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Re: Car Indicators - Is it me?

Posted: 18 Oct 2018, 9:34am
by 661-Pete
I've not noticed this problem myself - maybe it's my (fairly good) eyesight or whatever? What does bug me is the number of motorists who either fail to use their indicators, or use them wrongly. Particularly annoying (and dangerous) is the number of times I've seen a motorist indicate left, but then go straight on - especially when I'm waiting to come out at a T-junction. This is, of course, an offence, but how many cases get followed up and prosecuted?

Also, at a T-junction where there's a cycle path going straight on, I come up behind a motorist who's not indicating either right or left - so I don't know which side to draw alongside. I feel sorely tempted to draw up on the driver's side anyway, reach in through the window, grab the indicator stalk and yell "What's this for then?" But I desist: I'm not one to pick a fight...

Re: Car Indicators - Is it me?

Posted: 18 Oct 2018, 10:04am
by danhopgood
Of course the value of the indicator varies in different situations. Right turners at a tee junction are pretty obvious even if they don't signal.

Single lane entry roundabouts are one example of when a signal is essential to understand where a vehicle is going to go. No signal left turners are a pain. Right turners that don't signal - or not seeing a right turn signal, can be fatal for vulnerable users.

Re: Car Indicators - Is it me?

Posted: 18 Oct 2018, 1:38pm
by RickH
I used to know someone who didn't use his indicators (or headlights) because it "used the bulbs up"! :?

Re: Car Indicators - Is it me?

Posted: 18 Oct 2018, 1:50pm
by mjr
RickH wrote:I used to know someone who didn't use his indicators (or headlights) because it "used the bulbs up"! :?

Well, the filaments in halogen bulbs do slowly evaporate in use... and in the period where manufacturers started spraying coloured coatings onto incandescent bulbs instead of using coloured glass, the heat eventually crazed the coating and it flaked off, leaving you with a misleading whitish light instead of the usual yellow - although it was more of a problem with tail/stop lights.

That's not really a good reason not to use them when needed, though. Bulbs have to be viewed as another thing consumed by car use, sadly.

Re: Car Indicators - Is it me?

Posted: 18 Oct 2018, 8:14pm
by Flinders
mjr wrote:
foxyrider wrote:Some newer Audis (how come only Audi?) have moving strip indicators on the rear, why can't they put them on the front too?

I have seen a car with animated front indicators. It might well have been an Audi. It still sucked and I would prefer a simple light on the corner and no switching the headlight off.


I hate the animated strip indicators. They drag my eye continually back to the light strip when I am trying to concentrate on everything else. I think they should be banned.

Re: Car Indicators - Is it me?

Posted: 18 Oct 2018, 8:15pm
by rmurphy195
No,its not just you.

Used to be that not only could you see front indicators clearly, but you could see where they were positioned on the car, usually low down below the headlamp. This means you could glance at an approching vehicle, even from an angle, and readily see whaere the indicator was and whether its active (flashing!)

Now they could be anywhere - above the headlight, below it, in it, disguised as a row of LEDs which change colour, disguised by overbright DRL's, hidden by the reflection of the sun, you name it.

Which means that now you have to look at an approaching vehicle, look for flashing lights on the front, wait for the lamp to flash 2 or 3 times to locate it and make sure it is a lamp and not just a reflection, then decide what action to take. All of which means you now have to stop and wait, and sometimes you still get it wrong because many of them seem to be deliberatlely made so you can't see them from the side!

And at night - some are so bright that while you are staring at them for the above reasons, you get dazzled. NO reliance on peripheral vision here!

Annoys me intensely.

Re: Car Indicators - Is it me?

Posted: 18 Oct 2018, 8:16pm
by Flinders
(I like indicators on wing mirrors- we have them, they stand out well on cars because they are not close to the other lights.)

Re: Car Indicators - Is it me?

Posted: 18 Oct 2018, 8:35pm
by Cyril Haearn
Maybe indicators should be banned :wink:

Drove a Japanese car once (This One You Ought To Avoid), the indicator stalk was on the right!!!

Re: Car Indicators - Is it me?

Posted: 19 Oct 2018, 12:11am
by mjr
Cyril Haearn wrote:Maybe indicators should be banned :wink:

Drove a Japanese car once (This One You Ought To Avoid), the indicator stalk was on the right!!!

Been there, done that, wiped the windscreen on entry to a roundabout - dangerous!

Re: Car Indicators - Is it me?

Posted: 19 Oct 2018, 7:27am
by Airsporter1st
Very few people use indicators where I live, which makes for safer driving because it keeps others guessing as to where they are going to go and they therefore proceed with caution.

Re: Car Indicators - Is it me?

Posted: 19 Oct 2018, 9:11am
by Mick F
Indicator stalks were always on the right. It was the advent of foreign cars that swapped them over ................and we have a Toyota with it on the left.

Having been driving cars since passing my test in 1970, all the cars up until our 2001 Clio had them on the right. It took us a few weeks to stop wiping the windows instead of indicating!

Re: Car Indicators - Is it me?

Posted: 19 Oct 2018, 9:18am
by Sum
mjr wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:Maybe indicators should be banned :wink:

Drove a Japanese car once (This One You Ought To Avoid), the indicator stalk was on the right!!!

Been there, done that, wiped the windscreen on entry to a roundabout - dangerous!

The highway Code wrote:Rule 97
Before setting off.
You should ensure that
...
you know where all the controls are and how to use them before you need them. Not all vehicles are the same; do not wait until it is too late to find out
...

Re: Car Indicators - Is it me?

Posted: 19 Oct 2018, 9:24am
by Cyril Haearn
More legislation needed

All indicators must be clearly visible

All controls must be in the same place on all vehicles

Re: Car Indicators - Is it me?

Posted: 19 Oct 2018, 9:32am
by meic
Sum wrote:
mjr wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:Maybe indicators should be banned :wink:

Drove a Japanese car once (This One You Ought To Avoid), the indicator stalk was on the right!!!

Been there, done that, wiped the windscreen on entry to a roundabout - dangerous!

The highway Code wrote:Rule 97
Before setting off.
You should ensure that
...
you know where all the controls are and how to use them before you need them. Not all vehicles are the same; do not wait until it is too late to find out
...

I know where the STI levers are on my bike, I should do as I installed them. That didnt stop me reaching down to the down tube occasionally for a couple of years after doing so.

Re: Car Indicators - Is it me?

Posted: 19 Oct 2018, 9:37am
by Psamathe
Airsporter1st wrote:Very few people use indicators where I live, which makes for safer driving because it keeps others guessing as to where they are going to go and they therefore proceed with caution.

I think our road system for motor vehicles is designed on the basis that people use indicators. e.g. "The Roundabout" which is meant to facilitate efficient movement of vehicles but when you have a stream of cars who turn left without indicating they block vehicles from the next entry and the "efficiency" plummets and jams start to happen. And in the end, you get a driver who has been waiting for ages to pull out onto an empty roundabout and they "guess" and they guess wrong ...

Ian