tonight I had a driver do a strange one on me.

quiet single lane residential street that T intersects with a busy cross road. I'm riding behind a car with my bright lights and reflective shirt, he looks and sees me coming up behind him in his rearview mirror as we slow to the stop sign. I don't want to move around him on either side, of course, especially since he's not signaled his intention to go right or left so I sit behind him and wait. He looks in the mirror at me and I'm wondering if he's waiting for me to go around him and go first or something but when I don't understand a motorist's intention I stay put until it's clear, so I wait. Finally he turns on his right hand signal and pulls slightly to the right as he waits for it to be clear so he can go. I start to go to his left so that I can take advantage of the same break in traffic and go left. As the break in the traffic comes he puts his left signal on and goes left right in front of me.

Despite his bozo-like maneuver I was able to easily anticipate it because I'm in the habit of doing something else when anywhere near a car at an intersection- I watch the front wheels. This is so habitual and second nature with me at this point but it has saved my butt many a time. Often, and this case was no exception, the wheel will begin to turn before the signal light has gone on. Watching the wheels not only lets you know the driver intention but is far more reliable than a turn signal. A driver can signal anything but I never trust it, the best turn signal is the front wheel.