Originally Posted by
noisebeam
The act of looking back is often read by other drivers as a desire to turn - so well in fact that one often does not need to hand signal to negotiate a turn. You may not have the intention to turn when you look back, but others can not read your mind.
Yes, the driver could have made that conclusion. However, I'm not going to move left when a car is approaching from behind at twice my speed, and it wouldn't occur to me to signal a left turn when my intent is to let to car pass.
Originally Posted by
noisebeam
This was the primary reason I bought a mirror, so I could asses traffic conditions before looking back and/or signaling. It solved all that problem and more.
That clarifies your other post about mirrors, which I found somewhat cryptic otherwise.
Originally Posted by
atbman
If you wait until you're 50ft from a junction before changing lanes in order to turn left and leave yourself no time to signal your intention to do so because you need to brake, then you need to look to your own positioning and bike handling.
Given my low speed and the low traffic, I think I had plenty of time for making a left turn and, were I inclined, after signaling. I'll add that the approach to the intersection was slightly uphill.
Originally Posted by
atbman
In any case, you should have signalled, moved into the left turn position and then braked.
I don't know how much thought you gave to that recommendation, but I think looking back for traffic is the first thing to do in my situation.
Originally Posted by
icedmocha
It is frustrating to be driving and have no idea what a cyclist is going to do. I have many drivers near me who are very courteous to cyclist. Unfortunately I have seen MANY roadies and Nest riding DUI types who feel no need to signal and simply pull into and out of traffic at the drop of a hat. That is VERY disconcerting, particularly if you are older or simply unprepared for it. I imagine that the driver you encountered had had this happen many times before. It becomes frustrating and they lash out.
That sounds like a plausible explanation of driver's state of mind.
I don't think I did anything particularly unpredictable up to the point where we were stopped at the sign. However, I consider cutting in front of him to make the left turn after that to be a questionable move, but I'm not sure what else I could have done. I didn't want to get into any argument or anything like that.
To me, the incident was an isolated incident where the driver bizarrely overreacted. My experience has been that lane positioning has worked well for communicating my intent in traffic, and my use of hand signals is mostly limited to communication within group rides. However, I must admit that my personal sense of the motorist perspective is more limited than that of most American adults, as I last drove a car a few months after passing driver's ed in the mid 1980s. I'm not convinced that hand signals are worthwhile, but perhaps someone will post something that will change my mind.