I'm of the opinion you should always use them, even if noone is about, as then it becomes second nature.
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Why do people stop using their indicators/turn signals?
- Thread starter Happynoj
- Start date
I'm of the opinion you should always use them, even if noone is about, as then it becomes second nature.
I'm 51 now and it is important to me that people don't think they can hit their signal and begin changing lanes in one breath causing me to check brakes and the thirty other cars behind me. When I'm 66 I guess Aspercream will be quite important to me.
That and a cold one.
The point of this thread is to share experiences. I shared mine to point out that some think flashing a signal gives them a divine right to enter a traffic flow at their whim and I get flamed that it was my fault. This is stranger than fiction.
Oh well. Drive safe and don't forget to shoulder check.
While on the highway I will sometimes speed up and hit the turn signal a second or so later. Yes, there are plenty of people who will try to prevent your from switching lanes because of some private perversion in their mind; so this is how I cope.
I use my turn signals whenever necessary, and I haven't notice many people fail to use them, so maybe this isn't as big of an issue in Portland?
I'm with you pal. The failure to signal crowd is a minor inconvenience compared to the I have my turn indicator on here I come even if there is no room and and I might be fracturing a traffic law or three crowd. It's just brutal on the Cali freeways.
And don't get me started on the failure of 90% of the people on the freeways here who have no concept of the "slower traffic keep right" theory. Yo! Look up you idiots, there is a sign every few miles reminding you of this basic courtesy concept. Some people may want to drive faster than you. The easiest way to maintain the freeway flow is for you to get your sorry clueless unobservant self out of the left lane (3/4 of yuse guys are over there in your own world going 5 mph under the speed limit by the way), and move over into the right lane so I can safely go by. I don't want to tail gate you. I don't want to pass you on the right. It's not your job to decide how fast I should or shouldn't be going, don't catch a glimpse of me in your rear view and start jockeying with me. You shouldn't be buttthurt because I want to drive a few mph faster than you.
Portland seems to have a lot of hippies though, just sayin.
The point of this thread is to share experiences. I shared mine to point out that some think flashing a signal gives them a divine right to enter a traffic flow at their whim and I get flamed that it was my fault. This is stranger than fiction.
Oh well. Drive safe and don't forget to shoulder check.
My experience is that you can never overestimate the incompetence of drivers around you. When you assume they're inattentive idiots, you're actually pleasantly surprised sometimes, and seldom disappointed.
It really comes down to this simple idea.... stay alert because the only thing you have control of is your own vehicle, unless of course the brakes go out, but that's another story, point being , you don't know what the other people are going to do or not do, so pay attention, leave the phone in your pocket or console till you get where your going. That is all.
That's exactly how I think of it: I always assume that the other guy is going to do something stupid, and that if an accident is to be avoided it will be up to me to prevent it. Once you adopt that mindset, you get "rewarded" pretty often -- i.e., the other guy really does do the stupid thing you had anticipated -- which helps to continue maintaining that mindset.
Back in the day, when I first learned to drive, they used to call this "defensive driving." I don't know if they still teach driving that way, but it has stuck with me for 40 years.
It's sometimes best not to overestimate your own attentiveness, though. Sometimes the idiot is yourself! So it behooves us all to stay vigilant about others on the road and ourselves.
Point taken. Research routinely shows that almost everyone believes that he or she is a safer driver than average. There are people who will freely admit to texting while driving, for example, who also firmly believe that they are a better driver while texting than everyone else is when they aren't texting. Overconfidence in one's driving ability is probably the single greatest threat to one's actual driving safety!
Smart observation, IMO. I'll never forget when I gave up talking on the phone while driving. It was a Sunday evening, little traffic, had my ear piece in talking with my wife when she asked me a question that I had to think about. My eyes went up, I concentrated on thinking of the answer and drove right through a red light. That was the last time I used the phone while driving other than to say "I'll phone you later".
Yeah and I didn't get hit. Because I'm paying attention.
Even more so when I'm on my motorcycle.
Frankly, you all can talk about how excellent you are but until you have a 13000 miles a month in a semi across all of North America, LA, NYC, Chicago, two Lane Rocky mountain Canadian passes in an ice storm, you name it...
Oh, and Austin TX bottleneck at rush hour....
And have years of experience on motorcycles...
All accident free...
You don't really know 1/10th of what there is to know about driving.
Oh, and Austin TX bottleneck at rush hour....
And have years of experience on motorcycles...
All accident free...
You don't really know 1/10th of what there is to know about driving.
I forgot to mention Toronto. The 401 is the busiest in North America. Makes LA look like a child's game. Unlike LA, drivers have no fear of big trucks in GTA. In LA you signal in a big truck and everybody scatters. In GTA they speed up to close you out.
Bluesblaster, you feel like a surgeon listening to a bunch of Boy Scouts with first aid badges discussing medicine? Also, unfortunately there's a lot of jackasses with CDLs these days. High demand has lowered the bar.
Another great thing is when dudes hit retirement, eyesight fading, reaction times slipping and the biggest vehicle they have driven is an SUV and they jump in a 50 foot RV wide as a semi and hit the highway without any checkout requirements.
Bluesblaster, you feel like a surgeon listening to a bunch of Boy Scouts with first aid badges discussing medicine? Also, unfortunately there's a lot of jackasses with CDLs these days. High demand has lowered the bar.
Another great thing is when dudes hit retirement, eyesight fading, reaction times slipping and the biggest vehicle they have driven is an SUV and they jump in a 50 foot RV wide as a semi and hit the highway without any checkout requirements.
The answer to bad drivers is (and has been, sadly) idiot-proofing the cars. Not that all bad drivers are idiots; my brother is one of the smartest people I know yet he drives like crap. He's one of those when told to changes lanes, his blinker goes on as he's drifting over instead of before the drift to inform others of his intention.
INFORM. They are called INDICATORS. But the fix is to make cars safer, and then make them self-driving in order to remove the idiot from the equation.
About cell phone usage- I'd like to see a law passed that allowed law enforcement to photograph offenders and immediately confiscate their phone.
INFORM. They are called INDICATORS. But the fix is to make cars safer, and then make them self-driving in order to remove the idiot from the equation.
About cell phone usage- I'd like to see a law passed that allowed law enforcement to photograph offenders and immediately confiscate their phone.
Perhaps if automakers listed turn signals as options, charging the consumer for adding them to a car, people would then feel a need to use them.
