If you are turning left, you indicate left. If you are pulling in from a slip road, you indicate right.
Q1. Where is the tipping point between them - how small does the angle between the roads have to be before it flips from being 'indicate left' to 'indicate right'?
Q2. Does it make a difference if the road you are turning onto is one-way (i.e. actual one-way road, or half a dual carriageway?).
Here's the diagram I did in Excel:
Sunday, 17 March 2019
Highway Code question(s)
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12 comments:
ah, but you see, I don't indicate right in the second diagram, You're still doing a left turn, aren't you?
Surely, the left turn is a 'Give Way' situation and the road is marked as such...?
The other is a 'merge' and the road is marked differently...?
TS, not even when you are pulling onto a motorway or a dual carriageway? Most people seem to indicate right, apart from Audi drivers because Audis don't have indicators, just a horn.
I don't bother. It's not like there's anywhere else to go, is there?
@MW
I think you only 'indicate right' when merging on a dual carriageway and/or motorway because there is no option to turn right.
So the 'tipping point' thing does not apply doesn't apply.
1. Option to turn right - signal left if turning left and right if turning right
2. No option to turn right (i.e. merge) then signal right (optional)
@B they are both 'give way' situations I believe - i.e. the traffic on the road you are entering has priority.
In France they are explicit and have vous "n'avez pas la priorite" - this is because of the old rule about priority on the right, I believe..
In the first situation, you are indicating left to tell drivers behind you and coming from the left that you are turning left. Drivers coming from the right can't see your indicators.
In the second situation, the drivers behind you know you are going left, as you cannot go right and there is no traffic coming from the left, so there is no point in indicating left. However, if you indicate right, you warn the drivers coming from the right that you are intending to pull out.
In the third situation, if the road is one way, you are in the same situation as the second, so you indicate right. If the road is two way, you are in the same situation as the first, so you indicate left. Drivers from the right, not seeing an indicator flashing, will assume you are turning left, unless you are driving an Audi, of course. If you indicate right in this situation on a two-way street, drivers coming from the left, who can see both indicators, will think you intend to turn right.
Sorites Paradox.
Enjoy!
Just make sure you tell other road users what your intentions are. So whatever looks right is right (if you see what I mean) and engage with other road users. i.e. what is the 'body language' of your vehicle saying.
Late to this, but I'd say it depends on how the car is about to move - if you are about to turn, i.e. rotate around a fixed point, you must always indicate the direction of the rotation, so a tight left or right turn would always be indicated conventionally.
If you are drifting/merging right or left, i.e. the motion of the car appears to be lateral rather than rotational, that is where you would indicate to show which way you are drifting/merging.
...and therefore in your example, it would be indicate left.
Thanks all, to sum up, you all have your rules of thumb, I just wondered whether there is anything in the actual Highway Code. Maybe I should have just asked a driving instructor.
Problem is, it doesn't even matter what the Highway Code says, as long as drivers all understand each other. I bet there is nothing in the Highway Code to say "Give two blips of your hazards to say 'thanks' to the driver behind for letting you in"; or "flash your headlights to indicate that you are giving somebody right of way". But everybody knows what these things mean (where I live at least).
Apparently, in some countries, flashing your headlights means 'fuck off out of the way, I'm coming through', the opposite of what it means here, that doesn't matter as long as all drivers in those countries understand it.
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