Biketiger

I am biking along a paved multi-use trail today and I see a rider coming towards me in the opposite lane. About 10 yards away he raises his right arm skyward. Clearly he is signaling a turn but I am confused as to which way. I'm thinking maybe he wants to go left which would cross my path but still at a safe distance. He turns to his right.
I appreciate his use of signals (most people don't) but I was really confused about the straight up arm. If he wanted to go right, why not just stick his arm out to the right? A signal anyone could accurately interpret.
It took me a minute to consider that while driving an automobile without a turn signal, the driver could stick out their left arm signaling a left hand turn but you can't point to the right so the raised arm is used instead.
But on a bike?
I did a little research and the League of American Bicylists recommends either method. From their site:
"Right Turn: Fully extend your right arm out to the side or bend your left arm up at a right angle with your hand flat."
That advice makes no sense to me. If I am making a left hand turn in front of you (assuming a safe distance) I will point left.
If I am going to the right, I'll point right. This straight up business defines ambiguity.
What do you think?

genejockey 

This all goes back to the early days of automobiles. You signal with your left arm (in America) because it you were in a car with a top, that's the only arm other drives could see.

I signal right turns by pointing right, which I think is pretty unambiguous. But I see people using the 'left arm out, hand up' signal for right turns, too.

Ghazmh

I signal by positioning my right forearm parallel to the marching surface with my left hand extending skywards.

Biketiger

There you go. Or maybe we should all adopt the signals that aircraft marshals use :

genejockey 

Isn't that 'roughing the passer'?

unterhausen

I saw someone in a car using hand signals and had no idea what they were doing until they turned. I remember the last cyclist I saw using his left hand to signal a right turn, it was probably a decade ago. And he did a remarkably poor job of it

ThermionicScott 

I checked the League of American Bicyclists website just now, and was pleased to see that they've stepped into the current century at some point and now embrace the "point right to turn right" signal.

As much as I love archaic things, I don't want to trust my life to signals that require a history lesson to understand!

genejockey 

Yeah, I signal my stops, because where I ride, there are 1) a lot of deputies lying in wait at T-intersections, and 2) a lot of cyclists blissfully unaware of 1), so I signal to prevent getting rolled over.

Biketiger

The signal method from the league I referenced above is from their current site. They even include a nice video where they point out that the left arm signal held at a 90 degree angle is suggested to comply with some state laws.
https://bikeleague.org/content/signaling

ThermionicScott 

D'oh, you're right, that was in your OP! I guess I still have leftover feelings about LAB pushing the bent-arm turn signal for so long.

Rick

The signal with right arm extended for a right turn has ben in the UVC for over several decades. I have found it in the vehicle code or laws that govern the use in all states that I have lived in. I was confronted by an indigent deputy in Florida and told to do it the car way. He showed me his cheat sheet and the part which says a bicyclist may extend the right arm out was was missing from it. It took his supervisor and nearly an hour and a half for him to shut up and let me and my 10 year old son leave the seen of the crime.

Korina

I learned left arm up when I was a kid in the '70s. Right arm out makes more sense, especially with idiot younger drivers, so that's what I use.

TrailDogger

See Ohio Revised Code Section 4511.40 for hand signals.

Bigbus

On a motorcycle it's still all left arm here in the states.

extecher

Whether I'm on my bike or running with my stroller, I use my left arm. If I was in a car, I'm not always certain I would see a right hand while I'll always see the left. Also, my security strap for the stroller is on the right arm, so that makes pointing difficult.

ThermionicScott 

Motorcycles have been required to have turn signals in the US since 1973, so this falls into the category of irrelevant history lessons. I can honestly say I've never seen a motorcyclist signal a turn with their hands, in any fashion. Sorry.

Rick

Cars have turn signals and on a bicycle someone following you can see the extended arm easier than that funky left arm do all thing. The only reason to continue the left arm do all thing would be you are in fear of the little men in the white coats.

canklecat

After decades of driving across most of the US, and bicycling in a few states, I'm no longer surprised by the annoying and sometimes dangerous combination of ignorance and enthusiasm with some young and/or new cops.

Several years ago while delivering a Mercedes between one dealership and another (we just drove the cars when we didn't have enough to load on a trailer) I had to drive through New Mexico. A young highway patrolman stopped me because he didn't know what dealer tags were. Took about 15 minutes on the radio to get clarification so I could go.

extecher

I agree that the left-arm-does-all-thing is a bit funky; when I started back running with a stroller in neighbourhoods I realized I should use arm signals and going into right turns I was having mental fits trying to remember whether I was telling the person I was turning right or telling them I was stopping.

Having said all that, it's probably for naught because the drivers probably don't even notice arm flapping much less the intricacies of what the left arm signal means beyond turning left.

chaadster

Pointing right to turn right is dumb AF. The American road code for all vehicular traffic is left arm bent 90° and I see no sane reason bikes should be exempt or different.

bowwow

I think that many drivers/cyclists are confused by hand signals because so few cyclists bother to use them. If cyclists would use proper signals on a regular basis, drivers and riders would know the proper signals. One very good reason for the left arm indicating a right turn is the natural tendency to lean right when turning right. Extending your right arm while trying to lean into your turn is not only awkward but possibly dangerous as well. I usually use the right arm for the right turn but there are times when that left arm indicating a right turn is quite useful.

Maybe it's an age thing but I find it surprising that ppl who cycle on a regular basis would not know the four hand signals.

rumrunn6

I agree with you & since I'm not in a car, when I turn right I stick my right arm out straight, left turn left arm out straight. sounds like that one person had good intentions ...

rumrunn6

the reason is both arms are free. we're not sitting in a car with our right arm invisible

Milton Keynes

I always use right arm pointed right to signal a right turn. If I raise my left hand up to signal a right turn, people will likely think I'm waving at them or someone else. It's hard enough to get people to understand what pointing left or right means in the first place. I don't think they teach that much in driver's ed.

chaadster

You’re not supposed to be waving or pointing; the signals are static position with all fingers extended.