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Misunderstood hand signals may put cyclists in danger
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this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2026
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I have a really hard time with hand signals so I'm too scared to ride my bike in public because I had a driver yell at me for getting stop and right mixed up. I don't know why the car couldn't just stop at the stop sign and wait an extra second for me to pass regardless of the hand signal. So now even though I love taking to it to my shopping I don't.
Please don't let one idiot ruin it for you! One time I was wanting to turn at an intersetion but it was a busy'ish road and I slowed, pulled over, checked behind and then pulled into the centre and signalled my turn. It took some time to do all this. In the meantime a car that was on a STOP sign, pulled out in front of me (they were probably unclear what my intentions were) and stopped in the middle of the road, leaned over to wind down the opposite window and yelled at me. Again, they were on a STOP sign but no, I was the problem!
Did I stop biking forever after? No, I recognised that they were an idiot that massively over reacted to a simple misunderstanding and put everyone at risk to have a tantrum in the middle of the road!
I am going to get a bike trainer so I can ride in my garage safely or take the bus to a park and ride the trails. There was a pretty big accident in my town that killed a cyclist in an RCMP charity ride near me this past summer and it really stuck with me. The drivers will bowl over anyone and you never know who's intoxicated. I don't want to ride in traffic anymore.
About the only use for stopping signals is if someone is tailgating you really hard. I don't believe I've ever seen it used.
Otherwise for turning just put your right hand out to turn right and your left hand out to turn left. It's legally accepted almost everywhere and it's understood by almost everyone, unlike the left hand signal to turn right.
That weird signal using your left hand to turn right exists because drivers aren't able to signal with their right hand. It's not necessary on 2 wheels.