Indicate left when undertaking a car turning right?

NewApproach

When on a main road, and a car in front is waiting to turn right, and there is room to undertake on the left, are you supposed to indicate left??

Always curious about that. I have my license but sure we are always learning!

Thanks

Wishbone Ash

NewApproach wrote: »

When on a main road, and a car in front is waiting to turn right, and there is room to undertake on the left, are you supposed to indicate left??

Always curious about that. I have my license but sure we are always learning!

Thanks

There is no such thing as 'undertaking' (apart from what funeral directors do). It's 'overtaking on the left' but it doesn't describe what you are doing. (Apologies but it one of my pet hates).

In the situation you describe, there is no need to indicate but merely to observe and proceed with caution.

Burtchaell

Undertaking. Proceed carefully no indicatin!

rain on

I would tend to flick on the indicator for a second in case some eejit behind me decides to undertake both me and the car in front of me. If there was a junction on the left coming up I probably wouldn't though.

brian076

NewApproach wrote: »

When on a main road, and a car in front is waiting to turn right, and there is room to undertake on the left, are you supposed to indicate left??

Always curious about that. I have my license but sure we are always learning!

Thanks

In general you don't have to indicate, but as in all cases when using your signals, you should indicate if you think it will benefit other road users. So if you're going to overtake on the left you should check your mirror beforehand to see if the car behind would benefit from a signal.

As an example, if you were driving a van or SUV, the car behind may not be able to see past you, if you delay your move to the left they may not have time to avoid the car that's turning right. If they were keeping to the 2 second rule it shouldn't be a problem, but as you know that's not always the case.

I would agree 100% with Brian076.

Burtchaell

Id still be wary about that. A guy in front of me did it as he was passing the man turning right and there was also a left turn. (A cross roads so to speak) and the car pulled out in front of him. At least the two of them only lost a bit of rubber!

timmywex

As a general rule you should indicate in any situation where it would benifit another road user.

By the same reasoning, thats why you wouldnt indicate at night for example if there was noone to see you were indicating!

brian076

Burtchaell wrote: »

Id still be wary about that. A guy in front of me did it as he was passing the man turning right and there was also a left turn. (A cross roads so to speak) and the car pulled out in front of him. At least the two of them only lost a bit of rubber!

Your right, that's one situation where I'd be wary about indicating left. What a lot of people forget when thinking of using a signal is that indicators are not the only signal you can use. One of the best signals you can give is the position of your car.

If the vehicle ahead is turning right, and you position your car in good time and correctly to the left, following traffic will be able to see the other car's right signal. Sometimes that's not possible if the car ahead signals late, but in most cases if you're observing and anticipating correctly a signal won't be necessary, but as I said before, one should be used if it benefits other road users.

nidhona3

Is this the sort of thing an examiner would mark you down on? For indicating, when it wasn't completely necessary to do so, even though you were just being precautious, and unpresuming.

regards,
nidhon

loobylou

IMO a confusing signal is more dangerous than no signal.

greyc

nidhona3 wrote: »

Is this the sort of thing an examiner would mark you down on? For indicating, when it wasn't completely necessary to do so, even though you were just being precautious, and unpresuming.

regards,
nidhon

I think you could be marked if the tester thought you were giving a misleading signal, but if you indicate when there's no need to, like passing a parked car, you won't be marked unless you left the signal on too long & other motorists thought you were turning right.

poker546

A hip young man goes out and buys the best car available: a brand new Ferrari 550. It is also the most expensive car in the world, and it costs him $500,000. He takes it out for a spin and stops for a red light.
An old man on a moped (about 75 years old) pulls up next to him. The old man looks over at the sleek, shiny car and asks, "What kind of car ya' got there, sonny?"
The young man replies, "A Ferrari 550. It cost half a million dollars!"
"That's a lot of money, "says the old man. "Why does it cost so much?"
"Because this car can do up to 320 miles an hour!" states the young dude proudly. The moped driver asks, "Mind if I take a look inside?"
"No problem," replies the owner.
So the old man pokes his head in the window and looks around. Then sitting
back on his moped, the old man says, "That's a pretty nice car, all right...but I'll stick with my moped!"
Just then the light changes so the guy decides to show the old man just what his car can do. He floors it, and within 30 seconds the speedometer reads 160 mph.
Suddenly, he notices a dot in his rear view mirror. It seems to be getting closer! He slows down to see what it could be and suddenly, whhhoooossshhh! Something whips by him, going much faster!!!!
"What on earth could be going faster than my Ferrari?!" the young man asks himself. He floors the accelerator and takes the Ferrari up to 250 mph. Then, up ahead of him, he sees that it's the old man on the moped.
Amazed that the moped could pass his Ferrari he gives it some more gas and passes the moped at 275 mph. Whoooooosh!
He's feeling pretty good until he looks in his mirror and sees the old man gaining on him again. Astounded by the speed of this old guy he floors the gas pedal and takes the Ferrari all the way up to 320 mph. Not ten seconds later he sees the moped bearing down on him again. The Ferrari is flat out and there's nothing he can do.
Suddenly the moped plows into the back of his Ferrari, demolishing the rear. The young man jumps out, and unbelievably, the old man is still alive!!! He runs up to the mangled old man and says, "Oh my God! Is there anything I can do for you?"
The old man whispers with his dying breath, " Yea Unhook...my suspenders from your side-view mirror.:D:D:D

P.S. dont indicate, accelerate and if anyone honks give em the finger:D:D:D

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

poker546

donegalfella wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

my apologies, thought i was close enough to the topic here to share a joke

Devia

NewApproach wrote: »

When on a main road, and a car in front is waiting to turn right, and there is room to undertake on the left, are you supposed to indicate left??

Always curious about that. I have my license but sure we are always learning!

Thanks

If there are two lanes and you're switching into the left lane i'd definitely indicate. Absolutely no harm in flicking on the indicator for a moment if you're changing your position on the road.