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Hand signals!!!! We all learned how to use them in Elementary School. Why do so many cyclists in this city use their right hand instead of their left (or non at all)?
Really it’s Elementary dear cyclists!!! —LTS
This article appears in Jun 24-30, 2010.
15 Comments
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It doesn’t help when the motor vehicle act says the right hand can be used as an alternate right turn signal. Check the NS driver’s handbook.
If you are lucky enough to encounter a cyclist who still uses hand signals, I’d say the difference between left and right-handed is purely academic.
Disclaimer: the opinions above are non scientific and purely anecdotal and the respondent is neither a cyclist nor a car driver.^^^
left hand only signals are for cars. Because the wheel is on the left side of the car. I always signal with my right.
we all learn a lot, but how many people actully fucking use what they learned. take a look around at bikes, cars, trucks, and the ever present bitcher, the pedestrian. there is all kinds of room for improvement, everywhere, except of course, with moi, i’m perfect as i am. eyyyyy.
Still waiting to use that trigonometry Mr. Esteban. (my grade 10 math teacher from long, long ago in a western city far, far away) Never know when I might have to build a late-in-life box girder bridge or call in an artillery strike.
I have seen more cyclists use hand signal than car drivers use their signals since I moved here (proportionally speaking). When I see a car squeeze into a tight space between cars or slow down rapidly to turn without signal right in front of me, I feel my stress level go way up.
The left hand is the only arm used in cyclist signalling. If they wish to turn right the hand is held at a 90degree angle up and left is just straight out. For a stop the hand is bent down.
How many drivers recognize what a “right hand turn” signal means when using the left hand (the ‘wave’)? Compare that to sticking your right arm straight out. I use my straight left arm for a left signal and my straight right arm for a right turn signal. Probably clearer for drivers overall that way, and safer for me.
Dizzy – I just noticed the RMV gives conflicting info in two different manuals:
The “learning to bike” book for kids says left arm signal.
http://www.gov.ns.ca/snsmr/rmv/safe/2003_b…
The bicycle safety book gives the alternate right turn signal.
http://www.gov.ns.ca/snsmr/rmv/safe/Bicycl…
as does pg. 72 of the drivers handbook
http://www.gov.ns.ca/snsmr/rmv/handbook/DH…
Oh good Lord. Just get a car …
Cars have to drive so close to the cyclists that if they used left arm for everything, we’ll have some cyclists with broken arms.
Whenever I see a cyclist using their right hand to do something I figure they’re waving at someone they know, trying to shake off a booger stuck to their finger, or swatting at flies.
Which means I don’t really pay any attention to it. Except for the slight bump I feel when I drive over a cyclist…they may as well not even be there…a 3/4 ton 4×4 truck needs something much more substantial for such an event to be even noticable.
if you’re smart enough to drive a car, you should be smart enough to decipher which way the cyclist means to go no matter what arm they’re signaling with. if you can’t…. then god help us when you’re on the road.
The helmets compress their brains thus limiting their ability to drive a bicycle.
left hand for left turn
right hand for right turn
this was changed because the left hand bent elbow was mistaken for waving.