(Via InsureMe blog) An insurer recently published results of a study on why drivers don’t use their turn signals:
A new national survey reveals that 57% of American drivers admit they don’t use their turn signal when changing lanes, but what is most startling are the excuses drivers gave. [...]
42% of those drivers say they don’t have enough time, 23% admit they are just plain “lazy,” 17% don’t signal because when they do, they forget to turn it off, 12% admit they are changing lanes too frequently to bother, 11% say it is not important, 8% say they don’t signal because other drivers don’t, and perhaps most disturbing 7% say forgoing the signal “adds excitement to driving.”
They must not have included enough Boston-area drivers in the survey, as the standard response up there seems to be “it just makes you more of a target”.
Seriously, non-use of turn signals is one of my pet-peeves on the roads. Those reasons aren’t surprising to me, but they also don’t ease my desire to occasionally wield a clue-by-four on the road.
I also wish that cars could be equipped with a “straight ahead” signal so as to help the rest of us differentiate between non-turning vehicles and drivers who can’t be bothered to flick the switch. But that’s an idea to explore another day.