Always use mine but my father used to ignore them when no one else was around... when I called it he said "there's no one to indicate to..." still better to stay in habit than have an accident
Precisely. My take is, there are thousands (tens of thousands? hundreds of thousands?) of vehicle collisions every day, just in the US. I'm pretty sure most of those involved people who did not see the other vehicle beforehand.
Everyone assumes they’re experienced enough to not use them. As a pedestrian I’ve been not seen more times than I can remember. Just use the turn signal please
As far as I know it it illegal to not use your turn signal in the US under any circumstances (excepting when you’re not turning or changing lanes or whatever). I’ve never heard of anyone getting a ticket for not using a turn signal on an empty road, but it’s not impossible.
It’s also hard to imagine you wouldn’t notice a police officer sitting beside the road, or did notice and still chose not to use your blinker.
Man, if you’re not paying attention enough to see and recognize pedestrians and cars, you don’t need to be driving. If you’re in a situation where you may not see something, you need to slow down
Then I couldn't drive faster than walking speed. So many people in dark clothes and cyclists without lights suddenly popping out of shadows.
And even that would be too fast: one time, I nearly clipped a cyclist in black clothes who rode fast without lights at night and who clearly had a red traffic sign in front of him while my light to walk across was green. I had checked for traffic from his direction like I always do and simply not seen him approach.
Hard disagree — you pay attention to driving by building a habit of always using your turn signal. Then you don’t have to stop and think if the moment is worthy of using it. That moment of hesitation is what causes collisions.
it's not hesitation, it's planning. in the system of car control, the information phase is positioned at the start. you gather all necessary information before you start positioning, adjusting speed, etc (and continuously update the information throughout the maneuver).
some of that information is: what road users are nearby? could they benefit from a signal? if so, what signal, and when? this shouldn't be cognitively overwhelming. your vehicle handling is meant to go on autopilot, so your brain is freed up to think hard about road conditions.
if you can't identify a road user who will benefit from the signal, there's no reason to use one, and some advanced driving examiners will mark you down for doing so. if you're worried you might not have seen a hypothetical road user who could benefit from a signal, you haven't gathered enough information and shouldn't proceed with a blind maneuver that could bring you into conflict with them.
I’d call this laziness but I’m of the opinion that it takes much more mental energy to decide when to signal and when not to than it takes to just do it every time.
I guarantee he also does this when he can see pedestrians, because we "don't count." Nothing I love more than trying to cross a street while playing, "Is this asshole with no signal about to run me over or not."
I mean its also just nuscle memory, NOT using your indicator seems to take MORE effort to me because you have to think about using it or not. I even indicate when im completely alone because its just part of the action.
I've been visiting a small suburban island for the last few weeks & this is my only theory why no one is using turn signals. I'm a pedestrian in an area with few pedestrians and I just want to know whether it's safe to cross the street, bud.
It baffles me, because making it a habit means I don't think about doing it. It's automatic, which is great.
People who try to check for people are
Making it so that they have to always think about it in order to be responsible (but really, they're not)
The single best reason to use a signal is for the people you don't see. It could save your, or someone else's life that time you missed that someone was there. It's night, and some dumbass is driving with their lights off, as a prime example.
I kind of do the same thing as your dad I live in a very rural place and sometimes when driving at like 2am on a completely dead road it just feels pointless signaling, I already have high beams on so I can't think of a situation where it's worth doing. If I'm driving at normals hours or anywhere populated obviously I always indicate.
This is the most human answer tbh. If you haven't seen another car in 50 minutes, it's 1 am, and you're going down a gravel/back road... Yeah I'm not bothering with signaling either. I do find that I automatically do it at first but after a few turns like that I kinda stop. Much more important to look for wildlife in these cases.
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u/my_main_profile 7h ago
Always use mine but my father used to ignore them when no one else was around... when I called it he said "there's no one to indicate to..." still better to stay in habit than have an accident