Does anybody actually bother to use their indicators nowadays?!
Picture what happened to me the other day. Approaching a mini roundabout intending to go straight ahead, hence no need to indicate, meanwhile another car travelling towards me is about to hit the rounabout and is not indicating, hence I presume he is also going straight over. As I'm about to enter the roundabout this guy is turning right after all, but not indicating, by the time I realise this I have already crossed the approach and therefore have to slam on the brakes at the same time as the other guy to avoid a collision. We looked at eachother in disbelief, then what does this bloke do? PUTS HIS INDICATOR ON!
If you can't even be bothered to flick a stalk then you should'nt be on the road!
Rant over.
P.S. And no, he had'nt put it on earlier incase anybody may of thought it had self cancelled without him realising it.
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You've brought up a subject that is a very sore point with me. I don't know what it is about people turning right on mini-roundabouts, but a considerable number seem oblivious as to the need for a signal, then look at you as if you were the culprit after the tyre smoke has cleared. London mini cab drivers are notorious for this.
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I no longer trust anyone at roundabouts, even if they are indicating. I err on the side of indicating these days, even when passing through a priority chicane or passing parked vehicles. At least oncoming traffic then knows that I am moving near or onto their side of the road. My partner's 18-year-old son recently complained that someone overtook him while he was overtaking a cyclist. Did you indicate right, I asked? No he hadn't, and he now realizes that this might have deterred the overtaker. You can't be too careful out there.
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I would like to complain about the opposite.
On M6 southbound to M56 this afternoon. Blue A class, correctly indicating left to leave M6 onto M56. Indicating left while on approach lane (two lanes, he is in the right one) moves over to lhl (still indicating left), moves left into filter lane for airport bound traffic (left move, still indicating left). Approaches end of slip, still indicating left, pulls into 1st lane (you guessed it - still indicating left). Keeps indicators on left for about 1/2 mile until he pulls out into middle lane - actually indicated right. stays in middle lane for 1 more mile, still indiating right.
Still indicating right as he leaves the view of my rear view mirror.
My mate turned to me and said. "It is at times like this that I wish i was a traffic cop". How true...
Some people just shouldn't be on the road, if you dont know that you are indicating, then what else are you oblivious of???
Jonathan
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The other trick is to indicate left when approaching the roundabout, indicate right when on the roundabout and indicate left when leaving the roundabout.
When actually going straight on.
Result: the following vehicle pulls out to go round the left-turning vehicle, gets pinched between the vehicle and the island when it doesn't go left, and gets pinched between the vehicle and the kerb when it finally exits.
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Not indicator-related, but another appalling piece of driving I saw this afternoon. I'm waiting at a set of lights where a busy main road crosses a dual carriageway. In front of me is an Escort. Light goes green, Escort sets off...and a Micra comes flying across his bows, having clearly jumped the red light to our right by a good few seconds. Only Escort driver's quick braking reaction avoids what would, owing to the speed of the Micra, have been a big accident.
Anyway, I turn left, and at the next set of lights, a few hundred yards further down the road, I find myself right behind the Micra...and there are 3 small unrestrained kids jumping around in the back! Just incredible that a mother (sorry, it was a woman on this occasion...) is prepared to put her kids' lives at risk like that. Natural selection, I suppose.
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I bet she had a Baby on Board sticker as well.
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But of course! Those things entitle you to drive however badly you want, and shift the onus onto every other road user to avoid you, apparently. A bit like "Show Dogs In Transit", only marginally less ludicrous.
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Completely normal in the Philippines. Except probably 8-10 people in the vehicle, or at least 3 if it's a m/c!!
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What about the 'Slow for horses sign then'? Or the o so witty 'if you can read this, back off'
Kev
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It happens all the time.
Also the opposite, car at T-junction waiting to turn right, pulls out in front of car approaching from the left, which has it's left hand indicator on. This doesn't necessarily mean the car is going to turn left. It can mean the driver doesn't know he's got his indicator on.
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This happened to me.... nearly had a Fiat Panda in the driver's door...
Martin.
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I agree with all this. There can't be many of us who haven't fallen foul of misleading indications. But from the opposite angle, why does anyone indicate Right when joining a motorway? Short of stopping dead, they have no other choice.
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On an unrelated topic, but I still think it's worth bringing up. I had approached a roundabout signalling right, my intention to turn right. I got 3/4 of the way round and started signalling left showing my intention to leave the roundabout. This Micra then pulls out behind me with inches to spare. The (lady) driver then tailgated me all the way up the 30mph road then overtook on a blind corner!
I'm sorry, but this lady should have her licence revoked. I am 18 and drive everywhere carefully. I drive my mums car so there is no need to get my own insurance, but I got a quote for £1500 fully comp. I don't think this is fair when there are nutters like that on the road!
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Another situation- I never trust a lorry indicating left. It MAY mean it's OK to overtake, but equally it may mean he is going to turn left, and probably pull over to the right in order to get a line round the corner.
The only safe rule is to indicate all your own intentions, always, but never trust anybody else, ever.
Cliff
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Re the sitting at a T junction wondering what a vehicle approaching from the right and indicating left is going to do. On a driving course we were asked by the instructor what information we could safely assume in such a situation.
At the end we concluded the only safe assumption was that the particular indicator bulb in question was actually working, anything else was pure speculation.
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Andrew wrote:
"But from the opposite angle, why does anyone indicate Right when joining a motorway?"
...however, as you are effectively changing lane, drifting right, I tend to indicate, a kind of "Hello dosy, I'm moving over...thank you".
However I'd probably indicate in a desert! ...better safe than sorry, racing camel in the blind spot?
Have to agree that not indicating at all is almost as bad as inappropriate use. A good example is when you want to join a roundabout, and someone comes round, uses the exit to your right without indicating, so you waited and missed your chance to get into the flow...thanks mate.
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That's my wife's favourite - sometimes you have to restrain her from getting out of the car & chasing the people who don't indicate their intention to leave the roundabout !
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The laws in europe are you only indicate leaving the roundabout and you give way to all people already on it .You must assume all drivers are going round past you if he has NO indicator on thats what he will do.No confusuon few accidents.
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andy bairsto wrote:
>
> The laws in europe are you only indicate leaving the
> roundabout and you give way to all people already on it .You
> must assume all drivers are going round past you if he has NO
> indicator on thats what he will do.No confusuon few accidents.
There's only one roundabout in the whole of Genoa - at the airport.
Indication is futile - no-one looks. The accepted practice is to launch yourself
into the roundabout, and then watchout for other drivers doing the same.
The US of A is even better - in New Jersey, the practice is to stop on a "Circle"
to allow the cars to enter. One large-ish circle seen recently had traffic lights
on all approaches to meter traffic onto it!
/john
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What exactly is the purpose of a 'Baby On Board' sticker? Is it (a) a warning that the driver is liable to perform dangerous and erratic manoeuvres without warning, through being distracted by screaming brats, (b) an attempt to prevent vehicle theft, as no-one wants to steal a car which smells of soiled nappies, or (c) an overt public boast about one's fertility?
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Maybe the driver's referring to himself.
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Richard,
This question launched one of the longest and most amusing threads.
May still be available on the search archive.
S
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The topic of car stickers crept into the "indicate" thread. Let's start another about Bumper Stickers.
My personal favorite is "Politicians are like Diapers. They need changing often, for the same reason".
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I think he is "flicking his stalk" as you put it. THat's why he doesn't have a hand free to indicate.
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It makes my blood boil! Even more when I wait at a roundabout for a car coming from my right, not indicating, who then turns left....
Martin.
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