When it concerns driving cars in the State of Maine, there are specific guidelines that practically everybody understands. The sort of guidelines that even kids who have actually never ever taken chauffeurs’ education classes understand. You constantly stop at traffic signals, you pick up individuals in crosswalks, and you utilize your signal light when making a turn.
Sadly, some individuals are not all that terrific at utilizing their signal lights. We’ve all seen it! You are following behind an automobile on a roadway with a relatively high speed limitation (45 MILES PER HOUR) and, suddenly, the automobile in front of you begins to decrease. And, practically the time you madly begin to state “what are you doing?!”, they make a become a parking area of onto a side roadway.
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Clearly, making a turn like that without utilizing a signal light is prohibited, ideal? As your automobile was taking a trip on the exact same roadway as the other automobile, naturally it would be prohibited.
However, I just recently heard a caller to a radio program make a remark about how it was entirely legal to turn without utilizing a signal light if there was nobody else around. Could that hold true?
Not that I actually have a requirement to make a turn without utilizing a signal light, however I wondered, so I did some digging. After a fast search, I discovered the terminology of the law that refers to utilizing signal lights.
Apparently, the response to the concern is a bit more complicated than you would believe.
According to the Maine Legislature website, chauffeurs in Maine require to utilize their signal light a minimum of 100 feet prior to making a lane modification or turning if making that relocation will impact other cars or individuals.
Specifically, it states:
An operator might not turn an automobile without offering a proper signal if other traffic might be impacted by that motion.
So, possibly you do not need to indicate if nobody else is around. However, why take that possibility? There might be somebody close by that you did not discover and, by not utilizing your signal light, you put them at threat. So, our recommendation would be to simply utilize your signal light. It just takes a 2nd to turn that lever, after all.
* KEEP IN MIND – Please constantly utilize care and follow the guidelines of the roadway when driving in Maine
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