This morning I had to cross a busy junction that has no traffic lights. I stopped to let a succession of cyclists to my right go past. Little did I know that ALL of them (seven in total) were making a lefthand turn into my road. Not one used a hand signal to let me know this, so I was sat there like a total plonker for no good reason. I was furious.
What happened to common courtesy? What happened to using a hand signal when initiating a turn? Do I look like a mind reader? Honestly!
I’m seriously thinking of getting a t-shirt made that reads A HAND SIGNAL WOULD BE NICE! But I’d probably be wasting my money…
London Cycling Diary 
I must admit that I don’t always use hand signals but if there are other road users about I do my best to signal my intentions.
It’s not only about courtesy, it’s about keeping myself safe. When I use hand signals I’m letting other cyclists, and especially car drivers, know where I’m going. I don’t want to end up on the front of someone’s car because they didn’t know I was about to turn.
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Yep. Get that t-shirt printed up.
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I consistently use hand signals, many times even if I’m not aware of other traffic around me — it’s happened that I don’t see everybody around and the hand signal communicates my intentions.
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I use them – the ones I was taught as a child – but not so many other people in this town seem to use them, apart from when they want to let people know that they’re stopping… and it’s certainly not everyone who does that, either.
The result is that you constantly have to have your wits about you. And even when you signal clearly, it seems that some people didn’t notice – probably too busy changing tracks on their iPods (while cycling)…
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Appy Linguist, don’t talk to me about cyclists and iPods! In fact, there’s a post brewing on that very subject… which I’ll get around to writing one day.
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I used to get annoyed with cyclists turning without any indication, but it took all of five minutes for me to realise that every other road user (i.e every car driver) was exactly the same.
Now I just accept it as reality and deal with it. It would be nice if people started signalling their intentions, but it just isn’t going to happen in my lifetime.
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