Once the novelty of learning to drive a car wears off, drivers get lazy. They forget the strict lessons taught to them early on and begin to take shortcuts. The longer they go without getting into an accident, the more lax and cocky they become. A feeling of invincibility overtakes them and they assume that their carelessness won’t result in anything negative.
Soon after this invincible driver attitude sets in, many drivers operate their vehicles as if they were the only car on the road. Whether other cars can anticipate their movements or not is of little concern to them. They drive only for themselves.
One of the biggest problems with such behavior is that these drivers put others at risk without realizing it. Lost in a cocoon of smugness and oblivion, these seasoned drivers abandon common sense, civility and the practice of using turn signals.
Changing lanes without signaling creates an unwelcome test of reflexes and braking ability for other drivers. Sometimes, several drivers must change position to avoid hitting the offending car. Blowing the horn does little to educate the offending drivers because they see the actions of others as interfering with their plans.
At intersections, chaos and confusion can ensue. Left-turning drivers, waiting without a turn signal on, tie up an entire lane of traffic and cause gridlock when drivers to the rear attempt to go around them by squeezing into the right lane in front of oncoming traffic. Had a turn signal been used, the rearward cars could have moved into the right lane as they approached the intersection to improve the flow of traffic.
A myriad of other scenarios occur when drivers fail to use signals. But, the problem gets worse when it becomes commonplace and entire roads are filled with cars who move and turn without any method of mutually agreed upon coordination.
For cyclists, this lack of signaling is a nightmare. The difficulty of positioning a bicycle properly to avoid an accident is compounded by the fact that a cyclist doesn’t have as much time to react as a driver does. And it takes a bicycle longer to stop, particularly on wet roads.
Cars often move right without looking or signalling, forcing a cyclist off of the road or occasionally causing a cyclist to crash. Crashes can occur due to obstacles in the cyclist’s path, potholes, uneven roads, gravel or simply loss of control of the bike due to swerving suddenly to avoid a collision with the car.
Of course, the worst case occurs when a car passes a bicycle without signaling its intention to turn right onto an upcoming road. The cyclist can’t always anticipate this maneuver and often can’t stop in time when the driver’s intentions become clear. Many accidents develop under these conditions because the car can’t complete the turn fast enough to avoid a collision with the startled cyclist.
Sometimes, the cyclist doesn’t even try to brake and slams into the side of the car. Some of the worst accidents occur this way since it’s not uncommon for the cyclist to fly over the handlebars and onto the hood of the car, head first. This type of impact can result in multiple injuries to the cyclist’s head, neck, torso and limbs.
Similar injuries can occur when a car brakes suddenly in front of a cyclist without signaling a turn at an intersection. The cyclist can crash into the rear of the car. Depending on the type of car, the cyclist’s injuries will vary, but it’s not uncommon for fatal accidents to result from such collisions, particularly if the cyclist is traveling downhill, with the bike rolling forward, nose down, at a high rate of speed.
When signaling is omitted from the driving environment, a cyclist’s risk of danger and injury increases significantly. Still, this problem is treated as a mere triviality.
Traffic law enforcement focuses on a car’s speed and whether it stops at red lights or stop signs. Unless a police officer responds to or witnesses an accident, a driver is rarely, if ever, stopped for failure to signal.
Given the magnitude of the problems caused by not using turn signals, one would expect greater emphasis on the importance of signaling and more stringent enforcement of this behavior. But instead, forgoing turn signal use has become a matter of exhibiting “coolness,” bordering on a social norm.
Once a bad habit — whether a dangerous practice or not — becomes a social norm, it’s difficult to combat. It has moved beyond the realm of improperly operating a motor vehicle. Its consequences are overlooked because it’s a behavior governed by the context in which it occurs. In other words, the status of driving in a cool manner negates the negative consequences which result from the behavior.
Even police want to be regarded as “cool,” so they diminish the severity of a behavior that falls within this category. Therefore, the question becomes: how do we remove the label of “coolness” from an action with serious negative consequences?
When it comes to social norms, a shift in thinking is required to effect change. An example of such a shift in thinking can be seen with the habit of drinking while driving. For many years, it was cool to drink and then drive. Occasionally, people drank while driving, especially teenagers.
It took a massive educational campaign to stop this practice. That campaign began at the grassroots level when mothers of children killed by drunk drivers banded together to end the senseless deaths this practice caused. A similar grassroots effort would be required to make drivers think that driving without signaling was unacceptable, in order to enhance the safety of all road users, and avoid preventable deaths.
The main difference between drunk driving and lack of turn signal use is that alcohol’s intoxicating effect is obvious. An impaired driver is easily seen as a menace, whereas foregoing the use of turn signals is regarded as impolite. It comes across as harmless.
Although cyclists would benefit, immensely, from increased turn signal use, creating an educational campaign forceful enough to effect change would prove challenging. And, unfortunately, given the number of pressing problems cyclists face, this problem would probably be low on the list. Even so, as we move toward more livable streets, we will have to consider the cultural changes required to enhance safety and tame otherwise wild roads. It’s not enough to add these factors as an afterthought; such changes must be woven into the fabric of the road.
