Hand Signals

From http://www.diycycling.com/2009/07/13/riding-the-road-simple-rules-and-common-sense/

WEATHER THERE: mainly sunny, 9C, 5 km/hr tailwinds

WEATHER BACK: sunny, 20C, 17 km/hr crosswinds

I pulled up to a busy four-way-stop intersection, and as I waited my turn in the line of cars to turn left, an older gentleman in a truck passed by me going the opposite direction.

"Use your hand signals," he warned me out of his open window as he passed. At first I didn't catch what he said, but as he drove away his message sunk in.

Now, as a bike-commuter I've done enough research to know what the hand signals are for turning and stopping. The problem is, a lot of the time they're very difficult to use. Case in point: as the older gentleman drove away, I came up to the intersection with the intention of turning left. It was one of those awful, awkward stops where I had just come to a full stop and jumped my feet off the pedals and hit the ground, just as it was my turn to go. So I had to quickly hop back on and try to make my way through the intersection as quickly as I could. These sorts of inelegant stops are especially difficult to signal on, especially on my road bike where I'm pitched forward and have to support more weight through my hands. Taking one hand off the handles to signal - thereby shifting the balance of my weight and my body aerodynamics, and having to transfer significantly more pressure to one side of the handlebar than the other - puts my already faltering balance at stake. Other situations where I don't often hand signal include while riding on particularly bumpy/poorly maintained roads, and if there is any smooth ice present on the road surface.

The gentleman's advice should have been well heeded, however. As I awkwardly stumbled up to the stop line, determined that it was my turn, and started into the intersection, the car directly opposite me at the four-way-stop started going as well - perhaps assuming that I was going straight instead of turning and therefore believing he could go through the intersection at the same time without incident. Now, a cautious driver really ought not to proceed through an intersection until the vehicle whose turn it was before them is already most of the way - if not all the way - through. And drivers should be especially cautious when dealing with the rights-of-way of pedestrians and cyclists because fatalities are much more likely in a crash between a car and either of the latter two than with two cars. So I won't take ALL the blame for the confusion at the intersection, since the driver of the car should have waited to see where I was going before proceeding into the intersection. However, I really should have signalled, too.

Thankfully, nothing happened - I slowed down just in case the car was going to continue through the intersection, the car stopped to let me pass, I went through without incident, and the car passed along behind me. Still, it was one of those moments that really demonstrated to me the importance of hand signalling - especially given the timing of that sage advice given by the passing gentleman in the truck.