Driving and cycling hand signals

About driving and cycling hand signals

A hand signal is a driver or cyclist saying with an arm what a turn signal or brake light would otherwise say. In the United States the state vehicle codes define three, all given from the left side of the vehicle: the arm held straight out for a left turn, the arm pointing up for a right turn, and the arm pointing down to stop or slow down. California Vehicle Code §22111, Florida’s §316.157 and New York’s §1165 word them almost identically. Driver handbooks in California, Texas and Pennsylvania draw the up and down signals with the arm bent at the elbow. California’s and Pennsylvania’s present them for a car whose signal lights are not working, and California’s also for bright sunlight that makes the lights hard to see.

Cyclists’ signals

A cyclist gives the same three signals with the left arm. California and Florida law add that a bicyclist may instead signal a right turn with the right arm held straight out, and New York’s §1237 lists both forms; the Texas Driver Handbook and NHTSA’s hand signals handout for young cyclists describe both as well. NHTSA accepts either arm for the stop or slow signal, where New York’s law and the Texas handbook name the left. Florida’s §316.155 lets a cyclist stop holding a turn signal when the hand is needed to control the bike.

The UK and Ireland

Traffic keeps left there and drivers sit on the right, so drivers signal with the right arm. The Highway Code shows its arm signals in photographs, for drivers and for cyclists, and the slowing-down signal is the one that differs most from the American version: the arm held straight out, palm down, and moved up and down. Ireland’s Road Traffic Regulations describe it in those words.

These pages say what each signal means and which law, handbook or code defines it. Rules vary by state and country, and none of this is legal advice. For the signs and signals a driver reads from the road, see road signs, including the traffic signals.