Turn signal neglect results in over twice as many crashes as distracted driving

[ChrisV]

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/04/30/turn-signal-neglect-results-in-over-twice-as-many-crashes-as-dis/

SAE report.

Epidemic Turn Signal Neglect Rate Now Approaching 50%, Causing Millions of Crashes per Year

Society of Automotive Engineers Report: with Effects Worse than Distracted Driving, Turn Signal Neglect is No Longer Just an Annoyance

Dayton, Ohio (PRWEB) April 24, 2012

In a revealing new report published by the Society of Automotive Engineers this week at the 2012 SAE World Congress, an in-depth observation study of turn signal rate-of-neglect not only exposes how widespread the problem is, but how simple the solution is.

A total of 12,000 turning and lane-changing vehicles were observed with visible turn signal usage (or neglect) data recorded. The study shows that the neglect rate for lane changing vehicles is 48% and the neglect rate for turning vehicles is 25%. That translates to an astonishing 750 billion times a year that drivers neglect turn signals on U.S. roadways, or over 2 billion times per day. Each incident of neglect elevates the risk of a multi-vehicle crash.

Obviously, not every absent turn signal results in a crash, but the study concludes that the collective result of turn signal neglect is as many as 2 million crashes per year. In comparison, the U.S. Department of Transportation states that Distracted Driving causes about 950,000 crashes per year, so Turn Signal Neglect is actually a more significant safety issue.

One of my pet peeves while driving is people not using their signals properly. And while we demonize texting, simply not using your signals is vastly more dangerous, apparently accounting for nearly 1/3rd of ALL accidents.

[Northlands]

I demonize both. People need to signal their intentions while driving. It's chaotic enough as it is with the other distractions that people allow to befuddle themselves with in the car.

Purely anecdotal, but I seem to be allowing myself increasingly more room between cars now when I drive. A lot of the time, I don't like to take chances with people on busier streets since many don't use their signal markers. It seems like it's increasing. Or perhaps with more people texting, the behaviors overall with driving are becoming worse. 

[ChrisV]

I just hate lack of turn signals. Almost as bad is using the signals, and then not sutting them off, so the signal goes on forever. And of course, the best is the confirmation signal, where the signal happens AFTER they start their turn or have gotten most of the way through the lane change...

[Byteme]

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/04/30/turn-signal-neglect-results-in-over-twice-as-many-crashes-as-dis/

SAE report.


One of my pet peeves while driving is people not using their signals properly. And while we demonize texting, simply not using your signals is vastly more dangerous, apparently accounting for nearly 1/3rd of ALL accidents.

I don't dispute that it is a problem that's easily corrected but note the wording in the article, "Obviously, not every absent turn signal results in a crash, but the study concludes that the collective result of turn signal neglect is as many as 2 million crashes per year. In comparison, the U.S. Department of Transportation states that Distracted Driving causes about 950,000 crashes per year, so Turn Signal Neglect is actually a more significant safety issue."


"As many as " is a supposition, "causes about" is more of a statistic.

[Raza]

I mean they're RIGHT FUCKING THERE.  I could understand not using them if the signals were activated via a series of levers and switches located in the trunk, but the stalk is right by your left hand. 

[GoCougs]

Not using turn signals is lazy, selfish, and classic entitlement. However, I have trouble buying the accident cause of "turn signal neglect."

A quick lane change? Not sure how a turn signal helps; if you're close enough for it to be an accident you're close enough to see the car proper (and act accordingly).

Turns? It is the fault of other driver to act based on a turn signal (or lack thereof). 

[Byteme]

I mean they're RIGHT FUCKING THERE.  I could understand not using them if the signals were activated via a series of levers and switches located in the trunk, but the stalk is right by your left hand.  

All bullshit aside, in Houston on the freeway, a signal to change lanes is, often as not, a signal to the car behind you in that lane you want to get in to close up and block you out.

I signal when it's necessary to do so. 

[SVT666]

If I'm the only car on the road I don't use them, or if there is a couple hundred feet between cars, but I use them at all other times.

[cawimmer430]

I've noticed this problem here to. So many people are not using their blinkers to signal an intended lane change - and then they get all pissed off and angry when I honk my horn after they cut me off. 

Just a few weeks ago a police car caused an accident near my place when the cop car abruptly changed lanes and causing the car behind it in the lane it changed into to panic and veer left into a passenger waiting area for a bus stop. THANKFULLY nobody was there at the time or else someone would have been seriously hurt or even killed.

[MX793]

Improper, or complete lack of, use of turn signals is a huge pet peeve of mine.
Step 1:  Signal
Step 2:  Brake
Step 3:  Turn

(Preferably, your blinker should flash at least twice between steps 1 and 2.)

If you do it in any other order, or skip any of those steps, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.  I see so many people who hit their brakes on an otherwise clear road and don't hit their signal, if they use it at all, until slowed enough to make their turn (which for a huge number of people means almost a dead stop), meanwhile I'm trying to guess what they're planning to do.

[Rich]

Improper, or complete lack of, use of turn signals is a huge pet peeve of mine.
Step 1:  Signal
Step 2:  Brake
Step 3:  Turn

(Preferably, your blinker should flash at least twice between steps 1 and 2.)

If you do it in any other order, or skip any of those steps, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.  I see so many people who hit their brakes on an otherwise clear road and don't hit their signal, if they use it at all, until slowed enough to make their turn (which for a huge number of people means almost a dead stop), meanwhile I'm trying to guess what they're planning to do.

On 50mph+ roads sometimes I'll start braking and wait to pass another side road before I put my signal on... just don't want someone that is waiting to pull out of that side road to think that I'm turning onto their street; I'm turning at a street after that.  But, that's only in instances where there's a lot of side streets and not much distance between them.

[AutobahnSHO]

I don't think at all that not using signals is the problem. I think it's tard drivers who just drive erratically, unexpectedly. They cut over into your lane because for 2 blocks ignored the "I-24 East" signs, almost hitting the person in front of you, who, like a tard, STOPS as they're heading up the onramp. Then tard#1 tries to cut you off, getting a beep of the horn, to which tard#1 BEEEEEEEEPS back.
(my commute home 2 days ago)

These same idiots don't use their signals, because they think if the road is open it belongs to them and they can do whatever they want, doesn't matter everyone around them.

I use mine not as a way to cut into other people's lane but as a way keep idiots from hitting me.

[Eye of the Tiger]

All bullshit aside, in Houston on the freeway, a signal to change lanes is, often as not, a signal to the car behind you in that lane you want to get in to close up and block you out.

I signal when it's necessary to do so. 

In Chicago, I learned to not use turn signals in heavy traffic for that same reason. You just have to swerve like a crazy asshole the very second you see an opening, or you will never get anywhere. I refuse to behave like an an uncivilized animal, hence my move the fuck away from that shithole city.

[Byteme]

In Chicago, I learned to not use turn signals in heavy traffic for that same reason. You just have to swerve like a crazy asshole the very second you see an opening, or you will never get anywhere. I refuse to behave like an an uncivilized animal, hence my move the fuck away from that shithole city.

It's like they feel someone has taken a shot at their manhood if somebody gets in front of them. 

Just this morning on the way to work I moved from the center lane to the left lane because the pickup behind me in the left lane was about 8 car lengths behind me.  As I signaled and started to change lanes he gave his pickup the gas shot up on my bumper and gave me the brights.  After a brake light test failed to deter him I gradually lost the ability to hold down the gas pedal on my car.  He eventually lost interest in his stupid game and went around me. 

[Morris Minor]

Improper, or complete lack of, use of turn signals is a huge pet peeve of mine.
Step 1:  Signal
Step 2:  Brake
Step 3:  Turn

(Preferably, your blinker should flash at least twice between steps 1 and 2.)

If you do it in any other order, or skip any of those steps, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.  I see so many people who hit their brakes on an otherwise clear road and don't hit their signal, if they use it at all, until slowed enough to make their turn (which for a huge number of people means almost a dead stop), meanwhile I'm trying to guess what they're planning to do.

I was taught, actually it was an unending mantra that was drilled into me:

1) Mirror
2) Signal
3) Maneuver

[Byteme]

I was taught, actually it was an unending mantra that was drilled into me:

1) Mirror
2) Signal
3) Maneuver

I'll check the mirrors, signal and then look over my shoulder and change lanes if it's clear.  I don't trust mirrors alone.

[AutobahnSHO]

 I don't trust mirrors alone.

Aim them correctly.

(Another pet peeve of mine though- WHY do people like to have the side of their car taking up half the sideviews???)

[Byteme]

Aim them correctly.

(Another pet peeve of mine though- WHY do people like to have the side of their car taking up half the sideviews???)

They are and I still physically turn my head to look.   

[ChrisV]

I've done the head swivel to look over my shoulder only to have the numbskull ahead of me choose that moment to brake for a hallucination and try to catch me off guard. so I tend to already know what's in those areas, and trust my mirrors to verify what I already know from haivng figured out vectors from when the last time I went by a car or the last time a car was in my mirror moving forward. It's worked for 30+ years so far. But you have to have the mirrors set so that the moment something has moved out of the mirror it's visible in your peripheral vision. I also move my head so I see more out of the mirror without taking my vision away from what's ahead of me.

[Xer0]

In Chicago, I learned to not use turn signals in heavy traffic for that same reason. You just have to swerve like a crazy asshole the very second you see an opening, or you will never get anywhere. I refuse to behave like an an uncivilized animal, hence my move the fuck away from that shithole city.

Seriously.  If you use a turn signal, your ass isn't going anywhere.

[Raza]

Aim them correctly.

(Another pet peeve of mine though- WHY do people like to have the side of their car taking up half the sideviews???)

Point of reference and a reminder to check your blindspots.

[MX793]

Point of reference and a reminder to check your blindspots.

Aiming your mirrors so that the side of your car appears in your side mirrors actually introduces blindspots.  My mirrors are adjusted such that my blindspot is so small that there isn't a vehicle on the road small enough to fully hide in it (thanks in part to the fisheye spot mirrors on the Mustang, still have a small blindspot in the Mazda where a motorcycle might be able to hide).  Basically, when a vehicle leaves the side of my center rearview, it enters my sideview.  And by the time it's is leaving the sideview, it's forward enough alongside that I can see its nose out of the corner of my eye.

[Byteme]

I've done the head swivel to look over my shoulder only to have the numbskull ahead of me choose that moment to brake for a hallucination and try to catch me off guard.

I treat driving like I treated flying.  Eyes outside the cockpit, constantly scanning the surrounding area for potential threats.  Most of the attention is to the front and forward quarters, but you still need the best situational awareness as you can achieve and you get that by physically looking.  Not saying you are doing it wrong; just pointing out why I look.

That's why I check the mirrors and then physically look back; quickly - as verification.  Plus I keep a decent following distance to help avoid the situation you describe.  And all the mirrors in the world won't help you when you are in the left lane and wanting to get in the center lane and some numbskull in the far left lane who is slightly behind you and in your blind spot decides he wants to challenge the laws of physics and occupy the same place in the center lane you are moving to.

[AutobahnSHO]

Agree with you John.

And MX793.

[TurboDan]

All bullshit aside, in Houston on the freeway, a signal to change lanes is, often as not, a signal to the car behind you in that lane you want to get in to close up and block you out.

I signal when it's necessary to do so. 

Same here in NJ. Same in FL when I lived there. Ugh.

[GoCougs]

Actually, Seattle area and the richer parts east seems to be the opposite - telegraphing a lane change without signally can result in a block; signaling normally often begets courteously.

Go south of Seattle/I-90 (= crappier highways/freeways + lower demographic people) and yeah, it's more or less what you guys describe.

[Morris Minor]

Aiming your mirrors so that the side of your car appears in your side mirrors actually introduces blindspots.  My mirrors are adjusted such that my blindspot is so small that there isn't a vehicle on the road small enough to fully hide in it (thanks in part to the fisheye spot mirrors on the Mustang, still have a small blindspot in the Mazda where a motorcycle might be able to hide).  Basically, when a vehicle leaves the side of my center rearview, it enters my sideview.  And by the time it's is leaving the sideview, it's forward enough alongside that I can see its nose out of the corner of my eye.

http://www.cartalk.com/content/avoiding-blind-spot-5

[Rupert]

I use the small amount of my car that is in the side views to register the mirrors with where I think they should be. Sometimes a mirror is out of adjustment, and it's easy to tell if the side of the car is out of place or absent.

[AutobahnSHO]

I just check when I get in the car. I lean over to make sure I can see the side of the car out of both. When my head isn't against the window or in the middle of the car, I can't see my vehicle in the sideviews.