Do you have a need for blinkers?
 

Hi everybody! I've noticed most cyclists don't have blinkers. A lot of motorists are ignorant of hand signals(think your cooling off your sweaty hand.) Do you use blinkers? And do you think they are necessary?

SS

No and no. A turn-signal setup with enough power and lateral separation to be unambiguous at a meaningful range in direct sunlight (like, 100+ meters), would be more bulk, weight, air drag and complexity (not to mention cost) than most cyclists would like, and would probably still be misunderstood since no one's accustomed to bicycles with turn signals.

I have no idea. I almost got run over by some idiot going 60 in a 30 who refused to acknowledge my left arm signal even though I had already taken the lane far before he came upon me yesterday. Things like this make me wonder if we need signals.

But then again he probably wouldn't have paid any attention to a blinky signal regardless.

I had many moments where drivers purposely sped up so I don't get in front of them when I used my turn signal in my car, therfeore I don't expect them to treat me any different when I am on a bicycle.

Inattentive drivers don't see you. You can have all the high-visibility wear, blinky lights, solid lights, and reflective gear you can wear, and they just won't see you because they aren't looking for you. For the ones who do see you, they aren't expecting turn signals on a bicycle, so it would be just one more blinky light to them.

Actually... for some reason drivers are always commenting about my ass. To me this says that they can clearly see my ass. So perhaps we can make bike shorts with a stitched in LED arrow on each buttock. Then when drivers are busy staring at my ass, I can engage the turn signal and a left arrow will appear on my left buttock, or a right arrow on my right buttock. That ought to be difficult to miss.

That might actually be a decent idea. For many of us, our butt is the widest thing on the bike.

Most motorists around here don't have turn signals, or don't know how or why to use them. I think a turn signal on a bicycle would just confuse them.

I like this idea!

I too have to answer no and no. I don't use them anymore and find them unnecessary. My primary commuter uses a dynohub and a steady rear light. I have found that traffic can see me with more than enough time to pass safely.

I don't think turn signals on a bike would be very effective. Most of the time drivers are coming up on you so fast that they wouldn't have time to realize that it's not just a blinkie. Hand signals are more visible for much farther. Anyone who can't figure out that when I'm pointing left I'm going to go left, right for right, probably can't figure out turn signals either.

This is backed up by their own behavior too; hardly any of the cars around here use turn signals, and when they do it's to indicate that they're about halfway through the turn already. I still haven't figured that one out; sometimes you see just the first blink from the turn signal as the car disappears around the corner.