Bike right turn signal (right arm out)

How to read it

The drivers’ right-turn signal in the state codes is the left arm pointing up (Right turn hand signal), because hand signals are given from the left side of a vehicle. For bicyclists they add a second signal. California Vehicle Code §22111(b) says “a bicyclist may extend the right hand and arm horizontally to the right side of the bicycle”, Florida’s §316.157 uses the same words, and New York’s §1237 gives a bicyclist’s right turn as “left hand and arm extended upward or right hand and arm extended horizontally”. NHTSA’s hand signals handout calls it the alternative right turn: the right arm out straight with all fingers extended, or the index finger pointing right.

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Which states allow the right-arm signal?

California, Florida and New York write it into their vehicle codes, and the Texas Driver Handbook lists it: bicyclists signal a right turn “using either their left arm pointing up or their right arm pointed horizontally”. Florida’s driver handbook prints it as a note beside the drivers’ signals, and California’s describes a cyclist’s turn signal as the arm held straight out, pointing in the direction of the turn. These are the laws and handbooks checked for this page, not every state’s.

Look-alikes

The arm points the way the cyclist is turning, so from behind it looks like the left turn signal reversed. The left arm bent up is still a right-turn signal for cyclists in every one of these codes.