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Use indicators to signal your intentions and avoid an accident
Communication is key to understanding what others want. Now, normally if you wanted others to know about your intent before starting a specificaction, you’d simply tell them. But when you’re in the driver’s seat of a car, wanting to communicate with other road users that you wish to turn, regular methods of communication don’t help.
The solution to this obvious problem was startlingly simple. A big red light at the back would come on the moment the driver would step on the brakes to indicate to people behind that the car in front is about to stop. For executing turns, a blinking orange light on either side, depending on which side the driver will turn, would warn other road users of the driver’s intentions. Ingenious!
There’s just one catch to this wonderful system. Most drivers, especially in India, seem to fail to grasp this simple concept. They cut across lanes without any warning, indicate wrongly and sometimes drive without these all important indication lights functional at all! Read on to fi nd out the correct way for drivers to communicate with other road users and become a safer driver yourself.
Even if there is no traffic signal at an intersection and you're on the main road, you need to signal before changing directions.
Give way to cars already in the roundabout, especially if they are to your right. Also, indicate before you exit the roundabout.
Always indicate before changing lanes. For turns, indicate which side you're going to go well before the actual turn and move into the correct lane. Execute the turn only when you're sure that it's clear for you to do so.
Indicate at least 30m before the U-turn. Double check your mirrors to ensure that all cars behind you are aware of your intention. Also, make sure that there is no oncoming vehicle before you take the turn.
First, indicate your intention to pull out into the other lane. Then indicate your intention to get back into the lane, in front of the vehicle you've overtaken.
