Where have all the turn signals gone? The California Driver Handbook states, "Always use turn signals," in reference to right and left turns and goes on to give several more examples of when drivers should be using their signals--i.e. merging into traffic, making U-turns, acknowledging a law enforcement stop, etc. Unfortunately, many people have forgotten how to use their signals.
It happens without fail every morning during my commute to work, and it is pretty annoying to be waiting to make a left turn (with blinker on) only to have a car make a right turn (with blinker off) into the lane next to me. But, the most annoying moment occurs when a driver goes sans-signal and becomes irrationally irate because other drivers cannot tell what he/she is trying to do.
Specifically, I am talking about the older man driving the silver Honda Civic tonight in the Target parking lot. He had no signal on and stopped right in front of the empty parking stall I planned to pull into, as indicated my left turn blinker, which blinked away. While I waited for him to get out of the way, he began to gesticulate wildly, and futilely yelled at me from behind his rolled-up windows. All the while his wife sat in the passenger seat and covered her face. At first I thought maybe my car blocked the way to a parking space he sought, but that was a fleeting thought as he suddenly jerked the Civic into a haphazard turn and then crooked stop into the space my signal pointed.
Funny thing is, there were several other spaces available, and this strange battle need not have been fought. Especially when I would have immediately understood the parking plan had Mr. Silver Civic bothered to use his turn signal.
As far as holiday parking sparring goes, this was a lame exercise. Maybe for Christmas the general public will decide to make the use of turn signals and more regularly practiced driving habit.
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