Hand Signals

     Hello again everyone!  Today was a beautiful day for riding, so I did it twice!  Once to deliver cat poop to the vet (no, I'm not kidding) and once to hang out with my friend Angela.  Lessons learned today are to put on MORE sunscreen than I did today, and bring water, even if you don't have a convenient little water bottle holder!  I had to stop at a gas station and grab a cheap bottle.  I was happy though to not be paying $3.85 for gas. Gas went up four cents overnight, bee tee dub. 

     Another lesson learned today (hopefully) was by a lady driving a Hyundai on Aaron's ride home from work.  Let's review some very important things that we are tested on for the issuance of a California Driver License, but that we forget as we pull out of the driveway with our interim license in pocket.  Aaron was cruising along on his way home and needed to get between two car lanes to make a left hand turn with traffic.  He looked over his shoulder, made his left turn hand signal (arm outstretched pointing left), and began to change lanes.  Silly Hyundai lady kept on trucking as if Aaron and his bicycle didn't exist.  Luckily, he was unharmed as they were both moving slowly to a stop-light, and he was able to school her through her passenger window on proper signaling.  So, let's review them to hopefully prevent this from happening again!

Left: Left arm pointed straight out from body to the left.  Upper arm and forearm are parallel to the ground.
Right:  Left upper arm is parallel to the ground and forearm forms a 90 degree angle pointing up. (I've also heard that you can just use your right arm and point it straight out like a left turn, but I don't remember this from the driver's handbook, so don't take this as official advice)
Stop (or slowing down): Similar to the right hand turn, but you point down instead of up!

     Thank you lady in the Hyundai for reminding us that not all drivers know how to share the road with bicyclists.  Ride defensively fellow cyclers!  

Happy cycling!