Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Pet Peeve: Drivers who do not use their signal lights

The Hubby and I got into a discussion this morning about when a driver should use their signal light. I am under the firm belief that drivers should use their signal lights all the time. In fact, there was blatantly two times this morning drive to work that the drivers in front of me failed to use their signal light that would have been beneficial.

Situation #1 – I totally would have stayed in the right lane at a four lane intersection if I would have known that the three cars in front of me were going to be turning right on red. I didn’t even know that they were turning right at all for none of them had their signal lights on. I would have been the first car in the lane for when the light turned green. I think all drivers would agree with me that it is good to be the first one in the lane at a red light so you have the opportunity to take off at a decent speed. Instead, I had merged into the left lane to get behind the one car that I knew drive like a bat out of hell… seeing how he appeared out of no where in no time flat. Yes, he did take off decently when the light turned green…but no way did it compare to one having his/her own lane.

The Hubby disagrees with me that the other drivers should have used their signal lights. He said it was none of my business to know that they were turning right. In fact, he even went so far to say that I should have already known that they would be turning right because where the intersection is located and the time of the day it was... and what I had for breakfast and how the sun was shining and the wind wasn't blowing.... ok.. I might have added those last few factors. Now, I agree that their lack of signal light usage wasn’t going to cause an accident or even put a driver in a hairy situation (unlike Situation #2). Still! Where is the courtesy? I sure the heck don’t know! Who knows! I may have been to work a couple of minutes earlier or it could have prevented me getting in the Situation #2 down the road.

Situation #2 – On the same four lane road, I was happily driving along in the left lane in medium traffic. The car in front of me decided that they wanted to be in the right lane. Did they signal? Nope! They decided that they would slow the f*ck way down suddenly until a gap that they deemed worthy made itself known in the right lane. The Hubby agreed with me that signal light usage in this situation would have been nice…. (He also agreed with me that the driver was a dumbass and needs to learn how to properly merge.)

Now, as a driver, sit and think back… I bet there were times that you had wished that the other car would have just used their signal light! I know that I am not the only one! The Hubby even admitted that there were times in his driving experiences.

It takes like a minimal effort to turn it on and off. It’s not that difficult or taxing. However, it makes a difference in communicating to the drivers around you. Use it people!

2 comments:

GenWar said...

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

Signal Lights are a form of communication and, like all communication, they are optional and should be avoided by 'real' men.

-gen

Anonymous said...

Love it Gen!

I say the first situation that it would be nice, but a signal is not required...the second situation it should have been used.

I will say that if I'm in a turning lane only, I don't use my signal. Why bother? There's nowhere else to go!