Silk wrote:waremark wrote:TheInsanity1234 wrote:I want to clarify I usually start indicating after checking the offside mirror, and while indicating, I check my blindspot, then the offside mirror again before moving out into the offside lane.
I've found that indicating is generally a useful way of encouraging people behind me to hold back a moment while I move out to overtake, as I've had cases of people moving out and blocking an overtake I was about to take. The other thing it does is inform the overtakee that they're about to be passed, which kind of protects against them making sudden movements
I like your reply about indicating. What I was getting at is that if indicating is to be useful there has to be time for reaction to it before you manoeuvre. Actually, I don't believe that the overtaking target in front of you is at all likely to notice your indicator in his mirror but it may be useful for the person behind, as you say.
I tend to default to not indicating unless I can see a good reason to indicate. In practice, this means I almost never indicate to overtake [on single carriageway roads]. The problem with indicating is you end up committing yourself before you've gone past the absolutely sure it's safe stage. I'm not sure it's a good idea hoping that another road user will respond to your indicator as you wish them too - if you're in that situation, the overtake probably isn't on.
But the thing is, indicating is a very simple thing to cancel, so you're not committing yourself to the manoeuvre at all, are you?
For instance, you can indicate to inform other road users that you intend to overtake, but if something then changes which results in the overtake not being on, you cancel the indicator.
No commitment required to indicate.
Of course, if I was just overtaking a lone car with no other traffic in sight, then indeed, indicating is about as useful as putting a leaf on your head to protect you from the rain.
But if you're behind a car moving at 45 mph in a NSL, with a line of cars behind you, then it would be beneficial to indicate, so you can inform traffic behind you that you intend to overtake.
I would find a car in front of me indicating to overtake very useful if I was considering the overtake myself, because the indicator will change my plan from "possible overtake?" to "wait for this car in front to finish an overtake"
But again, different scenarios require different plans.