Signaling and hand signals — Massachusetts Permit Test

If the electronic signals on your vehicle are not working you must use the three hand signals.

Nothing behind you can guess what you are about to do. The arm out of the window is what stands in for the light.

If the electronic signals on your vehicle are not working, you must use the three hand signals shown.

Whatever kind of vehicle you are driving, you must use signals.

It is not a car rule. A moped, a motorcycle and a truck all owe the same warning to the traffic around them.

Regardless of the kind of vehicle you are driving, you must use signals.

You must signal when changing lanes, turning at an intersection or into a driveway, pulling away from a curb, pulling over, or entering or exiting an expressway.

Six situations, and the one people skip is pulling away from a curb, which is where the traffic behind is closest.

Pulling away from a curb

Once you have completed a move you must turn your signal off.

A signal left on tells the next driver you are about to do something you are not. That is worse than no signal.

Once you have completed your move, you must turn your signal off.

Before turning, merging, joining traffic from a stopped position, or changing lanes you must check your mirrors and your blind spot, signal, then move.

Look, signal, move, in that order. Signaling first and looking afterward is how a lane change ends in a sideswipe.

Check your mirrors for traffic behind you and check your blind spot on the side you are moving or turning toward.

You are expected to drive straight ahead unless you show otherwise, which is why signals matter whenever you stop or move in traffic.

Every other driver is predicting what you will do. A signal is the only way to correct that prediction in time.

When you are driving on a roadway, you are expected to drive straight ahead, unless you show otherwise.

Bicyclists may use either arm to signal.

A rider keeps a hand on the brake that matters most, so the signal goes on whichever side is free.

Bicyclists may use either arm to signal.

What must a driver do when the vehicle's turn signals are not working?

Use the three hand signals. Nothing behind you can guess what you are about to do. The arm out of the window is what stands in for the light. Massachusetts Driver's Manual, p.93: “If the electronic signals on your vehicle are not working, you must use the three hand signals shown.”