On this morning's commute, I waited behind two vehicles at a traffic light. The first vehicle was a car with its right-hand blinker on. The second vehicle was a pickup, which had previously passed me on the way to the intersection, now stopped with no blinker on. Still, I held back and waited behind the pickup to be sure of the driver's intention, knowing some drivers turn without signalling, and I was the smaller, more vulnerable piece of the equation.
The light changed, and the car made the right turn as signaled. The pickup went forward, still without a blinker on, moving like it was going straight thru the intersection, leaving plenty of room along the shoulder. I moved to the shoulder and started to make my turn, and the pickup stopped moving. I saw an oncoming car about to make a left turn, but waiting for us. The pickup beeped a solid blast (very disturbing to a cyclist's ears), and I assumed he is beeping off the car, possibly on my behalf. But the pickup then made a right turn. As he drove by me in the far lane with the passenger window open, I heard the pickup driver yell something about the road. I yelled at the top of my lungs, "Turn signal! Use your turn signal!"
All I can figure is that the pickup driver was planning to turn right all the time, but either did not use his blinker or it was non-functional, and knowing I was there, he left some room even tho I was leaving room for him to be on his way ahead of me. So why beep and yell at me? Hopefully I made myself heard and he realized where I thought the blame lay; maybe he will think about it and not cause such a situation in the future.
