NJ Drivers Not Following One Simple Rule [AUDIO/POLL]

A new report by the Society of Automotive Engineers finds drivers in Jersey and across the country don’t use their turn signals when changing lanes 48 percent of the time – and fail to signal 25 percent of the time when making a turn.

The study concludes drivers don’t use their signals 2 billion times a day – resulting in about 2 million roadway crashes every year – more than double the amount of accidents caused by distracted driving.

Gary Poedubicky, the Director of the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety , says “your car’s turn signal is one of its most critical and probably one of its most unused parts in the vehicle – not only is using your turn signal the safe thing to do, but it’s also a law in our state – failure to use turn signals – in our state – is punishable by an 85 dollar fine and 2 points on your driving record.”

He says “using your turn signals makes sure drivers around you aren’t surprised by your maneuvers- and you communicate to them what you’re planning to do…you know if your movement is going to affect another car, then you’re supposed to signal – and I think drivers sometimes don’t realize how it is not to signal…we forget sometimes about our basic driving techniques and skills that we’ve learned and we have to remember to use our turn signals at all times.”

Poedubicky adds “it’s also been shown that failure to use turn signals is also – has been known to be a common cause of road rage…so this simple use of a turn signal is a technique that we need to use to communicate to drivers so we can avoid a dangerous situation…and it really all comes down to the drivers.”