A poll: What does 2 blinks of the left signal mean to you?

[noteven]

You catch up to me on a two lane road. You can’t quite see far enough ahead to know if safe to pass, but I blink left signal 2 blinks on move to the extreme right of my lane. What am I doing?

1. Saying “safe to pass I will help you around” ?

2. Making fake gonna turn left signals like “brake checking” only different?

3. Trying to trick you into a fiery head on collision which I am videoing to sell to the news and u tube?

[BB_TX]

My first thought would be you started to turn but changed your mind. I would likely drop back a little until you made up your mind.

[newman_fulltime]

Are you a hot blonde holding a beer out the window ?:B

[rk911]

Tripalot wrote:
I think putting your left turn signal on indicates it is safe to pass - we saw this regularly while traveling in Mexico. Don't think I would trust American drivers to know the meaning though.

on our first trip to the frozen north, otherwise known as Canada, we encountered what we were later told was a custom. we were heading north after crossing in Montana. excellent 2-lane rural road with nice wide shoulders. we were in a 4-wheeler, not our MH. as we approached a car to pass the driver suddenly maneuvered onto the shoulder. we thought he had lost control and backed off. after a short time on the shoulder the driver returned to the driving lane. after a couple of minutes I decided to try to pass again and sure enough he hit the shoulder again and again we backed off. we just stayed behind him at this point.

at the next town we stopped for gas and I mentioned this to the attendant (this was back in the early 80's). he laughed and said that this was the usual way in those parts to help folks pass safely. good to know!

[JaxDad]

noteven wrote:
You catch up to me on a two lane road. You can’t quite see far enough ahead to know if safe to pass, but I blink left signal 2 blinks on move to the extreme right of my lane. What am I doing?

I would say you're signalling it's safe to go around ......

However in this day & age, you're telling the shark lawyer of the donkey behind you with a HD dash-cam that you want to give him your house, savings and pension.

Giving anyone anything even close to directions is a sure recipe for trouble if anything ever happens.

A guy near here was 'helping out' at an accident scene, waved a guy through the scene, but that driver was filming it with his cell phone and had a collision with someone else doing the same thing, he got sued..... by both drivers.

[rk911]

noteven wrote:
You catch up to me on a two lane road. You can’t quite see far enough ahead to know if safe to pass, but I blink left signal 2 blinks on move to the extreme right of my lane. What am I doing?

1. Saying “safe to pass I will help you around” ?

2. Making fake gonna turn left signals like “brake checking” only different?

3. Trying to trick you into a fiery head on collision which I am videoing to sell to the news and u tube?

tells me that the driver likely accidentally activated his left turn signal. I failed the mind reading class in school (see my follow-up post below).

[fj12ryder]

I do know what it used to mean, emphasis on "used to mean", but I'd never rely on it. I simply don't put my life blindly into the hands of people I don't know if I don't have to.

If I have room, the road is straight enough to pass, and there's no oncoming traffic, I'll pull as far to the right as I can and slow a bit. If someone wants to pass and can't figure that out, they deserve to sit back there.

[Tripalot]

I think putting your left turn signal on indicates it is safe to pass - we saw this regularly while traveling in Mexico. Don't think I would trust American drivers to know the meaning though.

[Acampingwewillg]

SidecarFlip wrote:
Maybe checking to see how much 'turn signal fluid' is left in the car...

The best answer so far!!!
I never have to worry about this while in our RV and if I did, it would take me two miles to pass!

[2oldman]

1. Saying “safe to pass I will help you around” ?

And if I'd been following you for miles with ample room to pass, it'd be quite obvious.

So many drivers need 2 miles of clear sight distance to pass nowadays. They just sit there behind you for miles.

[SidecarFlip]

Maybe checking to see how much 'turn signal fluid' is left in the car...

[dedmiston]

You were about to turn left, changed your mind after two blinks, got distracted from texting, and veered too far right.

[dodge_guy]

I don’t care! I don’t rely on what others are doing. I use my own judgement! You can put a sign on the back that says “I’ll blink when it’s safe to pass” guess what I’m relying on my own senses to determine my safety!!!

[Ductape]

Mostly I don’t try to direct other drivers. Too easy to be misunderstood as you can see the varying interpretations here.

That said, I wouldn’t trust passing someone with a left signal that moved right. Seen too many idiots that feel they have to counter steer and move right before a left hand turn or vice versa.

On the rare occasions I want to assist a passer -almost always a commercial driver- I move to the right shoulder and signal right as if stopping or turning right.

[ajriding]

left arm out window and wave a forward motion is the only signal that makes sense today.

I do not ever trust a driver to tell me his intentions. I assume the worst. I drive with the mentality that everyone is able to accident on me. I have had drivers look right at my eyes and pull out in front of me.

[Tyler0215]

Half the people on the road today don't know what a turn signal is for. Two blinks
mean nothing.