janm399 said:
Forcing drivers to make quick decisions is asking for trouble!
I don't agree completely. How do you cope with this situation?
* You are riding along a main road, and there's a T-junction off to your left ahead of you.
* You need to turn into this road.
* There is an oncoming car indicating to turn right into the same road you turn into.
* He is driving a little too fast, and it looks like he will arrive at the junction very slightly before you, but nowhere near early enough for him to safely be able to turn right in front of you.
Do you signal early, slow down and allow him to turn in front of you in spite of your priority? This is certainly one acceptable approach to me, and I've used it myself. Alternatively do you signal only very late to prevent him trying to occupy the same piece of road as you do. (I'm assuming that in either case you'll have moved to primary position anyway).
Let's make the situation a little more hairy still, and add in a car coming up from behind you, also signalling to turn left. Let's assume both motorists are in a hurry and driving impatiently.
In my books, to signal left as you would in a car is inviting either of those impatient motorists to risk a close call or collision with you. Signalling late helps to reduce the chances of them making that stupid decision to go anyway.