If I see someone in the right turning lane with their right indicator on, I assume they are about to turn right.
If I see someone in the right turning lane but they have their left indicator on, I assume they want to leave the turning lane.
If I see someone in the right turning lane without their indicator on, I assume they are probably going to turn right but they may have made a mistake or changed their mind, so I’m more cautious if I’m passing or try to leave room for them to get out if appropriate. This is the most annoying situation for me because I have less information to guess what they might do next.
Interesting. For me, the latter scenario is the most clear. In the first one, they may want to turn into a driveway, just stop on the roadside altogether, switch to a different lane to their right (on a double turn lane), whatever: they’re potentially trying to deviate from the path they’ve chosen to take. If they just want to follow the path they’re on, turn signals off makes the most sense to me
Of course, if you’re in a country that crosses different traffic directions on green (like Belgian and German lights that go green for you wanting to left turn, but there’s traffic coming straight on) then it’s needed to indicate you’re a turner and not someone going straight on. But then, mixing traffic is a recipe for confusion and accidents anyway (saw a stat recently that right turns having green together with pedestrians increases accidents by iirc some 60% — probably a low number to begin with and so any change looks big, but still crazy to me that countries continue to choose this)
Another scenario that appears more universally, where you have one lane for two options (straight on or right, for example), the turn signal is also needed of course: there is no path you’ve already chosen and so you need to show intent to change
If I see someone in the right turning lane with their right indicator on, I assume they are about to turn right.
If I see someone in the right turning lane but they have their left indicator on, I assume they want to leave the turning lane.
If I see someone in the right turning lane without their indicator on, I assume they are probably going to turn right but they may have made a mistake or changed their mind, so I’m more cautious if I’m passing or try to leave room for them to get out if appropriate. This is the most annoying situation for me because I have less information to guess what they might do next.
Interesting. For me, the latter scenario is the most clear. In the first one, they may want to turn into a driveway, just stop on the roadside altogether, switch to a different lane to their right (on a double turn lane), whatever: they’re potentially trying to deviate from the path they’ve chosen to take. If they just want to follow the path they’re on, turn signals off makes the most sense to me
Of course, if you’re in a country that crosses different traffic directions on green (like Belgian and German lights that go green for you wanting to left turn, but there’s traffic coming straight on) then it’s needed to indicate you’re a turner and not someone going straight on. But then, mixing traffic is a recipe for confusion and accidents anyway (saw a stat recently that right turns having green together with pedestrians increases accidents by iirc some 60% — probably a low number to begin with and so any change looks big, but still crazy to me that countries continue to choose this)
Another scenario that appears more universally, where you have one lane for two options (straight on or right, for example), the turn signal is also needed of course: there is no path you’ve already chosen and so you need to show intent to change