Turn Signals, Soccer Moms, & Oxycontin

I know, this is a question that has been around forever, and until we are teleporting across space and time and no longer need automobiles, the question will remain unanswered:  why do turn signals exist in vehicles when no one uses them?

My morning commute is boring so I try to keep myself occupied by playing little games on the way to work.  I play the "I bet I can make you smile" game.  You just keep smiling at someone while you are stopped in traffic until they smile back.  Almost no one ever smiles back at me.  A few people have probably even considered calling the police or running a red light to get away from me.  I got bored the other day with that game, and the count-the-number-of drivers-on-cell-phones game is equally stale.  So, yesterday evening on the drive home I decided to count how many people make turns (right and left turns) without signaling.  I should have counted the number of people who do signal when turning.  I couldn't keep up with the counting the number of people who didn't signal.

Shouldn’t manufacturers just stop putting the time, money and effort into keeping us safe?  Shouldn't if be our choice o use turn signals?  Forget that the driver's handbook in most states tell you that you must use turn signals.  Police officers still issue tickets for changing lanes without signaling (though probably not much anymore...they wouldn't have time to catch murderers and thieves with all the bad drivers they would be arresting).  I hate to say this, being a woman, but the offenders seem to be mostly women.

I mean why does soccer mom, on her way to the nail salon (in between picking up little Timmy at baseball practice, dropping little Susie off at dance class, then dropping by the PTA president's house for her weekly supply of Oxycontin) need to signal that she is turning into the very next entrance in front of her?  Why should she be bothered with having to put her latte and the mascara wand down in order to take time to tell us that she is about to make a turn, so that we can prepare ourselves to stop and avoid hitting her minivan, injuring her, her family, us, the guy behind us who just had knee surgery, and the elderly lady who is already scared to drive, but has no choice because she has to pick up her heart medication from the drug store, as she is a widow and has no one else to get it for her?

The car signal or "turn indicator" is there for a purpose:  to avoid accidents and keep us safe.  It's that simple folks.  I don't understand the arrogance these days.  It's almost as if drivers think they don't have to signal because it's no one's business where they are going.  The next time you're on your way to Starbucks and you are yammering away on your cell phone and you think it's ok or not necessary to signal, think about that little old lady behind you trying to get her medicine so she can stay alive one more year to see her first great-grandchild as she smashes into your (her reflexes are a bit slow these days and it will take her a little longer to stop), gas-guzzler or how about the young woman of 30 who has breast cancer and on her way to chemotherapy because she wants to live to see another day, period.

Think about those people on your way to pick up your spoiled kid from hockey practice (who is just going to resent you and walk all over you anyway because he didn't learn "boundaries" as a child), or when you are running late for your tanning appointment, or on your way to the PTA meeting (don't forget to bring cash).

--Fortuitous (wow, I'm becoming cynical these days) Observer

Comments

[Ariel]

I have to agree, turn signals are falling out of favor. The best excuse I've heard for ever NOT using them is on the highways and interstates, where sometimes signaling to switch lanes will cause other drivers to speed up so as keep ahead of you in the all important race to make it to one's destination 5 seconds earlier they might if they let you in. I don't subscribe to it, but I understand it, esp in rush hour traffic.
I did have semistatisfying experience the other day at 4-way intersection. I came up to the intersection first, but another guy pulled up a second later and proceeded to continue on through. Usually this ends up, at worse, me honking and giving the finger to said driver, if I'm edgy. However, driver not continued on through, but stayed on his cell phone. I delivered a horn blast which hopefully came through over his cell. As luck would probably have it, he's likely just talking to a fellow asshole and on being called on such things goes w/the territory.

[Fortuitous Observer]

I agree, sometimes on the highway, signaling to change lanes will cause the ass hole in the other lane to speed up. I've purposely not signaled on the highway myself.