9 hours ago
7
The other day, I had an appointment on the other side of town in a suburb I don't travel to often. My navigation app took me a way I'm familiar with on the way there, but by the time I was heading back, peak hour had struck, and the freeway was the most time-efficient way.
I'm not as familiar with this route, so my concentration on directions was a top priority. Then, just as I was navigating the perils of the freeway merge, the skies opened and chucked down a torrent. Thanks, Melbourne.
"I've got this," I thought, as I cranked my wipers, drove strategically through the knee-deep puddles, all while paying attention to which way the map was telling me to go.
Enter 'The Rogue Indicator'. Not my actual indicator – what I am choosing to call the person who merged in front of me from the right lane, and left their left indicator on.
When I say they left it on, I mean they really left it on. They drove for a good 5km – past freeway exits, but never exiting – blink, blink, blinking the entire time.
Look, I've been driving long enough to get the gist of whether someone has accidentally left their indicator on, and, usually, it doesn't bug me so much – nobody's perfect after all.
But this particular experience – when I was already driving in extreme conditions on an unfamiliar road – made me think about the safety of driving along indicating without actually intending to merge or turn.
Given how wet the road was (I am not exaggerating when I say knee-deep puddles), sudden braking would have been extremely dangerous. So, every time The Rogue Indicator approached an exit, left blinker still blinking, I prepared to slow down for their suggested adjournment – only to discover they weren't veering off.
In normal, non-peak-hour, non-torrential-rain circumstances, I would have just moved lanes and safely overtaken them, but because I was also a bit unsure of when I actually needed to leave the freeway, I stayed put.
The Rogue Indicator eventually merged into the right lane, at which time they must have realised their faux pax, because the left signal flicked off in favour of the right one. They then, mercifully, ceased to blink after moving into the right lane.
Beyond this behaviour adding to my already extreme sensory overload, were The Rogue Indicator's actions legal?
Is it illegal to keep your indicator on for too long?
Turns out, it's not just annoying to other drivers if you happen to neglect turning your indicator off, it's also against the road rules.
The driver of a vehicle must not operate a direction indicator light except:
(a) to give a change of direction signal when the driver is required to give the signal under the Australian Road Rules; or
(b) as part of the vehicle’s hazard warning lights.
Depending on the state you live in, leaving your blinker on can also attract fines and even demerit points.
In NSW, for example, operating your indicator light "contrary to permitted use" attracts a fine of $235, but no demerit points, while in South Australia, breaking the "misuse of direction indicator" rule has a penalty of $262 and two demerit points.
In Victoria, if you "fail to cancel or incorrectly operate a signal", you can be fined $204 on the spot – with the maximum court penalty set at $611.
The maximum penalty for failing to cancel your indicator in Queensland is a whopping $3338 – though that is the court penalty. There are no demerit points for the rule in Queensland, therefore the infringement amount for this offence is not listed in the state's demerit point schedule, but other indicating offences attract on-the-spot infringement amounts of $100.
In WA, drivers can be fined $50 for failing to stop their blinker, while in the Northern Territory, the fine is $40. In Tasmania, fines range from $95 to $146, and in the ACT you could cop two demerits and a $219 fine.
Jemimah Clegg is Drive's Consumer Editor, using her 'everyday driver' perspective to bring car, driving and road advice to all Australians – whether they are car enthusiasts or not. She has been a journalist and editor for more than a decade, working in property and lifestyle news, first for Domain and more recently for REA Group. Jemimah has a knack for data stories, and you'll often find her noodling with a spreadsheet or making a line graph. Her work has appeared in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Canberra Times and many other publications.
