it as staying on the same road because I am. Never occurred to me to signal when I’m staying on the same road, in the same lane. I guess people are different. :dubious:
This seems to be a lot like what my passenger was saying–sans moral judgment of course.
The passenger seemed to think of signalling as something that in every case consciously occurs to you before you do it. Meanwhile, for me, signaling is usually something that I do unconsciously and reflexively when I am approaching an intersection.
So since for me it’s a reflex, its fairly easy for the act to be accidentally “triggered” in circumstances that resemble turns.
But for you and my passenger, it appears it’s not a reflex–it’s something you think about before doing it–and so it makes little sense for you (or my passenger) to talk about this action somehow being “triggered accidentally.”
The… passionate discussion… that ensued involved the question how much conscious thought and how much reflex is appropriate to the activity of driving. I believe that it’s got to be mostly reflex, or else you’re likely to be distracted by unimportant things, and so likely to be unsafe. My passenger thought exactly the opposite–that if you’re not constantly, consciously thinking about what you’re doing, you’re likely to miss something important and are likely to be unsafe.
(I’m actually paraphrasing a whole lot here and perhaps doing a bit of unjustified mindreading.)
Next time you’re driving her somewhere and she attempts to start a conversation cut her off with “Shhhhhh!!! Can’t you see I’m trying to drive here!”
I can kind of see where your passenger is coming from, but I think parts of the driving task have to be reflexive. There is much, much too much going on that you need to respond to.
I think about this whenever I have to use my horn. On my 1998 Civic, there are two little horn buttons on the steering wheel, one on each side – NOT in the middle, where every horn button has been on every other car I’ve ever driven. After having this car for six or seven years now, I can reliably hit the damn button in time for it to have an effect on whatever driver I’m honking at. For the first year, I kept hitting the middle of the wheel (where the airbag lives) and panicking a little. Then, for a few years, I would remember that the horn wasn’t in the middle, but not know quite exactly where to hit without looking or thinking about it – and of course you don’t have time to look or think about it if you need it.
I believe that the more you can safely habitualize about driving, the fewer things you need to think about when something goes wrong. If your automatic “Turn Subroutine” code includes checking your mirrors, looking over your shoulder to cover the blind spot, and whapping the turn signal, it’s all to the good if you suddenly have to think about the semi edging into your lane.
I wonder… does your passenger ever drive a manual shift? If so, does she think about the pedal/stick coordination every time?
A lot of driving is reflexive. Something jumps in front of you, for example, you brake, and don’t give it much thought. Signaling floats somewhere between conscious thought and reflex for me, but I don’t believe my reflexes would tell me to signal that I’m turning onto another road when I’m not.
You’re both right. No, you’re both wrong. I like that phrasing better. Good reflexes are obviously important; I’ll feel free to use the braking example again, because it works here. You shouldn’t be making a decision about stopping. You should just do it. Conversely, relying too heavily on reflexes when driving is also unsafe. I had a friend once rear end someone this way. She was fidgeting with her radio at a red light, while peripherally looking up to see when the light had turned green. She noticed something was green in front of her, and instinctively pressed the accelerator. I made fun of her for it at the time, then something similar happened to me some years later. My instincts were to accelerate when seeing something flash green in front of me, but unlike her, I didn’t. I saw that the green flashing was a car, and left my foot on the brake. Now of course someone will say “But that’s different. Your friend just wasn’t paying attention, which is never good.” True enough, but that’s not my point, which is depending on reflexes may lead you to miss something. Something important that someone whose driving is more deliberate would have noticed. Also, if you’re too deliberate, you may not be able to act in time if something happens. Something important. So that’s what I think. Reflexes + conscious decisions = safer driving.
To answer the OP’s question, I’ve not seen people do this. If I did, I’d probably think, “What the hell is he signaling for? Where is he going?” and not much else. I’ve seen enough left turn signals left on indefinitely in the far left highway lane that I’ve come to think of gratuitous signaling as something people just do.