Turn signal safety issue

[pcv57]

I was in my car on my way home from work yesterday when a bike passed me on the right as our lanes merged. He had his blinker on and I let him in. No big deal. However, he didn't cancel his turn signal.... for miles! At one point, I was able to pull up beside him to try and let him know but he didn't look over or acknowledge someone was right next to him. This made me wonder if he ever looked at his instrument gauges or anything besides the road straight in front of him. I know this may seem like a trivial thing but it is such a serious safety issue.
I was riding with a group of guys, one of which had a habit of doing this. I mentioned it to him when we stopped for gas and he made some smart-ass response. Not 15 minutes later we made a turn and he left his blinker on (probably to bust my ass) when a car waiting at a side street pulled out in front of him. He luckily jammed on his brakes instead of hitting the car but had a low-side crash. The driver stopped and told him he thought he was turning into his street because his blinker was on. My first thought was to say " I told you so!" but I made sure he was ok, got the bike up and rideable again. The ironic thing was that besides some road rash, the only damage was that his turn signal broke off. Go figure

[Antares]

Originally Posted by pcv57

I was in my car on my way home from work yesterday when a bike passed me on the right as our lanes merged. He had his blinker on and I let him in. No big deal. However, he didn't cancel his turn signal.... for miles! At one point, I was able to pull up beside him to try and let him know but he didn't look over or acknowledge someone was right next to him. This made me wonder if he ever looked at his instrument gauges or anything besides the road straight in front of him. I know this may seem like a trivial thing but it is such a serious safety issue.
I was riding with a group of guys, one of which had a habit of doing this. I mentioned it to him when we stopped for gas and he made some smart-ass response. Not 15 minutes later we made a turn and he left his blinker on (probably to bust my ass) when a car waiting at a side street pulled out in front of him. He luckily jammed on his brakes instead of hitting the car but had a low-side crash. The driver stopped and told him he thought he was turning into his street because his blinker was on. My first thought was to say " I told you so!" but I made sure he was ok, got the bike up and rideable again. The ironic thing was that besides some road rash, the only damage was that his turn signal broke off. Go figure

Haha, glad he is okay, but I hate when people leave their indicators on, and i don't mean rarely I mean all the time, it's such a simple habit to learn all you need is a little effort, or if you can't, get self cancelling indicators, seen a fair few close calls myself from people forgetting to turn off their indicators or leaving them on in the opposite direction they are going.

[SimonUK]

Down here in the south, I don't trust anyone with their 'blinkers'. I think this term is taken literally down here and drivers see them as some flashing light with no purpose what so ever. Maybe if DriversEd taught that they were 'directional turn indicators' and not ' blinkers', that may change, but I think they lack of suing 'blinkers' for what they are intended is so ingrained that change will not happen.

I always use my 'blinkers' as they were intended(in car or on bike), but I think most people just think I hit the lever by mistake!!!!

[LeaderBike]

If he was on an XR it would have auto stopped the blinkers 

[Antares]

Originally Posted by LeaderBike

If he was on an XR it would have auto stopped the blinkers 

Well, the gen 2 XRs have another sort of safety issue but that's a different topic 

[pcv57]

Originally Posted by Antares

Well, the gen 2 XRs have another sort of safety issue but that's a different topic 

Is it the throttle? Going too fast can be a safety issue for sure! Lol
LeaderBike, do the Gen 1 XRs have the auto stop feature? I never knew that. I have just gotten in the habit of canceling them right after my turn but it’s nice to know in case I have a brain fart and forget

[Antares]

Originally Posted by pcv57

Is it the throttle? Going too fast can be a safety issue for sure! Lol
LeaderBike, do the Gen 1 XRs have the auto stop feature? I never knew that. I have just gotten in the habit of canceling them right after my turn but it’s nice to know in case I have a brain fart and forget

XR indeed does have auto cancelling indicators, 10 sec and 300m and above 60 it's 5 blinks I believe.

The safety issue with the gen 2s is that you can't tell if someone is indicating when they are braking due to the brake light being to bright and the indicator too dim and them being in the same bulb, especially when it's bright out

[af1-windy]

Some years back I did a couple of hours out with a West Yorkshire Police Rider, he advised I didn't use my indicators at all on Roundabouts, he also said I can use any lane providing I don't cause any other road user to have to swerve or brake for me.. 

[Gazk]

Originally Posted by af1-windy

Some years back I did a couple of hours out with a West Yorkshire Police Rider, he advised I didn't use my indicators at all on Roundabouts, he also said I can use any lane providing I don't cause any other road user to have to swerve or brake for me.. 

Correct on Roundabouts straight line if you can but where's the fun in that    the Gen 2 has a lean angle as long as your above 64% your good 

The highway code says:

Signals warn and inform other road users, including pedestrians, of your intended actions. You should always
give clear signals in plenty of time, having checked it is not misleading to signal at that time
use them to advise other road users before changing course or direction, stopping or moving off
cancel them after use
make sure your signals will not confuse others. If, for instance, you want to stop after a side road, do not signal until you are passing the road. If you signal earlier it may give the impression that you intend to turn into the road. Your brake lights will warn traffic behind you that you are slowing down
use an arm signal to emphasise or reinforce your signal if necessary. Remember that signalling does not give you priority.

I've been teaching for a few years now and the two big ones are not looking and leaving indicators on.

Not looking I just say if you don't like Hospital food start looking!

Fixing the leaving indicators is easy press the button twice then a quick look at the dash if the indicator light is still on press again.
Look new riders have a lot to think about so it does happen and we've I guess left an indicator on at some point with the new technology it's getting better, the school has some electric mopeds that self-cancel like a car which is a good thing but if the bike you ride does not then you've not learned to turn them off.