I saw a post on the social medias that asked something like "If I'm in a Turn Only lane already, do I need to have my blinker on?" It got me thinking about the whole question of when and why to use the blinkers (on your car, in case that's not clear).
I should start by noting that using the blinkers is a way of telling other people what your intention is. You, obviously, know where you intend to go.[1] The question of whether to use blinkers is therefore really one of whether it's useful for these other people to know your intentions.
The short answer: yes. In the most general case, your blinker tells the driver behind you[2] that you intend to do something besides continue going straight. (It also explains why you're stopped in the middle of a street.) It also tells drivers coming at you that you intend to turn, which might involve crossing their lane.
The I'm-in-the-Turn-Only-lane inquirer was probably thinking about these other people — the driver behind you and potentially drivers ahead of you. In most cases, traffic-flow markers probably make it clear to them what you intend to do, so why do you need a blinker?
Well, there are other people who aren't drivers who would also like to know your intention. One group is bicyclists, who are often squeezed into a lane to your side and whose bike lane might not in fact be a turn-only lane.
Another group is pedestrians, who might not even know that you're in a turn-only lane. The sorts of control signals that drivers have — right- or left-turn arrows on the traffic light, signs hanging above an intersection, and/or arrows on the pavement — are often invisible to someone standing on the curb. (See earlier photo.)
I think this is relevant even on the freeway when there are Exit Only lanes. In theory, you're in an Exit Only lane because you intend to get off at that exit. Once you're in that lane, do you need to keep your blinker on?
Yeah, well. People being people, sometimes drivers realize too late that
they're in an exit lane or turn lane, oops, and they will sometimes make a, mmm, unorthodox move to avoid the exit or turn. Keeping the blinker on while you're in an Exit Only lane or Turn Only lane reassures drivers behind you that you do intend to exit or turn and, importantly, that you're not going to lurch back in front of them.
I also discovered an unexpected benefit of using blinkers when I got my late-model-ish car (2022). The car has proximity warnings that tell you when someone is to your side. The default is a visual on the dashboard and in the relevant side mirror.
But if you have the blinker on, you also get an audio warning. This has been fantastically helpful for driving in the dark in the rain — I can change lanes with confidence even if visibility is not ideal.[3] So I use my blinkers with gusto.
Back to the original question: Do I need to use my blinker if ... ? Yes. Redundancy is just fine in communications, especially in situations where misreading something can result in crashes. As I say, you know where you're going, but the more information that other people have about how cars are moving — not just drivers, but everybody — the better.
Speaking of blinkers, there's a related question about when the appropriate time is to put your blinker on. Apparently people have very different ideas about this, but we can think about that another time.
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