Chinghis

The funny thing is when some old guy in a beater car raises his hand like that out the window. It always takes a while to realize that he's signaling. There's usually a cigarette in his hand, too.

Hell, 99% don't know what a blinking signal means.

There is much to be said for this.

I like to use them in traffic - as in, I'm taking this lane now. Usually accompanied by a head turn (no mirrors), and maybe even eye-contact if I can swing it.

I use my left-hand to signal right turns because I don't want to have to brake suddenly just using the front brake.

Maybe it's just my quixotic quest to instill good driving behavior in drivers of all stripes (bikes included). If I can use my signals on a bike, why can't you literally lift a pinky to do so in your car, rather than just blindly blunder across the road? Thankfully, I have enough street smarts that I usually know someone is going to turn before they do, but, still. Just a little courtesy, ya know?

79pmooney

I see roadies doing that on low-handlebarred road bikes. With their backs close to horizontal, only the birds have any clue what they are indicating. The right arm straight point is so much clearer that it baffles me why anyone would be taught otherwise (though I was taught I could use either 50 something years ago).

tim24k

I always use both the motorcycle LED electric turn signals and hand signals. At night I have my Glo Glov covers over my leather gloves. If you knew hand turn signals here you would know a correct right hand turn signal is left arm out with the left forearm and hand up at a 90 degree angle.

CliffordK

Heck,
I'll occasionally use a right turn hand signal while driving.

Today I came out of a driveway wanting to turn right.

Flagger stopping traffic to my left.

I signaled with lights and hand to communicate with him


He raised a stop hand signal towards me. After a minute he waved me on

Digger Goreman

My wife, 15 years junior and French, and I argued over proper hand signals. Research provided what you said. Also agreeing with posts about lack of driver training/knowledge, I changed to pointing with the arm in tbe turning direction. Two weeks ago, a young driver actually asked me what the hell that meant....

The DMV just hands out licences like they were skittles....

jade408

I use the hand signals for stopping and left turns. Also point for right turns, since it is more intuitive. I do it when I go to an intersection with a car on it.

I-Like-To-Bike

See Hand signals? for the reason. Other posters have mentioned their quixotic quest to "teach" motorists about hand signals that were last in vogue and maybe understood by the general public over 60 years ago.

Something about bicycling seems to bring out the latent OCD tendencies of some enthusiasts.

I-Like-To-Bike

Do you think many motorists have a clue what you are signaling with the stopping hand signal?

jade408

No, not at all. But hopefully they think it is weird enough to slow down.

I-Like-To-Bike

I agree with the posters who believe that cryptic hand gestures are likely to "signal" bicyclist weirdness to motorists and can fulfill the bicyclist's intention to cause confusion.

FiftySix

Indeed. As long as you can parallel park and drive through a small neighborhood at up to 30mph without breaking any laws, the state of Texas will hand you a drivers license. No advanced skills tested for or necessary.

JasonD67

Believe it or not, Maryland dropped the requirement to parallel park on the driving test a few years back. Too many people were failing and it was causing a backlog of re-testing. No joke.

FiftySix

Lolol.

Here, the parallel parking test is the very first thing a license applicant has to perform. Fail that and the test ends within 5 minutes.

I-Like-To-Bike

Bicyclists complaining on public forums about insufficient licensing requirements for motorists and suggesting that motorist licensing be made tougher or more restrictive, may be opening up a can of worms in regards to their own freedom from licensing requirements.

Especially if the complaints/whining refers to motorists not recognizing obscure hand signals from bicyclists who take delight in confusing others with cryptic gestures.

livedarklions

I'm afraid my favorite hand signal isn't at all cryptic, and is flipped as a reflex when I get honked at from behind. The manual doesn't tell me which hand to use for that one.

indyfabz

Where I am from, tapping the thigh/butt is a sign to riders behind to slide over due to some above-ground obstruction. Often that obstruction is a (double) parked car, but it can be something like a runner proceeding in the same direction. Since we ride on the right side of the road, the tapping is of the right thigh, and it's not generally used to warn of things like potholes or glass. That's what the point is for.

Jim from Boston

Hand signals?Regarding (left) hand signals to motorists, I have posted about the use of hand signals to direct motorists, rather than just to signal the cyclist's intentions.

gios 

worms come out'a that can lol.

subgrade

I've always thought it is a bit unnecessary in traffic, since you can't perform it (or any other hand signal) under hard braking, and there's not much need for it when decelerating slowly.

Lemond1985

I assume this is your own butt you are tapping, correct?

Is the "Sssssssss", so-called "sizzling sound" and shaking of the hand due to imaginary heat emanating from the buttocks, also used by riders in your region, or is that considered to be excessively prideful and in questionable taste?

KraneXL

Raised left or horizontal right is sufficient, and legal. But that's a palm raised, not a fist. And if you're pointing to something that's a finger. So as not to be confused with palms down, which means you're stopping

ksryder

As others have said, either an obstacle or she was signaling to pull through.

However, if you try to tap her left thigh I imagine there will be a bunch more hand signals that come in to play.

rumrunn6

in a car, the driver has access to only 1 window, that's why the hand signal for a left, is left arm sticking out & the signal for a right is the same arm bent at elbow pointing up

on a bike, you don't have to do that. to go left stick your left arm out, to go right stick your right arm out. when I see bikers doing the left arm right signal I chuckle to myself

CliffordK

I don't believe parallel parking was on our test 35 years ago

I got quite proficient in parallel parking in college, fighting for undersized parking spots.

Pre Smart Car era, the Fiat 500 was great for parallel parking. There was one stretch of road, packed early, but I could 100% guarantee there would be a spot big enough to squeeze into. I would imagine other drivers groaned when they left a nice buffer in front of their car and found me in it.

CliffordK

Perhaps there are angles where using the left arm (traffic side) to signal is more visible.

The Oregon driver's manual specifically allows either.