Advocacy & Safety - Is it better not to signal?

What is it with car drivers? When you need to make a left hand turn, they will not try to pass you, they just stay behind you until you are sure it is safe to turn. when you finally signal to turn, they then want to take the opportunity to pass you and cut you off. If I didn't have a horn on my bike, they would have killed me several times over. Why is it when they see you signal, they then cut you off? Is it just me?

That is certainly not my experience.

They were probably asleep and your signal woke them up.

like driving in traffic when I want to change lanes - sometimes I don't signal because I know that if the guy in the lane next to me (but behind me) sees that I want that position they will speed up cuz they don't want another car in front of them. but they would be fine if they just maintained their speed as if I was not changing lanes.

I have 1 turn on my homeward commute that I intentionally do not signal for. its off route 20 in sudbury and the right turn includes sand in the shoulder and a drainage grate. so I take it slow and wide. what I figure is - if someone behind me wants to make that same right they would likely wait for me to pass the road then exit behind me. I'm afraid that if I signal they will know I'm turning and try to turn with me or ahead of me blocking my wide turn and resulting in a right hook of sorts.

Do your signals look like you are waving the drivers by?

That is certainly not my experience.

Same here. When I signal, the cars seem to let off and give me space. Everytime.

Actually the usual response to me signaling is so strong that I need to be careful not to signal to soon in some cases For example there is a 3>2 lane merge I do every ride home. I like to merge in behind a group of vehicles where there is a gap, just to help traffic flow. So I stick my arm out just as the last vehicle in the pack is passing and merge in behind them. But if I stick my arm out sometimes when I am as little as 10ft in front of that last vehicle they often suddenly slow to let me in - amazing as they are practically passed me already and there is still 100'+ of pavement in front of me before my lane ends. So then I tend to signal just as they are passing, but if the gap behind them is not very long that can be a bit to late in signaling for the next car following, so it is a balance to signal just at the right time for the gap you want to create or merge into.

My experience is that signalling parts the red sea. When my left arm shoots out people stop passing me and wait for me to move over. People are too nice sometimes.

in certain cities, signaling a turn (on a bike or car) will cause other drivers to do stupid things in order to avoid being stuck behind you. and it ends up being safer to not signal.

Signaling works wonders, people really do pay attention to it.

in certain cities, signaling a turn (on a bike or car) will cause other drivers to do stupid things in order to avoid being stuck behind you. and it ends up being safer to not signal.
If there is a longer gap to merge into, fine, don't signal - get in the large gap and then watch the rear approaching vehicle as they get closer to ensure they show signs of responding to you.
But if the gap is small and you merge/squeeze in without signaling you are relying fully on the driver you are merging in front of to notice you and slow to avoid hitting you. I'd rather start signaling a bit early, get one of a few drivers to slow and then you can merge, than to force myself in front a driver and hope they slow.

Signaling works well for me. But it's not enough.

To discourage people from passing you when you turn, make sure you merge laterally to the corresponding side of your lane before you reach the turn. Use the side of the lane that you DON'T want people to pass you on, i.e. the side that will be on the inside of your turn. This discourages drivers from passing on that side, and focuses their attention toward the space you've created on the outside of your turn, whether it is big enough for them to pass there or not.

For a left turn on a two lane road, merge toward the center line before you get to the intersection. If there is a left turn only lane, move to the center of the turn lane. For a multi-destination lane, use the side of the lane biased toward your destination.

^^ excellent points. These a such an ingrained part of merging for me that I forget to mention them.

I find the most difficult response to obtain when performing a request merge is when leaving a bike lane. Instead of the near instant response from the first driver or two when merging across a wide shared lane or out of a narrow lane to the next, it can instead take many more passing drivers until one responds. I wonder if part of the reason is the intent to merge desire thru lane positioning signal is limited, one is relying far more on hand and face signals. I find sometimes I need to 'force' my way to a response by riding left of the bike lane stripe, but of course this is not always possible or safe hence the need to actually get driver response before merging out of the bike lane.

Actually the usual response to me signaling is so strong that I need to be careful not to signal to soon in some cases For example there is a 3>2 lane merge I do every ride home. I like to merge in behind a group of vehicles where there is a gap, just to help traffic flow. So I stick my arm out just as the last vehicle in the pack is passing and merge in behind them. But if I stick my arm out sometimes when I am as little as 10ft in front of that last vehicle they often suddenly slow to let me in - amazing as they are practically passed me already and there is still 100'+ of pavement in front of me before my lane ends. So then I tend to signal just as they are passing, but if the gap behind them is not very long that can be a bit to late in signaling for the next car following, so it is a balance to signal just at the right time for the gap you want to create or merge into.

Changing lanes is usually no problem with me either, they do give you space for that. What I was refering to here was making a left turn. As soon as I put my arm out, the cars always want to go into the opposing traffic lane just to cut me off. Its almost as if they have never seen a hand signal before,and are mistaking my left turn signal as a motion for them to go around me, which is the opposite of what they are supposed to do.

^^ excellent points. These a such an ingrained part of merging for me that I forget to mention them.

I find the most difficult response to obtain when performing a request merge is when leaving a bike lane. Instead of the near instant response from the first driver or two when merging across a wide shared lane or out of a narrow lane to the next, it can instead take many more passing drivers until one responds. I wonder if part of the reason is the intent to merge desire thru lane positioning signal is limited, one is relying far more on hand and face signals. I find sometimes I need to 'force' my way to a response by riding left of the bike lane stripe, but of course this is not always possible or safe hence the need to actually get driver response before merging out of the bike lane.

Yes, eye contact is probably one of the most crucial aspects of riding in traffic. And a thank you wave is always in order for those kind enough to let you in and over.

Reply to #8 and #10 post:

I can say with a fair amount of confidence that you have had the blessing of never having to ride a bike in Dallas at 7 am or 5 pm,lol.

Reply to #8 and #10 post:

I can say with a fair amount of confidence that you have had the blessing of never having to ride a bike in Dallas at 7 am or 5 pm,lol.

Dallas may be different, but in other large cities you will find cabbies using their "meat arms" to signal because that draws more attention than their lights. That bit of lore does not suggest any particular area is good for cycling, but does strongly suggest the power of hand signals.

I refuse to signal right turns, I had one too many drivers try to pass me while turning and squeeze me into the curb. I get an occasional driver downtown who tries to pass me on the right on a left hand turn, I just ride the double yellow till one of us is ahead, then resume normal operations.

Around here, especially on the highway, when one puts on a car turn signal other drivers try to take any space and make it impossible to move over. They can't stand to have one more car in front of them. Very bad. There are once in a while good drivers who don't do this, but not often. They do it with cars, bikes, trucks whatever. It was a total pain when I was teaching my kids to drive. I expect it to potentially happen any time I go to change lanes. On a bike if needed, you could stop on the right side of the road and cross to the left side as a pedestrian, especially if there is a crosswalk and a light.

If I get blocked on moving into the left lane I stay on the right side of the left lane, or exactly on the line, to let a car in if there is room. So far I have never been so squeezed I could not go left as the car turns left, but in a couple of places, I have gone to the right and waited for a break in the traffic to go left. I always have a mirror and always know way ahead of time what is around me 360 degrees in traffic, that is a huge help. I have time to plan long before moving over.

I have 1 turn on my homeward commute that I intentionally do not signal for. its off route 20 in sudbury and the right turn includes sand in the shoulder and a drainage grate. so I take it slow and wide. what I figure is - if someone behind me wants to make that same right they would likely wait for me to pass the road then exit behind me. I'm afraid that if I signal they will know I'm turning and try to turn with me or ahead of me blocking my wide turn and resulting in a right hook of sorts.

If you got the same drivers I have in Shrewsbury they will take the right hand turn weather you signal or not, I try to be very aware when approaching roads on the right and a car is coming up behind me.

sm1960 ~ yeah I hear ya. every time I make that particular right I'm thinking about wutz behind me. it's coming down a hill on Route 20 (aka kill zone) and so I'm usually making myself know with some out of the saddle stuff and exaggerated braking, etc to help encourage drivers to be thinking - hmmm ... this is not as simple as it might be and so I think I'll just hold back for a second to see what this nut job is doing ... hahaha

What is it with car drivers? When you need to make a left hand turn, they will not try to pass you, they just stay behind you until you are sure it is safe to turn. when you finally signal to turn, they then want to take the opportunity to pass you and cut you off. If I didn't have a horn on my bike, they would have killed me several times over. Why is it when they see you signal, they then cut you off? Is it just me?

Here in Miami, Florida, Road rage capital of the world, whether riding a bicycle or driving a car, many car drivers in back of me seem to think that signaling a turn is a sign of weakness and will try to pass me, on the left or on the right, at any cost.

I would like to think that it's confusion on their part, that I am signaling them to pass me, but the fact that it happens on a bike or a car leads me to believe that it's intentional.