Using indicators is not a sign of weakness…

Abu Dhabi Police have shared a reminder for motorists that there’s a Dhs400 fine for those not using their indicators in sufficient time before changing lanes, turning or altering direction in any way on the roads.

Whatever you call them… indicators, turn signals, blinkers, direction signals, those *gestures with hands* little flappy sticks to the side of your steering wheel — until humans universally develop powers of telepathy, not using them leads to serious risk of accident for the offending vehicle and other road users.

Or as Colonel Nasser Abdullah Al-Saadi of Abu Dhabi Police puts it: “it’s important in traffic accident prevention as the language of the road between drivers”

Indicating is not a sign of an inexperienced driver

Drifting into lanes without prior indication is one of the leading causes of road traffic accidents across the world, but there are some peculiarities behind the behaviour here in the UAE, which according to MOI estimates is responsible for up to 20 per cent of road deaths.

The results of a YouGov survey of 1,000 motorists in Dubai and Abu Dhabi back in 2016 on the subject of not signalling are published on the Road Safety UAE website.

Participants were asked the question: “In those cases when you do not use your indicators when you change lanes, take an exit, merge onto a highway, turn at a junction, etc. What might be the reasons?”

A whopping 24 per cent said that they might not indicate if they were too busy concentrating on other traffic.

But what is potentially more worrying, is the entrenchment of attitudes like ‘indicating is a sign of weakness/an inexperienced driver’ — which together accounted for another 24 per cent of not signalling excuses.

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Twelve per cent said it wasn’t usual in their home country; 11 per cent said they didn’t have a hand free (because, for example) they were using a mobile phone; and 25 per cent they didn’t do it because they didn’t know either how to/when to/or the importance of it.

Data collected by Road Safety UAE has shows that “non-use of indicators is a main ingredient to the number one killer on our roads”

The golden (blinking) rules

The organisation urges drivers to start indicating before they move, to check their mirrors, to look over the left shoulder, and only then maneuver.

Good driving etiquette also requires you to be polite and allow other drivers to move when you see them indicating.

Indicating is essential when you wish to change lanes; turn; exit a roundabout; exit a parking bay; or take an exit from a road.

Images: Unsplash