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Remember hand signals

I might have put this in before, forgive me if I have. (Getting old, you know!)

On the Midland Red, when conductors were considered good enough for driver training back in the days when most of them wouldn't have a car or a driving licence, they were sent to the driving school (it was at Bearwood garage later, but possibly at Sheepcote Street before) on a Friday to fill in requisite forms etc and recieve a copy of the highway code with the instruction to "Learn it fully by Monday".

On Monday morning they would assemble in a classroom and an Instructor would come in, like a school master and ask "Have you all learnt the Highway Code?"
"Yes!" they would all answer.

"YOU!" the instructor would boom, pointing at one of them, "Page 23, paragraph four - what does it say?"

Obviously he wouldn't know. One by one the class was whittled down by their lack of knowledge and they would be sent back conducting for a few more weeks while they learnt it, and returned to try again.
The instructor didn't need to ask again, they all KNEW the highway code back to front and inside out by then!

Those were the days when Midland Red drivers (particularly the coach drivers, who were picked on seniority and safe driving record) were the 'Creme de la creme' of professional drivers.
 
I knew a Grade One Police Driver who when given the Chapter and section of the Police Advanced Drivers Manual could recite it word perfect. I could never work out if it was memorised or a photographic memory. Mind you he was a Brummie so he was bound to have some angle on it.
 
I can remember a driving method me and my mate used used in 'peasoupers'. I as passenger in the left hand seat had my head out the window, looking down at the kerb while steering with my right hand. My mate, the 'driver' had the accelerator, clutch, and brake. I haven't said what a 'peasouper' was just to puzzle the younger members. It seems strange now that we drove in those conditions. :)
 
In those peasoupers Bus conductors had to walk in front to guide the driver. When one-man operation first started, the driver didn't have the luxury of someone to do that and often buses went miles off route and had to be abandoned till next day!

One story I was told was of a passenger who got on, paid his fare then said "You can't see where you're going can you driver? I'll walk in front and guide you."
Kindly this gent walked for a couple of miles in front of the bus, holding an 'Evening Mail' so the driver could follow him, until stopping, getting back on and saying "Sorry, I get off here-you'll have to manage on your own" and disappearing into the gloom.
The point being - he'd paid his fare!!
 
It does not matter how difficult you make the test it will not stop some youngsters from using our city streets as race tracks. Small cars with five up driven far beyond the capabilities of the vehicle or the driver. Yes you get hand signals but none from the Highway Code.It is common to see reports of four or five killed in one car. The passengers have as little sense of danger as the drivers. I drive a big car and act defensive when they are about. They can kill themselves not me .Sad yes but they do have a choice about it. Cut the speed and the un-authorised hand signals.
 
Jean, sorry for the delay, the circular motion of the hand was the one you used to turn the handle to get the window down, up and down, its no wonder they used to break down. I passed my test in a BMW Isetta bubble car, it was left hand drive so I was excused hand signals, but If I remember I had to demonstrate the hand signals for the examiner. The copy of the highway code I have also gives hand signal instruction for drivers of horse drawn vehicles which consists of various ways to point and rotate the whip to signal direction. I think its about time I bought a more up to date copy of the highway code.
 
Back in the day a friend of mine failed his driving test for changing gear with his left hand whilst making a hand signal with his right.....look Mom, no hands!

Ian
 
Hi

I know its now illegal bit most drivers often give a smile to
some sought of hand sign. Letting fellow moterist in and
allowing traffic congestion to be reduced by letting a fellow
motorist turn right in front of you. Anothe one is allowing
pdestrians to cross the road. A lot of care is needed here.
All these help everybody a it releives a lot of tension. Often
get a good smile and wave. More of these hand signs would
help us get on.

Mike Jenks
 
I have to agree with this article, from:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/caradvice/2716857/Ask-Ripley.html

DO hand signals have any place in today's motoring?
P.W., The Wirral

IT'S a long time since the manual signals set out in The Highway Code have been widely used in everyday driving, although they are still officially recommended in some situations. This is partly because modern cars have better brake and indicator lights than those of old, and partly, I am sure, because arm signals often require forward planning, ie opening the window!

Some people will suggest there is no need for such signals in modern driving. My view is that if they can reinforce a message to other road users, they are worth using, particularly for those on two wheels and drivers of unusual or old vehicles not equipped with modern lights, or in tricky situations such as right turns.

However, as these signals are so rarely seen, particularly the less common ones such as "I wish to go straight ahead" (hand vertical facing the windscreen), many drivers may not remember or understand what they mean, and may even misinterpret them. So, as with all signals, they must be as clear and as unambiguous as possible.

There is one unofficial hand signal that is still very valuable, and that is the unhurried wave of acknowledgement, thanks or apology. Believe me, this gesture can work wonders, and our roads would be much less stressful and dangerous if it were more widely used. Needless to say, signals involving one or two fingers, or a closed fist, are guaranteed to achieve precisely the opposite!
 
I took my driving test in the mid 70's, Great Barr, and during the test the examiner told me to use hand signals until he said to stop. So on we went, turn left here, turn right here, so it went for about 10 minutes I think, until he said 'Ok you can go back to using the indicators now' Shock Horror, I had been so nervous I had carried on using the indicators
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He seemed to have a tone of sarcasm in his voice I recall....
 
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I posted this some time ago on another thread. Len.
Trafficators arms. History
They first appeared in the 1900s when they were actuated either mechanically or pneumatically. In 1908 Alfredo Barrachini in Rome had added electric lights inside the arms that turned on as they extended but operation was still by a cable system. Electric operation came in 1918 when the Naillik Motor Signal Company of Boston added electric motor drive. This system was superseded by two French inventors, Gustave Deneef and Maurice Boisson, who used a linear solenoid in 1923. The final complete system came in 1927 when Berlin-based Max Ruhl and Ernst Neuman combined internal illumination and solenoid operation.
The shape of the Trafficator arm is closely based upon the shape of the semaphore signal arm used by the Royal Bavarian Railway beginning in 1890. The only difference from the railway arm is that it is halved down its length so as to flushly fit with the vehicle's exterior.
They were common on vehicles until the introduction of the flashing amber or red indicators at or near the corners of the vehicle (and often along the sides as well). They have been increasingly rare since the 1950s, as ever-tightening legislation has prescribed the need for the modern type of flashing signal. Many historic vehicles that are used on today's roads have had their trafficators supplemented or replaced with modern indicators to aid visibility and to meet legislative requirements.​
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My late Father in Law was allergic to draughts so used to give the sort of signals once used by carters with the whip - circling his hand above his head - then wondered why people got annoyed and blew their horns. Mind he still did this even when he had cars with flashers fitted.
 
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