Originally Posted by madpogue
For that matter, in the incident described in the original post, how could the car driver have assumed that the signal was for a right turn? If the bicyclist had only the blinking light, then it couldn't have been interpreted as being left or right relative to another light. Even if it were considered a turn signal, the car driver's interpretation of it being a right signal was pure fabrication; if it were a left signal, s/he should have stayed put.
I think this gets to the heart of the matter. The driver seemed to be searching for an excuse and made this one. I then fabricated in my mind a reason why the driver thought I was turning. I then presented this scenario (blinky light, non blinky lite on my wifes bike) to this forum to (probably inappropriately) give the driver some reason for thinking I was turning. Based on the expressions on the drivers face (we had eye contact long before she turned - I kept head pointed straight ahead, gave no body/face clues I might turn) she seemed very confused before she even started the turn in front of us. The reason we didn't collide is because I was prepared for this long before it happened and also we were going very slow (10mph) and steady (meaning we didn't slow down as we got near her which might have been interpreted as a plan to turn).
Anyway I think this is overly discussed - I appreciate the concern to get better lights - Finally, not that its an excuse, but this was one of those situations where we ride the 1/4mi in my neighborhood to get to the local park, there are practically no cars and the speed limit is 20mph. In fact I'll admit I've done it (the 1/4 mile ride on my street) without lights, but when I 've done that I ride as if I can't be seen (meaning if I see a car I pull onto sidewalk and stop) If I was heading out into real traffic I would have a much better lighting system.
Al