joining a motorway

Unless it's obviously going top confuse, my mantra is "indicate

but you are joining so not their problem...

Unless they are slowly overtaking you in the left lane of the motorway and decide to slow down a bit to check spelling just as you are slotting in behind them.

I dont indicate when there is no one there to see it.

When joining a motorway, definitely. Although its obvious where I am going, as you say, being noticed is important...

Staggering opinion from plonked Jim

That being involved in a crash even though its technically not your fault, is not your problem.

I.e the millennial snowflake idea that avoiding blame is *far* more important than avoiding harm.

No, the millennial response would be to avoid cars. It is our generation who are more likely to take the jobsworth approach that if it is not our fault we don't care.

I always indicate just in case there is someone there that I haven't seen.

Correction: You don't indicate when /you think/ there is no-one there to see it.

Cheers

Although by definition, it will be the people that you didn't see that will hit you because you didn't indicate ...

Which contradicts a policy of indicating only when you think there's someone there to see it.

I note that brake lights work, regardless of whether there's anyone behind you, so someone's opinion is wrong somewhere :) :) :)

Having taken the IAM advanced test, that is their philosophy: if you don't indicate where there is no-one to see, you are demonstrating (eg to the examiner!) that you have correctly read the road and assessed the hazards. This is the only thing that I disagree with: while the IAM is strictly correct, it is not fail-safe.

I always indicate when I am joining a motorway. I hope (but don't *expect* or *rely on*) that a vehicle in Lane 1 will move to Lane 2 if he can do to make it easier for me to join and get up to the speed of other traffic in Lane 1 before deciding whether to move out myself. It's what I do if I'm on a motorway and I see a car wanting to join. If I know that there will be a lot of joining traffic I may move into Lane 2 before the junction, in anticipation of all the joining traffic. What I want to avoid at all costs is running out of slip road because no-one will let me out.

There is a special breed of bastard driver who is in Lane 2 (so Lane 1 is clear for me to join) and who then moves back into Lane 1 at the same time as a car tries to join it, often without indicating what he is about to do: that is not anticipating the needs of other drivers.

what?

In particular I indicate if there is poor visibility at a junction, because it is possible that a pedestrian who is waiting to cross will see my indicator before I see him and will take extra care: either waiting until I have gone past or else makes himself obvious so I can see that I need to slow to let him cross. As a pedestrian I never, never assume that a car that is approaching a junction will slow down to let me cross as the highway code says it must: that is one rule in the HC which I would abolish.

The other one I would abolish is all preferential cycle lanes within n yards of a junction, to avoid a left-turning car ahead of a cyclist having to give way to a cyclist who is going straight on, and should be able to position himself as far left as possible. I'd make it a "hanging offence" for any vehicle - including cyclist - to pass a vehicle on the side that it is indicating. But we all know that the HC "does not apply" to cyclists if it is inconvenient to them ;-) I *am* a cyclist, before anyone says anything, but I obey the same rules as if I were a human-powered car, which makes me a rarity.

so...they were not expecting you to be wanting to join the motorway then even though you are coming up the slip road? ......

so I was going down the motorway with cruise control ON in the inside lane not another car to be seen anywhere until a Mercedes convertible with a yung wummin' at the wheel of mummy's merc with boyfriend in the passenger seat sails almost into the side of me. with her indicator flashing as if to say out of my way.....I blow my horn and she swerves to the left cursing and swearing along with her main squeeze as if it was my fault......granted if it is busy I do all I can to let people on indicating or not especially if they are going up hill like they have to do at the Glasgow airport slip.....anyway you always tend to leave your indicator on by mistake after you join a motorway....so I don't indicate as it is my job to speed up or slow down to merge ...

I indicated in a Triumph herald at my driving lessons in 1969 and was told not to ......

thank you so much .....

...as my driving examiner brother in law said when I asked him...."if they don't realise you are joining the motorway just because you don't indicate ...they shouldn't be on the road".....

Agreed, she was in the wrong and should have waited until the lane was clear before joining the motorway, but a half decent driver (not you, obviously) would have been paying attention, seen her coming down the slip road and moved out into the middle lane.

Ooi, what is the IAM thinking on the flashing of headlights to indicate to a tow vehicle and trailer that it is safe for them to pull back in - artic, horsebox, caravan or whatever.

If they *don't* think its a good thing then I guess they have never driven anything like that.