I use them every time I turn. I use them for every lane change,even on an empty street. I do not want to put up with a smart ass cop giving me a hard time for something that involves a flip of the finger. On an empty street you are very visable. If a cop is hiding and bored ,he can pull you over.I try not to give them any excuse.
[QUOTE=50million]
I’m aware that you’re not worried about my safety. Confusion can be avoided by observing what peope actually do, instead of relying on signals. That goes for just about every aspect of life, not just driving.
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Part of that is knowing what people are going to do - in advance. I’m not saying you judge other drivers’ actions solely on their turn signals; that would be daft. But neither do you wait for them to start doing something before taking responsive action. If someone ahead of me signals, I slow down. I’d have maintained the same safe gap anyway, allowing me to avoid hitting them even if they didn’t signal. It makes my drive a lot more pleasant and less stressful.
[QUOTE=gigi]
We were discussing something similar in high school religion classes and imagine my consternation when *the priest * who was teaching the class said it was OK to go through a red light if it’s the middle of the night and you have checked that there’s no one else around. :eek: It rocked my world.
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Do you mean that you previously never heard of a priest doing anything wrong? 
[QUOTE=begbert2]
But then how do I indicate to the kind, gentle drivers in the left turn lane that I do not desire them to make a space for me?
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You don’t. And they shouldn’t. One of my pet peeves is turning and crossing that dashed curved line that guides the turning lanes in the turn. When in the rightmost left-turn lane, you cannot legally change lanes during the turn. If your rightmost left-turn lane is left-turn-or-straight, then you can signal a left turn or not signal to indicate driving straight. The people in the leftmost straight lane cannot legally change lanes into your straight lane when going through the intersection.
Whether or not someone signals or does not signal, you correlate their signal or lack of a signal with, as you say, what they are actually doing. I also correlate my actions with what they have been doing. If a signal comes on or goes off, I have a little bit more information on which to base my prophecy of their upcoming endeavours. If they wish to forestall my prognostication then I am doomed. Doomed I Say!
The signal is just a little piece of additional information, and “so shines a good deed in a weary world.”