Pluggers by Rick McKee for July 02, 2020

who wouldn’t do that?

I know Terre Hill. I use to deliver to some company back there. I don’t know if I’d remember how to find it again but I was there 45 years ago.

And leaves it on…..

There was a geriatric standup comic some years ago that said, “I just drove here to L.A. from Minnesota.”

“With my left turn signal on the whole way!”

ok, turn signals…left arm out the window bent upright at the elbow=right turn; left arm out the window arm straight=left turn; left arm out the window bent downward=slowing or stopping.Yep, my very first driving experience was a WW2 war surplus JEEP with very unreliable onboard electronics.

Perhaps because the, uh, The police might be.

I taught my children that if you ALWAYS do it right, you’ll never get caught in the wrong.

Good to drive that way you never know who is watching !

It’s especially strange that so many of those yayhoos with them big pick ‘em up trucks can’t manage that lever on the left side of the column cuz it takes as much as 2 ounces of effort. Ooo, I pity poor Bubba. Then somebody accidently swipes it while trying to catch that falling French fry and ya get this – folks takin’ their cars into the shop for this problem: “Geez Mac, there’s this weird blinking green light on the dashboard and a strange ticking noise. I’ve never seen or heard that before and it’s drivin’ me nuts. Make it go away!” How much is it for a new filter and a fresh six gallons of Marvel’s Mystery Blinker Fluid?

I never use my turn signals. It’s no one else’s damn business where I’m going.

It’s instinctive

After 53 years of driving, I’d have to think about it to NOT use them.

Good Boy!!

This reminded me of a cartoon I saw in the paper in 1998 when John Glenn went back into space at age 77. The comic showed the space shuttle with one blinker flashing.

I’ve been known to turn on my blinker when I made the bend in my own driveway!

I use them leaving parking lots. The more we know about what is going to happen the less chance we will hit each other.

To the people who say, ’It’s nobody’s business where I’m going" I say “We don’t care where you’re going. We just want both of us to get to our destinations safely.” The signal is to prevent collisions. Even if you don’t get into a collision when you switch lanes or turn without signaling, all those people behind you are in danger of being in one because of your silly idea that signals are somehow personal. To the people who have to veer and brake suddenly to avoid being hit by you—or to avoid hitting someone else, you are simply a car being driven by a jerk. To the people who end up in accidents, you are simply the jerk who caused it to happen (and we hope your license number was caught on camera). We don’t know who you are, where you come from or where you are going. And we could care less. We just hope we never have to drive on the road with you again.

If he’s changing lanes, why is he using the windshield wiper control? The lane changing signal control is on his left!

Habitses

Using your turn signal around here (general Wash. DC area) can go several ways. People see you using it, act like jerks and speed up to prevent you from getting in front of them or are kind and open up space and let you in. And the same person can be both in the drive to or from work in the same day … several times. I have received both treatments and given both treatments. Some days, I’m nice. Some days, I’m a jerk. And occasionally, I AM A JERK. I am trying to move the needle more to the nice side. I do know that if people SIGNAL they need to get it and do it BEFORE they are right at the place they HAVE to turn, I am much more likely to let them in. But if they come flying down the shoulder, dodging around others who have waited patiently in line to pull into the turn lane, I am MUCH more reluctant to give them leeway – especially if I, myself, have been patiently waiting in that line to exit at the same place. You know, I think I think about driving too much. LOL Too much time analyzing why I do what I do and why others might do what they do.

Since the world tends to go in cycles, I predict (Hope) that when we tire of a world filled with self centered jerks, the next phase will be one with manners and polite speech “Pray-thee my fine fellow, wouldst thou perhaps be intellectually challenged?” See? you can even insult someone without being offensive about it.

There needs to be a special door to He** for people that don’t use their blinkers. Somebody tell Gary Larson.

Do it like someone’s watching and you don’t need to worry about it.

In driver’s ed we were taught to use the signals any time we altered the straight ahead direction of the car – turning, lane changes, even when moving along in a designated lane that veered off from the main road. This was later reinforced by a defensive driver course, to be allowed to drive state-owned vehicles when I was in college. Things like that have become so ingrained that they are automatic. Check over your shoulder, signal, check again, make your move. Be safe out there!

Around here, we call the selfish jerks who don’t use their signals “Nevadans”. It is also used for those who think they are the only car on the road and make alarmingly unsafe maneuvers all the time.

Around here in Maryland we have a word for people who use turn signals: tourist.

Mother always said one should be consistent. She meant manners, of course, but wouldn’t that apply here?

Nuns use it too, because they’re always in the habit…

Integrity, when you do what is right especially when no one else is looking.

When you see a driver who has left their turn signal blinking, try pulling up along side and yelling, “You’re not fooling anybody, ya know??!!” :>)

My daughter corrects me because I say “blinkers” and not turn signals.

AMEN!