In the name of research for this scientific essay, I went to a Ford dealership, a Toyota dealership, and then a couple of used car lots. I asked the salespeople I met one simple question and the answer really amazed me. The question I asked was this one: “Has there ever been a car sold in the United States that did not have a turn blinker installed in it?” And the answer was “No”
Now, given the evidence that your average motorist used their blinkers on even number days when the moon is full and Lindsey Lohan isn’t in trouble with the law and Taylor Swift isn’t singing a break up song, you would think most cars do not have blinkers, or that using a blinker required specialized training, like Seal Team Six has. But no, using a blinker is something a person can do just as easily as dialing a ten digit number of a cell phone the size of a credit card while eating a burger and driving with one knee. Actually, and this observation is really all that scientific, using a blinker might be the easiest thing you can do in a car, short of Lindsey Lohan.
Yet nearly everyone does not use a blinker.
Here’s a stat that is really and truly mind blowing: Highway deaths are at a low not seen in forty-seven years.
Fewer people are driving, and people are driving slower these days, but two big factors are the way cars are engineered and “accident avoidance systems” which take over the car when someone gets too close to another vehicle. In short, we trust our cars to be smarter than we’ve proven we can be. This is more or less short circuiting evolution. We’re once again stepping in to make sure stupid people keep breeding.
As far as I can tell blinkers are routinely used by two classes of people; those already in turn lanes, and by people South of I-10 in the Florida peninsula who are in RVs the size of building and are also in the fast lane blinking to get over in the slow lane, but who never do.
It’s a very good idea that everyone knows what you are about to do on the road. It’s even better if the drivers already know before they do it. Blinkers are about as low tech as things come but they are great ways to tell people what you want to do before you do it and it will keep the ultimate low tech signal, the middle finger, from being used. As an aside, I would bet there are more fingers being used in traffic than there are blinkers. For reasons that escape me people would much rather react in anger after an event than with logic before an event.
For all her troubles, Lohan is ultimately a mirror for how people act in traffic today, even if she is a severe example. She believes the road is hers and she can drive however she pleases and it’s an inconvenience for her to have to respect other drivers.
When you do not use your blinker that little bit of Lohan comes out in you.
Take Care,
Mike
Mike writes regularly at his site: The Hickory Head Hermit
Opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the management of this site.
+8-9
little hard to read at first… but I agree with what is said… I used to care about blinkers being used…no for me… the pet pea is cell phones… I can live without blinkers… I wish I could live and drive without cell phones.
I just want to know which direction people are going to kill me from before they do it, that’s all.
The problem with flipping the bird at someone who didn’t use their signal is that they will look at you in bewilderment and wonder why you’re pissed at them.
The one word of truth Grog, or a few of them anyway.
The problem is worse in the south. Much worse. People there see your blinker and decide you shouldn’t be allowed to change lanes or exit, and immediately close up any remaining space. By giving warning, you give them the opportunity and motive to cut you off, so over time you learn to make your move first and (maybe) give a signal after.
I grew up and live in Kentucky, and I see it happen everyday. I never thought about it. Then fifteen years ago or so, we took a family vacation to L.A. and got caught in a massive traffic jam on a multi-multi lane highway. The kids were hungry and the wife had to use the restroom, so I turned on my signal with hopes of making my way to the next exit lane. I was amazed to see people moving, backing up, and pulling forward to clear a path for us to an exit lane that was next to us but about 6 lanes over. Even several lanes away, people would signal each other and begin making an opening before we got there. Say what you will; they were happy to see one less car in the jam, they could tell we were rubes, or any other excuse you think of. But if we had been home in KY, the spaces between cars would have disappeared instead of widening.
I have watched closely since, and have found that the deeper you are in the bible-belt, the more judgmental the drivers.
Danny S, your comment is a little confusing to me. You say the deeper you are in the bible-belt, the more judgmental the drivers are. Then you say how nice the drivers in L.A were. We may not be that smart in Tn. but we all know that L.A is short for Lower Alabama and you just can’t get much deeper than that.
Ted, it’s been a very long time since I heard LA meaning Lower Alabama. You sir, live in the DEEP South!
Mike I first heard the LA thing while I was in the Army. One of my buddies was as country as country could get. People were always asking where he was from and he would tell them L.A. just to see them give him a double take.
I missed all those 16 lane highways the last time I visited Mobile!
That’s an interesting observation, Danny.
Danny,
I’m not real sure that you’re South enough to be called South if you’re having problems like that.
Maybe it’s just me but I don’t buy into the “self defense defense” in this case.
True, that is not a good excuse much of the time. I TRY to use it sparingly.
Truth be told, I just retired last week and I am likely to join the ranks of the RV drivers with their blinkers on! Sorry.
I find LA drivers are good. Especially compared to San Diego (sorry… TJ Norte) where no signals are ever used, half the drivers don’t have licenses, and the other half don’t bother with insurance, and they think tailgating is normal. Drives me bonkers. And then the locals in SD complain about LA. Yea. Right.
Actually, blinkers did not become standard on cars until the fifties. Before then, folks had to learn the correct hand signals to tell other drivers what their intentions were.
Dang, Richard. Beat me again. That’s what I was gonna say. How many times is that now? Oh well, being in Japan sets me back on the draw a little bit. Here’s a good article on ONE of the inventors of the turn signal.
http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/lawrencef.html
Thanks, Richard, I was beginning to think I was the only one who remembered learning hand signals long ago. (Or totally lost my mind.)
I remember them too.
I also remember hand signals. Sometimes I even flip one while making a turn.
I still use the hand signals under the right conditions: warm summer day, windows open, arm already resting partway out the open window, and need to make a lane change to the left? Yep. Hand signal time.
Damn, I do too. That means I’m getting old.
Yer jest a pup, Mikie!
I have pups.
I know what old looks like. It’s me!
I had a ’53 Chevy pick-up truck with no turn signals, and only one tail light/brake light/license plate light combo. I ordered an aftermarket turn signal light kit from JC Whitney.
What really grinds my gears is the person who just HAS to pass me, only to make me slow down so they can exit the highway. Then I look in my rear view mirror, and there ain’t a thing back there for half a mile! Why not just get behind me, and then make your exit? Grrrrr!
That’s too frequent, J.
People will pass me and then make a turn when they could have just stayed behind me and made it there.
But nooooooo0oooooooo
Mike, what part of the country are you in, that using turn signals is so rare?
I’m beginning to think some of the other posters are correct, that the use of blinkers really is a regional/cultural thing. Here in Minneapolis (donchaknow), I’d say it actually surprises me when someone doesn’t use their turn signal (you’re more likely to see someone who forgot to cancel a blinker, than someone who isn’t using it in the first place).
Sure, sometimes you get A-Holes who will be passive-agressive or close a gap that you’re clearly trying to cross into… but all in all, I’d say most drivers around here are consciencious of others.
For example, when it’s stop-and-go on the freeway, and there’s two lanes queued up to merge into one, it always goes one car from the left, one car from the right, one car from the left, etc… taking turns… I’ve very rarely seen someone who doesn’t let the next car in when it’s their turn.
I’m in the United States, G.
There are many cultural differences in regions, but talk to a cop about crime or a highwway worker about traffic and you’ll get a different view on the way things work.
I’m not saying we’re right and you’re wrong just because we are there every day, because being there skews views just like only passing through does.
It’s different.
Just another signal that people are getting stupider.
If it hasn’t been coined yet:
Grumpy’s Axiom: The more information available, the stupider people get.
You can google axiom.
That’s TMI Grumpy.
We have drivers from everywhere you can think of where I live, including overseas. Being near a military base you meet people from everywhere, which also means you get to drive with them. Sometimes I wonder if the US Army sends the rudest people here on purpose, seriously. We also see some really bad drivers. When we drive up by Dallas, it is totally different.
We have people who show up here who have never seen a turn lane, they turn left from a regular lane of traffic, that’s fun for everyone. I think sometimes some of these folks don’t know what a yield sign is, they don’t do it(“But it didn’t say stop, Officer”)causing a wreck, that actually happened. I was under the impression they had to have a license to drive. I found out that here in my area they will let you take your written test in several different languages. I don’t have issue with that, as long as you know what the signs mean, if you can’t read the signs, you should not be driving. Evidently common sense is dead.
Evidently common sense is dead.
I have to agree with that, Chick.