I gave up a long time ago trying to get people to use turn signals. It doesn’t matter anyway, I 've learned that you can’t trust people’s turn signals. I have seen people signal a left turn and then turn right, I’ve seen people signal that they are turning right onto the road I am trying to pull out of, and then when I pull out, they don’t turn and get furious that I just pulled out in front of them. You can’t win!
Turn signals are such a habit with me I have found myself using them in my own driveway. I’m not saying I don’t forget them sometimes, but I use them more often than not.
People dont use turn signals because they’re moronic cunts.
If you use a turn signal everytime,even when you’ve decided in your wisdom that its not necessary because theres no one there(Oh shit !where did HE come from?) or that its totally bleeding obvious where your going “He should have known that I was going to turn left cos I’m going to the postoffice”! then you’ll do it by habit every single time and not forget it sometimes.
And funnily enough pedestrians look at turn signals and often decide on the strength of that
whether or not to cross the road but unfortunately because they’re not vehicular traffic some incredibly experienced and excellent drivers(I’ve been driving for forty years and have never had an accident!I’ve caused plenty and been oblivious of the fact but there you go )dont feel that they need to signal.
I’ll admit to not using my turn signal when there are absolutely no other cars or people in sight. But that still is generally bad practice, and doesn’t enforce the habit.
My Wife will use her turn signal when turning into our drive way. We are the only people that live on the road. When I see another car on the road, it’s an event (and at this time of year, would involve backing up to be able to get around each other with out getting stuck in the snow).
This is the part that drivers like Bearflag70 will never get. That those of us who drive safely do all these things out of habit, but they think we’re the minority*, and furthermore, that we’re wrong.
*Where I live, I’m willing to concede that we are the minority.
Ok, ok, Bearflag is an asshole, now let’s talk about me running red lights when no one is around.
I signal simply out of habit. I don’t think about it. I’m sure if I thought about it, I wouldn’t bother sometimes. Should I always bother? Yup. I should also not jaywalk. I should stop my bike at every stopsign (oh the fun pit threads we’ve already had on that one), and wait for that light to turn green even though it’s 3 in the morning and no one is around. I should also not speed, not even 0.5 mph over the limit.
I should have also not cut off that police car last summer :smack: . Luckily he was a better driver than I am.
But back to signaling, wtf is up with how my father changes lanes? No blind spot check, start drifting over, flip the signal on for ONE CLICK, then flip it off, and continue drifting over. :rolleyes: Might as well not bother.
It’s habit. It’s easier to maintain good driving habits if you do it every time, even when you *know *there’s nobody around to see and/or benefit from them.
It takes almost no effort. What would you do with the five seconds you’d save by blowing through the stopsign, anyway?
I just know that if I did blow through the stopsign, there’d be a cop hiding in the one place I couldn’t see, and I’d get a ticket… or there’d be a kid crossing in that spot, and I couldn’t see him if I didn’t slow down.
That’s exactly, almost word for word, what I was going to say.
To answer the OP, people who never use turn signals are self-centered assholes who don’t care about anyone else. That’s really the ONLY possible answer for never using your turn signals. You just don’t give a shit about anyone else on the road, and your the only one that matters.
If there’s room for me to merge and the gap isn’t already closing, I will signal a lane change and slowly start to merge. If the person behind the gap then starts closing the distance, I’m coming over immediately.
I’m gonna vote for “can’t have The Man tellin’ 'em what to do”. Here in the Houston area, not using turn signals, whether to indicate lane changes, or, you know, turns, is part and parcel with not turning on one’s lights until well past sunset, or passing on the right at a closing rate of 40 mph or more: it shows that you are master of your domain, and don’t do things just because all those other limp-wristed pussies do them.
It is dangerous to base one’s decision to signal on a cost-benefit analysis carried out at every moment of decision. Rather, it is best to make signalling reflexive. This both saves time and reduces the chance of error. (If you signal every time no matter what, then there’s no chance you will accidentally fail to signal when you should have. Meanwhile if you think about whether to signal everytime and sometimes don’t, there’s a chance you will decide not to when you should have–or decide to late.)
The answer to your hypothetical is “yes.” Absolutely. One poster has listed three points in favor of this policy* already, and I agree with each of them.
-FrL-
*Not really a “policy” to signal in such situations, rather, my policy is simply to do what I can to maintain an immediate, unthinking signalling reflex.
When I lived in Las Cruces, New Mexico, it seemed like a good deal of the natives eschewed turn signals.
A series of rants in the editorial pages of the local newspaper in the early 1990s revealed why. The response of several: "It’s none of your damn business to know where I’m driving.
On Michigan eways the fine for switching lanes without signaling is 75 bucks. I do not want to get pulled over and have to put up with a half hour of police crap for not doing such a simple thing. Why anyone would not use them is a mystery. It is safer.
I think my vehicle must have been a police car, or was intended to be one. I believe this because it has a malfunctioning cloaking device. You see, police cars have Klingon technology, and they use it to keep hidden near intersections or speed traps. If I were to run a red light or go a little over the speed limit–which is something I only ever do “when no one is around,” the police car will de-cloak and pull me over, even if the violation is minor.
Since people don’t want to sprain their wrists by flicking the turn signal lever unless it is absolutely necessary, and I see people with this problem all the time, I suspect that my car has a cloaking device that randomly turns off and on. That is why people think there are no cars around and decide not to waste a flick of the wrist. I see it all the time. I wonder if I should bring my car in for repairs. That malfunctioning cloaking device is going to get someone killed.
On the other hand, maybe I should install a light bar and siren and turn it on whenever I go somewhere. That way, it lets people know, “I’m here, you’re going to have to use that turn signal!” But I’m not sure if the cloaking device will also cloak the light bar. Any cops here that can answer that?
So are people who speed up to not let you cross a road, people who drive slow in the far left lane, people who tailgate, people who speed, people who don’t get UP to the speed limit, people who…
Oh…
damn…
All of us are assholes sooner or later. Well… good thing I have the moral high ground here…
Geez… yes people on the road make me mad as hell, but really? REALLY? We’re going to demonize a person for not using the turn signal when NO ONE is there?
I know I catch myself using the turn signal when I KNOW no one is there… one lane each way, no one around, stuff like that… know what? I feel like a dumb ass…
And I’d rather be on the road with a person who is THINKING about what they are doing rather than someone driving by rote - overall, it’s just a difference of about 1%, but y’know… when stuff happens, I trust the thinker…
Funny. I live in Denver. I change lanes all the time. I use my turn signals when changing lanes. Heck, there’s been times when there was no room to merge & I put my turn signal on and… get this… someone made room for me!!
But you just go ahead and keep driving as if your the only one that matters and everyone else can just fuck off.
