- By Dan Veaner
- Opinions
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First of all, it is distracting to push a rod a half an inch or so up or down when you are driving. Naturally you want to keep your hands on the wheel, precisely placed at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock. Moving your left hand that fraction of an inch to signal a turn could make you entirely lose control of your car. Secondly, you know exactly where you are going, and the other drivers should know where you are going, too.There is also that smooth rhythm that would be totally disrupted if you moved your hand to signal, not to mention that distraction clink-a clink-a clink-a noise it makes. And you wouldn't want the little green blinking right or left hand arrow to distract you from watching the road.
That rhythm is important. In your head you can hear John Williams conducting the London Symphony as it performs the Star Wars theme song. You are Han Solo, piloting the Millennium Falcon through a rare patch of unobstructed space.
Besides, who cares if you don't signal? When people do signal, nobody believes them anyway. Someone about to turn onto a thoroughfare just sits there even though you are signalling a right turn. They don't believe you're really going to turn right, so they play it safe and wait. The few fools who do believe signals end up getting hit when you change your mind at the last minute.
And you are doing the other drivers a service. What if that guy behind you has epilepsy? You wouldn't want to trigger a seizure by flashing a blinking light at him. That could cause an accident.
Better to keep your contact to the three basic controls: the steering wheel, gas pedal and brake. That simplifies driving, so there is less to go wrong. Some people don't even use the brake.
Of course there are old fashioned drivers still on the road who respond to your lack of signals with traditional hand signals of their own. But you may notice that some of them have the signals confused, or -- at best -- abbreviated. Instead of using all five fingers they only use one. And when they do they don't always mean they are about to turn.
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