Neglecting turn signals are national peeve

I'm serious. With $100,000 hanging in the balance of every lane change or turn, you'd bet the problem with people NOT using their signals would end. Or, there would be no more need for state or federal tax. I figure the average trip to work would cost about $1.6 million plus the morning paper and coffee.

Apparently, you, too, will do just about anything to stop the insanity. This column is a follow-up on the sore spot one of my fellow writers at Wheelbase Communications uncovered when she recently wrote about drivers who failed Turn Signals 101.

"You have taken the words right out of my mouth and put them on paper," says Richard, an Ohio native now trying to maneuver his way through the wild streets of Las Vegas. "If they would only realize how much safer they and all the other drivers would be to use the little effort involved by using the turn signals."

Sorry, Vegas, but Richard isn't the only one who decried your lax use of turn signals. You may be the city that never sleeps, but according to a slew of e-mails, you're also the city that doesn't believe in using those little sticks attached to the steering column that go blinkety-blink. (If it helps, pretend your turn indicator is a lever on a slot machine.)

Just in case the rest of you thought you were going to get off easy, here, these folks aren't the only offenders. In fact, the common thread between all the letters we received is this: "Dear Wheelbase, I live in 'X' city. They have the worst drivers on the entire face of the Earth right here!" So, if every place in the world is the worst place in the world for useless, disrespectful, inconsiderate drivers, where can you move to get some peace and quiet?

There's proof in numbers. I'm not the only person who's frustrated with this sweeping disregard for lane-change decorum. I know there are plenty of people who agree with me, but I still can't understand WHY. Anyone?

"People today are just flat rude," writes Rett from North Carolina. "I have thought many times if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. But that makes me no better than them."

Rett, don't drift to the dark side ... walk towards the light -- the turn-signal light!

Sandra finds humor in the ridiculousness of the situation.

She's "convinced that people don't turn signals because they think they use more gas."

It's a theory. There must be a reason.

I mean, we're not living in the dark ages when a turn signal was an open window and an extended arm. (Is a left turn a bent arm or a straight arm?)

The signal clicker is a standard feature. Get to know it. Be one with your turn signal.

"It takes little forethought, minimal energy to hit, and shows courtesy to your fellow drivers on the road," reasons Betty Jane in Palm Desert, Calif. "Ahhh haaa! Maybe that courtesy thing is what's missing.

"Is it a new culture? Will generations from now be asking, 'what was that thing called a signal light?' Sort of like the busy signal on the telephone as call waiting took over."

It's not just the fact that people refuse to engage their turn signals for whatever reason: broken arm, fear of that clicking noise or whatever.

On the other side of the coin, Lynne points out, is "not turning the dumb thing off. How can they miss that noise?"

Maureen's biggest pet peeve is the "total, and I do mean total, disregard of people who do not and will not ever move over so a person can enter the freeway."

Amen, sister!

If I had a buck for every car that sped up when they saw my light blinking so I couldn't squeeze into their lane, I'd be rich.

If that's why some drivers don't use their turn signals, I could almost forgive them ... almost.

That still doesn't make it right. Just ask our buddy Rett.

He earned his first traffic ticket in San Francisco when he was 16 for failing to use his turn signal to change lanes.

"It cost me $10," he recalls. "What a joke today."

But it's a joke he remembers to this day.

Among her numerous accomplishments, Courtney Hansen is the author of the "Garage Girl's Guide," the host of Spike TV's "PowerBlock," the former host of TLC's "Overhaulin'" and a writer with Wheelbase Communications. You can e-mail her by logging on to www.wheelbase.ws/mailbag.html.