So, when did hand signals change?
- Thread starter jpr95
- Start date
Everyone stopped using them for so long that once they take their driving test they forget them all. They just kind of making them up as they go, now.
Everyone stopped using them for so long that once they take their driving test they forget them all. They just kind of making them up as they go, now.
As a biker, you should just point the direction you want to turn. All that bending arm stuff is for drivers who can't stick their hands out the shotgun window. You can just point which direction you want to turn, and you should be good. I also think it's much clearer than bending your left arm down, even though that's proper vehicle etiquette.
Those arm signal have to correspond with what the DMV issues as acceptable for motorist. The motorist must be able to read your intentions. With that being said, your left arm being straight out to the side is a left turn. 90 degrees up is a right turn. 90 degress downward mean slowing down and/or stop.
Well, to tell you the truth, I am glad if anyone at all is stretching out their arm to indicate where they are going. Here, where I live, you have to go by assumption and by your 7th sense, which is the one where you receive psychic messages about what your fellow traffic participants might be up to.
I've never lived in a place before where not even cars indicate where they are going, and where traffic lights might or might not be considered.
I've never lived in a place before where not even cars indicate where they are going, and where traffic lights might or might not be considered.
I don't think there's a specific one, it's just you have to take it on by knowledge or where they point at, it doesn't really matter what position if you think about it.
As I love electronics, I steer you to Adafruit Industries http://www.adafruit.com/ which has a wearable computing project where you can sew turn signals onto a backpack. You need to sew with very great skill in order to succeed. The original project was intended for a motorcyclist's backpack but can be adapted to bicyclists, perhaps.
*scratches head looking for the turn signal indicator switch near my stem*adfnio said:
I rarely bother with a right turn signal unless I'm riding down a road where one lane in my direction becomes two and I need to merge over to the right hand side.
I've seen both. I think the traditional stop signal makes more sense, but putting your right arm out for a right turn and left for left makes it really easy for people to know your intentions. It's less complicated for drivers so that they know what you're doing. As long as you're signaling in some way that makes it obvious what you're doing, I think you're fine.
Funny thing is in my own personal experience, people (motorist especially) have no clue what any of the hand signals mean anymore.
I will signal and get this look like I am holding my arm out waiting for a hawk to land on it or something. They just don't get it and I will inevitably get cut off. I'm just used to it so I always take care when I am out on the streets.
I will signal and get this look like I am holding my arm out waiting for a hawk to land on it or something. They just don't get it and I will inevitably get cut off. I'm just used to it so I always take care when I am out on the streets.
Signals in the USA used to be exclusively left handed because they were for driving cars without turn signals. They would signal out the driver side window. People on a bicycle don't have this restriction so they can use their right arm. The modified stop signal is around because some people felt it was more noticeable.
Even if hand signals changed if that's the case,
I think that using the good old method of getting your right hand straight and showing which way you want to go or turn. Every driver knows this, understands your ways and actually has their minds on not hitting you (luckily).
But I had bad experiences also, where I signed that I wanted to turn but the driver still thought he doesn't care at all.
I think that using the good old method of getting your right hand straight and showing which way you want to go or turn. Every driver knows this, understands your ways and actually has their minds on not hitting you (luckily).
But I had bad experiences also, where I signed that I wanted to turn but the driver still thought he doesn't care at all.
If those hand signals are meant for the cars, they became obsolete at the prevalence of signal lights. In my younger days when the signal light was not invented yet, hand signal is very common. i remember my mother who was driving would ask me to put out my hand in the window (I am on the passenger side) because she is turning right. But when the signal light came to fore and the cars were already air conditioned, the hand signals became impractical to use. So now the hand signal is only being used by the cyclists to protect themselves from vehicles behind.
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