Posted by Indicators, those funny little orange lights on the corners of your vehicle, are there to indicate your intention to move in a particular direction, specifically, to give an indication to other road users.
This really is one of my biggest irritations. The lack of use of indicators, to me, demonstrates that either a driver is either not concentrating, is lazy, is overloaded with other thoughts, or is just too damn arrogant to think that indicators are of use to anyone.
Those that do use them, often use them as “what I’m doing now-icators”. In other words, they do use them, but only as they complete an action. This is just plain pointless, other than to be able to say in the event of a crash, “but I was indicating”.
The idea is that if you give due warning of your intentions, it makes it a lot easier for others to plan ahead, to slow down, to change lanes, or do whatever else they need to do.
How many times have you had to wait unnecessarily at a junction to find that someone turns off before getting to you, or at a roundabout when someone takes the exit before the one where you’re waiting?
All of this not only frustrates other road users but slows traffic down unnecessarily. Good indication, in short, helps the flow of traffic and helps people to plan ahead. As I always say, planning ahead is the secret to safe and smooth driving.
I’ll say here that I don’t always indicate. Usually, because I’m being lazy, but occasionally because I’m overloaded. Sensory overload or situational overload can be dangerous and is almost always because you are driving too fast for the situation. Things happen too fast for you to be able to react to all of them. I’m not suggesting that you are driving like a lunatic, but rather situations can develop very quickly in even the safest looking places.
I was recently going to turn right but had not yet started indicating. Incidentally, I usually aim to give at least 7 flashes of the indicators to allow other road users to react. As I approached the turning, a vehicle came very fast from the other direction, and it was evident that the driver wasn’t in full control of their vehicle. I had to hurriedly move to the left to avoid being hit, and in doing so, forgot to indicate my intentions to turn right shortly afterwards. As a result, the car behind me got very close as I turned off. This was situational overload, and my thought process wasn’t able to keep up with events enough to do what I’d usually do, indicate.
There is always a certain amount that we do on “autopilot”. This is a requirement just to be able to drive. We don’t usually have to think about steering, or using the clutch, we just do it automatically and indicating should be in this category. It should be a habit, but it isn’t for most people.
So, next time you’re out driving. Take note of how many people you see that indicate their intentions, and try it for yourself. When I was learning to drive, and indeed after I’d passed my test (and I think that was the important bit) my dad used to award points for anything I failed to do or could have done better. So, late braking got 4 points, failing to indicate got 1 point, speeding 3 points, and so on. It was a great fun game to see how few points I got per mile of driving and it undoubtedly made me a better driver. It has stuck with me for all the years I’ve been driving. I still subconsciously award points for doing stupid stuff, and I can still hear my dad grumbling if I’m being an idiot.