WA sprayer operator Rob Mitchell says a growing number of drivers are mistakenly interpreting his signal to turn right as an opportunity to pass him, with dangerous consequences.
I have also driven extensively through mainly country WA and elsewhere and briefly worked as a truck driver in the NT, in my experience there is no consistency in understanding of these signals, as pointed out by the article, and I’m sceptical that it is consistently applied by truckies.
I do believe that there is an understanding among experienced truckies and some(a majority???) of other road users that there is a system but it is not universally understood by cara-fucking-van drivers, or apparently school bus drivers either.
As a car driver I have on at least 2 occasions had a truckie indicate it is safe for me to overtake(indicating L-L) in a situation that would have caused an accident. The only time it is safe to overtake is when you as the driver can be satisfied it is safe to do so. Relying on potentially ambiguous signals that are not universally understood is a literal accident waiting to happen.
I have been slightly obsessed with this since being quite outraged at a clear signal to pass being so dangerous and I’ve raised it with several truckies over the years, I think a small majority of truckies assume it’s universally understood but a large minority never indicate to pass as it is dangerous/raises liability concerns. A clearly non random sample and I may have been asking leading questions…
You make a good point that for the truckies safety there is a need to indicate that it is unsafe but if people are misunderstanding this then I don’t know what the solution is.
I have done only one drive (or two…there and back) on roads that both had truckies and were single lane. Brissy to St George. West of Dalby I saw truckies indicating right to communicate that it’s safe to pass constantly. I had heard about it before and explained it to my co-driver because he was unfamiliar, but this was the first time I experienced it. And my experience was very strongly that yes, it is indeed a real thing.
I have never heard about the left blinker being used in the same way as you describe.
I’ve seen plenty of trucks do the single right hand indicator blink, usually b-doubles and larger.
I interpret that as a few things:
Old mate has noticed me behind them and has judged the road ahead to be suitably clear, so I can nose out and have a look and go for it if I think it’s ok, and
That they in turn have a good bit of road ahead of them so they can attempt to nudge all the trailers to the left for me as I come past.
I was driving from Brisbane → Tasmania last week and a helpful truckie definitely used the right indicator to tell me it was safe to pass. Thanks, mate!
Of course you treat it as a suggestion, nose out and judge for yourself before trying to overtake.
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I have also driven extensively through mainly country WA and elsewhere and briefly worked as a truck driver in the NT, in my experience there is no consistency in understanding of these signals, as pointed out by the article, and I’m sceptical that it is consistently applied by truckies.
I do believe that there is an understanding among experienced truckies and some(a majority???) of other road users that there is a system but it is not universally understood by cara-fucking-van drivers, or apparently school bus drivers either.
As a car driver I have on at least 2 occasions had a truckie indicate it is safe for me to overtake(indicating L-L) in a situation that would have caused an accident. The only time it is safe to overtake is when you as the driver can be satisfied it is safe to do so. Relying on potentially ambiguous signals that are not universally understood is a literal accident waiting to happen.
I have been slightly obsessed with this since being quite outraged at a clear signal to pass being so dangerous and I’ve raised it with several truckies over the years, I think a small majority of truckies assume it’s universally understood but a large minority never indicate to pass as it is dangerous/raises liability concerns. A clearly non random sample and I may have been asking leading questions…
You make a good point that for the truckies safety there is a need to indicate that it is unsafe but if people are misunderstanding this then I don’t know what the solution is.
– several edits for clarity –
I have done only one drive (or two…there and back) on roads that both had truckies and were single lane. Brissy to St George. West of Dalby I saw truckies indicating right to communicate that it’s safe to pass constantly. I had heard about it before and explained it to my co-driver because he was unfamiliar, but this was the first time I experienced it. And my experience was very strongly that yes, it is indeed a real thing.
I have never heard about the left blinker being used in the same way as you describe.
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I’ve seen plenty of trucks do the single right hand indicator blink, usually b-doubles and larger.
I interpret that as a few things:
I was driving from Brisbane → Tasmania last week and a helpful truckie definitely used the right indicator to tell me it was safe to pass. Thanks, mate!
Of course you treat it as a suggestion, nose out and judge for yourself before trying to overtake.
If you cannot see around the vehicle in front of you to know if it’s safe to pass, it isn’t safe to pass.