Driving hand signals

Ok, so we got this great "new" car and we're driving a few weeks later...and my gf freaks out saying "the blinker fell off".

So, what are the hand signals for Germany?

All of the U.S. use signals like this:
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/pgs31thru32.htm

and apparently the Irish are just fucking goofy with waving: http://www.lireland.com/theory/signalling.htm

oh, and in NZ, they can only either stop (which, btw, is american turn right..so you'd think it'd be left instead of stop...) or turn right : http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/roadcode/about-dri...ng-signals.html

So...since APPARENTLY they don't teach you when you get your german license (according to my gf...it's very disturbing what they don't teach over here...)...what are the hand signals?

This signalling method works well here in Germany...

That only works if you're driving a BMW, we have a hyundai

So if they don't teach you stuff like this, what are the guys in the Fahrschule lecture room learning when I go past every evening (and boy do they look bored).

Looking through the links you gave in the first post - the Irish signals to other traffic look the same as the British ones - so hopefully these things are standard throughout europe (I know this is a daft statement - but you can only hope (if your European - Americans are clearly in trouble)).

Seriously, no one knows? this is impressive...I figured someone would have a definitive answer within 15 min.

wouldn't the hand/arm signals for driving be the same they use when biking?

I doubt the irish and british do those goofy car hand signals while on a bike...so...not necessarily...

Probably nobody knows because nobody is fucking stupid enough to do it.

1. It's an indicator, not a blinker. Women! (lemme guess, that's what it's called in the US of A?)
2. Get the fucking thing fixed.

Failing that, and if you feel you must, if it's your left indicator that's broken then stick your arm out the window. Unless it's a woman behind you the driver is bound to know that you are turning left. Being in the left-hand turning lane, where available, is a good indication too. If it's your right indicator which is broken then tell your girlfriend to stick her arm out the window and pretend to be a "blinker". If she's not in the car with you then stick your arm out your window and point across the roof. It's probably not an official signal but it'll give other motorists a good chuckle. Given that you've said it is an indicator which is at fault then you probably don't need a hand signal to indicate that you are slowing down. The brake lights should take care of that for you. On the possibility that the wiring is so wanky that one fucked indicator has put all your lights out then see point 2 above.

And most importantly, from the California Driver Handbook linked above...


See the link for a list of other things which are blatently obvious to most normal people but obviously need to be pointed out in print for the benefit of the terminally fucking stupid.

NOFX- the bike signals in the US are the same as the driving hand signals.
I think the hand signals for biking in Germany are the same (i could be completely mistaken though. I think the left is at least the same!) as in the US so perhaps they're the same? who knows!

For vehicles registered since 01.04.1968 it's a legal requirement to have functioning indicators on all motor vehicles. For an indicator not to be functioning renders the vehicle as not roadworthy, and therefore not allowed to be driven on a public road. Indicators are not just for turning but are also required as a warning sign when a vehicle poses a danger on the road.

Further the StVo states:


i.e. whoever wishes to turn must make their intention clearly and in a timely manner, using the vehicle indicators. Were a driver to make a turn without correctly using the indicators (e.g. because they are defective) a further offence is committed.
Sorry not to have answered within the required 15 minutes, but I'm currently in a different timezone

keydeck, it's the whole fucking blinker that fell off. idiot. (I bet you call the hood a bonnet, does it POSSIBLY GET any more girlie than that?)

umm, yes, it's the indicator if it's the thing in the dash, it's the blinker if it's the actual lever. Did I mention my dad's a mechanic?

Oh, all the lights work, yorkshire, the hazard indicators work fine, it's just the turning that I'm concerned about. Oh, well...she'll just pretend like she's in a BMW til they get the part on friday morn.

It is stupid that if it happens there is nothing you can do other than immediately pulling over and missing half a day of work (or full day depending on what you do).

Thanks yorkshirelad6

In the States I learned the arm signals using only the left arm -- but the cyclists I see here all use their right arm to indicate a right-hand turn, despite this arm being less visible to any traffic on the left of the cyclist (and if you are turning right, all traffic really should be on your left). In a car, of course, the driver can't stick his arm out the right-hand window...so I guess you need to always have a passenger with you, or a broomstick with a cutout of a hand stuck to the end of it.

In English, we keep it simple. The lights are the indicators, the lights in the dash are also indicators, and the lever that turns these things on? Indicator lever. Simple really

I've always known them as turn signals.

The reason no one knows the answer to this question is that everyone maintains their cars to the extent that the turn signal levers don't break off.

Or they don't buy bloody Hyundias.

When I learnt to drive in Britain, I seem to remember that sticking your left arm out the window and circling it meant you were going to turn right. Not that I think that a driver in a car behind you would register the circling motion at a quick glace, so I'm not sure whether I would rely on that...

Given that in UK we sit in the right-hand side of car when driving, sticking your left hand out of the window would be an interesting feat.

The lever itself is called a blinker? Fuck me sideways.

But it doesn't blink. I'm not entirely sure that makes sense, Mike.

Did I mention my dad is a retired acrobat?

Sorry for being late, I was on a different planet.


You have to use your equipment (Vorrichtung) to indicate a change of direction (some old cars have little metal flags that flip out when activated by pulling a wire). If you do not have any or if they are out of order you must indicate using easily comprehensible hand signals. If these signals cannot be seen due to the construction of the vehicle or its load you must use a signaling pole.

Now that is useful information! "Easily comprehensible hand signals", huh? Can you give us any less detail? And how long, thick and flexible is this signaling pole? What color? Is it required to have reflectors?
*waiting for innuendo containing "equipment", "pole" or both*

Too many questions Sara. Rowan did not ask such things when tasked with finding Garcia.

I remember my parents owning a Morris Minor with those flip-out things (called trafficators). They were eletrically activated - not by a mechanical wire.

The legal mind boggles at the lack of exact definitions.
@ HEM, and I bet you walked up-hill one way only between home and school!

I was driven to school but usually walked the 3 3/4 miles home to save the bus fare...

My Dads first car,a Morris Ten, had those, you used to have to bash the B-pillar to get them to go back in again!

I think everybody's missing the obvious answer here:

Relocate to a Landkreis with three letters in the registration plate (FFB, EBE, DAH) and register your car there.

Drivers in cities (like Munich) then have ample warning that you're a country yokel and thus will give you a wide enough berth that you don't need to indicate.

Honestly, out here in the sticks hardly anybody seems to know what an indicator/blinker/Blinkanlage/Vorrichtung is (apparently the orange lights are just for when you've broken down or there's a traffic jam on the Autobahn). It's especially annoying when you're waiting at a junction for them to pass and then they just turn right down your road. Or brake in front of you for no apparent reason and then just park up. Aaargh!

"I never indicate. I know where I'm going and it's nobody else's goddam business."

You forgot to mention speeding, overtaking recklessly and not stopping at pedestrian crossings.

Not a different planet, but maybe a different country. That's the StVO for Austria from 1960, so doesn't apply here.

Austria, shmaustria. I liked the thought of a Signalstange as everyone has one of those in their trunk, I'm sure.

I distinctly remember our old mini having an indicator lever (stalk) with a light on the end that blinked in time with the lights themselves.

Here is the English translation from the US Forces Germany driving manual.

h. If the vehicle’s turn signals do not work, drivers must use hand signals. Indicating a turn by hand signal is done with the left arm—

(1) Fully extended for a left turn.

(2) Turned up at a 90-degree angle at the elbow for a right turn.

(3) Pointed down at a 90-degree angle at the elbow for a stop.

Wouldn't the US Forces Germany handbook be written in English in the first place? How n' ever, good info as it appears to answer the original question to a tee.

Link to aforementioned tome.

I challenge any German driver to be able to tell me what "[A left arm] pointed down at a 90-degree angle at the elbow" would indicate to them, while "[A left arm] turned up at a 90-degree angle at the elbow" has smacks of salutes from another era, now illegal...

Hardly. There was no use of elbows in the forbidden salute (unless you were the Führer himself), and it was the right arm.
I remember learning (in those faraway days of driving school in Berg-am-Laim) that a coachman holding a whip over his head and pointing right indicates a right turn, I suppose the 90° angle means the same.