Stating the bleedin' obvious - Do I really need to signal?

Well, let's get the semantics out of the way first...  What do we mean by signalling?  Well, presumably it's about making it clear what we're doing.  It's tempting to make this synonymous with little flashing orange lights, but there are lots of other ways of communicating what we intend to do; certainly position in the road.  Maybe speed?  Maybe even where we're looking..?

But - ok...  The spirit of this article is to address a question I get asked a lot - do I need to signal..?

I want - as ever - to come back to the idea that road use is context-dependant.  I can't answer all eventualities, but it is, I think, ok to establish guidelines, if not hard-and-fast rules.

Our basic premise has to be, 'Does everyone who needs to know know what I want to do?'

Let's take the example of overtaking a parked car.  Can the person in the car behind you see it?  Yes.  They know you're not just going to stove into the back of it.  It's implied in what you're doing.  You don't need to signal - and anyway, your speed and position on the approach should be showing what you're doing.

Pulling away from the kerbside when there's no one there..?  No.  You don't *need* to signal.  I'm not going to lie awake at night wondering if the sky is going to fall on my head if you do, mind...  I don't really care either way.  If you signal when there's no-one there, is anyone mislead?  No.  Can it possibly be construed as dangerous?  No.  If a tree falls over in the woods when no-one sees it, does it make a sound?  Really - who cares?  It doesn't matter.

So why the advanced driver's obsession about removing these redundant signals?  Hell if I know.  I appreciate there's a wish to make it clear we're not driving on autopilot here.   And I appreciate that there are circumstances in which signalling too much might be misleading.  Clearly, if we're signalling that much, that can't be ideal.  "Is he going on to that driveway?  No.  Is she going into the carpark..?  No.  Oh - just overtaking the parked car..? I knew that anyway..."

Even so, we need to be broad-minded in what we consider to be road-users who need to know what we intend to do.  Consider being in a dedicated turning lane that goes left and no where else.  Do all other drivers know what we're doing?  Yeah, probably.  But do five-year-old kids go round looking at road markings?  Signage?  No, probably not.  And - at the vast majority of junctions with dedicated turning lanes, would it be misconstrued or misleading?  No.  Hardly ever.

Accordingly, when I'm in a dedicated turning lane, I tend to signal.  I can't find a reason not to, and I can find reasons that support it.  I'd be happy, as ever, to be corrected on this.  There are always specific contexts that would make me lean one way or other.  But all other things being equal, my preference is to signal at junctions as a general principle.

Comments welcomed always... :o)