Using turn signals to drive straight

[Chromatix]

Once again, terminology to the rescue. In Britain, we don't call them "turn signals". We call them indicators, thus revealing their true purpose: to tell people what you are about to do.

With your indicators off, people will assume you will stay on the same road (and in the same lane), even if that goes off in a different direction than you came in. If you want to do anything else, you use the indicators and suddenly people magically pay more attention to you.

Of course it also helps that oddly-shaped junctions are not so rare in Britain, since many of the roads date back hundreds of years and wind their way between ancient land ownership borders, and up and down the sides of hills, etc.

I also suspect that driving instruction and examination standards are higher than in America, so instructors will actively seek out unusual junctions and road hazards in the vicinity, to get their students familiar with them. A standard technique taught today is also positioning, which acts as an extra form of indication. When you want to do something, you put your car in the right place to do it, and other drivers can infer from that (and your indicators) what you want to do.

[SuperDan]

Seeing that the street name and painted lines continue along Main Street, that's the main continuous route and that would be the way people should assume you're going if you don't signal anything. Signal for Orchard or Maple to the right, even though Orchard appears to be straight. That is a funky place to put an intersection though. I'm not sure what New York's laws are on how far in advance to signal. Its 200 ft in Indiana. By law, you'd be required to be already signaling to make what is really a slight right onto Orchard (although it may look straight because the intersection is in the middle of a curve on Main) before you even pass Maple.

Actual local traffic patterns should be taken into consideration though. Does most traffic continue on main?

This intersection is in the city where my parents live. It is a four-way stop, including the driveway of the cemetery. Central Ave (as taken traveling west to east) officially turns left at this intersection then curves back to the east once past the cemetery. Officially Willowdale Rd terminates at this intersection. Still, law enforcement treats it as any other four-way intersection, where not signaling would indicate you were proceeding into the cemetery and signaling left would indicate continuing onto Central Ave. So, like I said, actual normal traffic patterns may color how local law enforcement chooses to treat this intersection.

[roothorick]

This was loading better for me than Google Maps. This place called Mike's Garage was pretty much right on the corner of where I had to turn." I was on Main Street/Route 220 heading south/down. But rather than staying on that route and making a bit of a left turn, I drove straight (I mean "turned") at the spot where the garage is located - right where Main Street becomes Ash Street. There really was absolutely no curve to the road, hence my confusion as to why the hell I needed to signal. I just did it to please my tester - otherwise, I probably would not have done it since it seems unnecessary.

If you want to see the road for yourself, please help yourself to Google Maps. I cannot load it right on my shitty dial-up connection.

http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&h...ef8cda26d1a6ec

Looking at the street view, I have to agree with Kogarashi.

Main to 220 -> no signal, continue at current speed
Main to Main -> signal right, continue at current speed
Main to Burlington -> slow down, signal right

I never thought of it this way, but thanks to this discussion I just noticed it -- the signal says which direction you're turning in, your speed says which street you're actually turning on to. Approaching this intersection southward, right signal on, slowing down to a crawl, is a clear indication that you're moving onto Burlington. Signalling into the intersection, at speed, means you're drifting off onto Main.