Is it necessary to use your indicator lights in a “Right (or Left) Turn Only” lane with solid white lines?
DC law requires you to signal your intention to turn at least 100 feet before the intersection. It says nothing about what lined might be on the ground. Your motivation is probably “why do I need to signal if I am in a turn only lane”, right? I think anything that makes you and your intentions more visible is a good idea.
Use your turn signals whenever you intend to move out of your current lane.
Don Ho can sign autographs 3.4 times faster than Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Life is easier if you just get in the habit of using the signals for all turns and lane changes, rather than considering whether the specific maneuver contemplated requires it.
Hell, I use my signals in the freakin’ parking lot. Sometimes it annoys my passengers. (especially men) Don’t understand why.
Peace,
mangeorge
I only know two things;
I know what I need to know
And
I know what I want to know
Mangeorge, 2000
I got demerits on my driver’s test for NOT signaling into a parking space. What are your friends complaining about, Mangeorge?
(I did pass the rest of the test, though, and got my license 15 minutes later.)
SanibelMan - My Homepage
“All right. Have it your own way. Road to hell paved with unbought stuffed dogs. Not my fault.”
HIJACK!
Does anyone know how they work? I’ve always been bugged by the damn things - especially when I pull up behind another car and the respective signals flash in and out of rhythm. Drive me crazy…
Let me clarify. You’re already in the lane, leading off to a ramp (or wherever). You presumably dutifully signaled to get to this lane. So no further maneuver is warranted to keep following the lane which itself is turning off. Now what?
Jonny H:
It’s a (fairly) simple timing circuit, and designers aren’t too concerned with making sure every single component in said circuit is within 1% tolerance of specs. You’d need crystal accuracy and a data-quality timing link between the two cars to ensure synchronous flashing. This would drive the cost way up and add nothing to the safety factor.
Related topic:
Is it legal to make a left turn on red after stop if the street you’re turning onto is one-way? It kinda makes sense, being more or less equal to a right turn on red in the sense that you’re merging into traffic. I have people blow their horn at me all the time- and I mean all the time because I won’t do it. I guess I never got the memo…
Don Ho can sign autographs 3.4 times faster than Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
I think the answer to this has to be “sometimes.” I’ve lived in cities where it was always OK, never allowed, OK when marked, and OK unless marked otherwise. So, apparently, it’s a local thing.
Laws allowing this are common, although it has to be turning left from a one-way street as well as onto a one-way.
On another note, some people seem to think you should use your right signal to say “I’m parallel parking” and your left to say “I pulling out (after parallel parking)”. Personally, I think this is dumb and confusing.
opus,
It depends on the jurisdiction. I notice you’re in D.C. and I don’t know about that. In all of Texas a left turn on a red from a one-way to a one-way is legal.
Simple answer (I’ve done this)? Call the cops (not on their 911 line, I’m sure they’ve got a “straight” number as well) and ask for Traffic Enforcement and just ask - they’ll tell ya. And they’re open 24/7.
I think in this instance, no further indication is necessary. In fact, a turning signal when you’re in that lane may make people think that you’re going to pull off to the side of the road.
OTOH, if the lane is an off-ramp that terminates in an intersection, then a turning signal is necessary to indicate which way you will be turning at that intersection.
What’s another word for euphemism?
“What are your friends complaining about, Mangeorge?”
—SanibelMan
Oh, it’s just little comments. Like “You’re in a parking lot, fer crissakes”. Or “My grandma does that too”. 
I don’t have the slightest idea why they find it annoying. I’m sure somebody reading this knows why, though.
Mind you, these are the same guys who are convinced that a cop won’t give you a ticket for parking in a red zone if you turn on your hazard warning signals.
Peace,
mangeorge
‘Is it legal to make a left turn on red after stop if the street you’re
turning onto is one-way?’
Only if the street you are turning onto is one way also.
Sounds like it’s okay then… so answer me this: There are hundreds of signs that say “No Right Turn On Red” because there are some intersections where it simply (at least in the eyes of traffic enforcement) isn’t safe to do so. I would estimate that 30-40% of controlled intersections in DC are “No Turn On Red”, many of which are one-way onto one-way turns.
If there really is a left turn on red law, why haven’t I ever seen even one No Left Turn On Red sign? Anybody ever seen such a sign?
Don Ho can sign autographs 3.4 times faster than Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Opus:
If by “if there is a left turn on red law…” you mean that there is a law against turning left, then there shouldn’t be any signs saying no, because you never should. If you meant that the law allows turning left, then I would guess that the signs would be necessary only in situations where it’s not safe to do so, and you haven’t encountered those situations.
I sold my soul to Satan for a dollar. I got it in the mail.
The streets are littered with No Right Turn On Red signs but in 20 years of driving I’ve never seen even one No Left Turn On Red sign? I don’t buy it.
Somebody needs to come forward and tell me they’ve seen a NLTOR sign before I will accept the existance of such a law. Anybody?
Don Ho can sign autographs 3.4 times faster than Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
I’ve seen a few in Albany, NY.
New York State allows left turn on red where two one-way streets cross. Except in New York City, where things are bad enough.
“What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet.
Opus, Right Turn On Red occurs at any (U.S.) intersection that is not marked otherwise. Therefore, there are a number of intersections that involve traffic from multiple directions (with varying volumes of traffic at various and sundry speeds) where the RTOR has been suspended.
Left Turn On Red occurs in many (but not necessarily all) states and is nearly always limited to streets where a one way street is intersected by another street with traffic proceeding from the right to the left. One way streets are generally limited to high-density inner cities with comparable speed limits. To find a NLTOR sign, you would have to find a state that allowed LTOR (which not all do) that had an intersection of two one-way streets where the street crossing from the right had a much higher volume of traffic or a much higher speed limit and where they posted “No Left Turn On Red” in place of the slightly more common “No Turn On Red.” Since we do not know how many states you have actually traveled in your 20 years of driving (and how many of them permit LTOR–and whether DC is one of the political units that allow them), you will simply have to take our word that several states do, indeed, have such laws. Texas has been noted. I can attest to Michigan having the same law. I don’t know the exact rule in Ohio, but I have made LTOR from-and-to one way streets without ever being stopped by a policeman in Ohio.
Hail Ants:
I suspect that you do not drive in congested cities, much. In heavy traffic, with cars stopping in front of every office to drop off or pick up passengers, a turn signal indicates that the car is just liable to start backing up to a parking spot, so it is not safe to come to a stop too close to them. Similarly, a “parked” car with a turn signal blinking lets me know that I might want to move over a lane to let them out (rather than making them wait until I have passed and then seing if the next car is too close to pull out in front of).
Tom~
Opus -
How does the “timing circuit” work? Seems to me if they were made identically in the same factory they would blink at the same rate (at least for certain vehicles of similar makes and models).