Cast your mind back to your driving test. Amongst the clutch control, the mirror checks, and the sweaty-palmed three-point turns, one rule was drummed into you with absolute clarity: signal your intentions. Tell other road users what you’re about to do. It costs nothing, takes a fraction of a second, and can mean the difference between a safe journey and a catastrophic one.
So why, on Britain’s roads in 2025, does it feel as though the humble indicator has become entirely optional?
The Scale of the Problem
This isn’t simply a case of grumpy drivers complaining about the younger generation. The failure to signal has become a genuinely widespread and measurable problem. Research by IAM RoadSmart — one of the UK’s leading road safety organisations — has consistently flagged poor signalling as one of the most common faults observed in everyday driving. A survey by Halfords found that over 60% of UK drivers reported witnessing other motorists failing to indicate on a daily basis.
At roundabouts, the problem is particularly acute. Surveys suggest fewer than half of UK drivers consistently indicate when leaving a roundabout — a manoeuvre where signalling is not merely courteous, but a legal and safety requirement. At lane changes on motorways, the situation is no better. Drivers drift across lanes with an almost serene confidence that everyone else will simply adapt around them.
Why Are Drivers Failing to Signal?
Understanding the problem requires looking honestly at why people stop doing something they were once trained to do diligently. The reasons are numerous, and not all of them flattering.
Complacency and habit erosion
The most straightforward explanation is that driving, over time, becomes so automatic that deliberate, conscious actions — like flicking an indicator stalk — get quietly dropped. What was once a conscious checklist becomes a background process, and background processes get skipped. The longer someone has held a licence, paradoxically, the more likely they are to have shed some of the careful habits instilled during lessons.
The “nobody’s watching” mentality
Unlike running a red light or speeding past a camera, failing to signal carries a very low perceived risk of consequence. There is no automatic fine, no penalty points, and traffic officers are too stretched to pursue every minor infraction. In the absence of enforcement, many drivers simply calculate — consciously or not — that the effort isn’t worth making.
Urban driving and short manoeuvres
In slow-moving city traffic, some drivers convince themselves that signalling is redundant. “It’s obvious where I’m going,” runs the internal justification, as they pull across a queue of pedestrians and cyclists without so much as a flicker of orange light. This logic is, of course, entirely backwards — it is precisely in dense, complex urban environments where clear communication between road users is most critical.
In-car distraction
The rise of touchscreen-heavy dashboards, mobile phone use (despite laws against it), and an ever-greater array of in-car technology has increased cognitive load on drivers. When attention is divided, the small physical actions that require the least conscious thought are the ones that get dropped — and signalling, taking just a moment’s deliberate effort, is a prime casualty.
A creeping culture of selfishness
This is perhaps the least comfortable truth: for some drivers, not signalling is an act of mild aggression or entitlement. Signalling tells other road users your plan — and some drivers, subconsciously or otherwise, resent giving that information away. It is a tiny assertion of dominance, a refusal to be transparent or accountable. Road psychologists have noted that the anonymity of being inside a vehicle creates a social distance that can erode ordinary courtesy.
The Psychology of the Indicator
The psychology here is genuinely fascinating. Research into driver behaviour consistently shows that cars function as a kind of social cocoon. Once inside, many people behave in ways they simply wouldn’t in face-to-face interactions.
Professor Ian Walker, a traffic psychologist at the University of Bath, has explored how drivers dehumanise other road users — reducing them to mere obstacles rather than people with lives, plans, and vulnerabilities. In this mental framework, there is no social cost to failing to signal, because the person you’re affecting isn’t quite real to you in that moment. You don’t have to see their confusion, their emergency braking, or their frightened child in the back seat.
There is also what psychologists call “optimism bias” at play. Drivers consistently overestimate their own ability and underestimate the likelihood of causing an incident. “I know what I’m doing, so everyone else will figure it out.” This overconfidence is one of the most dangerous features of experienced driving.
The Consequences: More Than Just Irritation
Failing to signal is often framed as a matter of bad manners. It is far more serious than that.
Collisions and near-misses
Research by the Society of Automotive Engineers in the United States — where the issue is similarly prevalent — estimated that failures to signal contribute to millions of collisions annually. UK data from the Department for Transport shows that “failure to signal or misleading signal” is a contributing factor in thousands of road incidents each year. At junctions and roundabouts, where other drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians rely on signalled intentions to make split-second decisions, the consequences of ambiguity can be fatal.
Particular danger to vulnerable road users
Cyclists and motorcyclists are disproportionately affected. A car driver may survive the confusion caused by an unsignalled manoeuvre; a cyclist pulling out on the basis of what a driver appeared to be doing may not. For pedestrians crossing at junctions, an unsignalled turn can be the difference between life and death. The most vulnerable people on the road are the ones who most depend on drivers communicating clearly.
Knock-on congestion and anxiety
Beyond direct collisions, poor signalling creates a cascade of hesitation and unnecessary braking. When drivers don’t know what others intend to do, they slow down, hover, and second-guess. This contributes to the phantom traffic jams and general stop-start misery that plagues British roads. There is also a measurable psychological toll: driver anxiety, road rage incidents, and stress are all exacerbated when road users feel the environment is unpredictable and ungoverned by basic mutual respect.
The Legal Position
It is worth being clear on the law, since many drivers appear to have forgotten it. Under the Highway Code — which has the force of law under the Road Traffic Act — drivers are required to signal clearly and in good time before changing direction, overtaking, or moving away. Rule 103 states explicitly: “Signals warn and inform other road users, including pedestrians, of your intended actions.”
Failure to signal can constitute careless driving under Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, which carries a fine of up to £2,500 and up to nine penalty points. In practice, such prosecutions are rare — but the legal framework is clear. Not signalling is not merely rude. It is, in many circumstances, unlawful.
What Can Actually Be Done?
The problem will not solve itself, and wishful thinking about driver courtesy is insufficient. Meaningful change requires action across several fronts.
Enforcement
The most immediate lever is making the risk of not signalling feel real. Greater use of dashcam and CCTV footage to prosecute careless driving — including persistent failure to signal — would shift the cost-benefit calculation for lazy drivers. Some forces have begun accepting dashcam submissions from the public, and this should be expanded and publicised far more widely.
Refresher training
The UK is one of the few countries in the world where, once you pass your driving test, you need never formally update your skills or knowledge again. A system that encouraged — or required — periodic driving assessment after, say, twenty years on the road would help address habit erosion and complacency. Organisations like IAM RoadSmart and RoSPA Advanced Drivers already offer excellent voluntary programmes, but voluntary uptake among those who most need it is, predictably, low.
Driving test reform
The driving test itself could do more to emphasise the why behind signalling, not merely the how. When learners understand that the indicator is a communication tool — that it is the primary way they speak to every other road user — they may internalise the habit more deeply. Theory test questions could be expanded to cover the psychological and social dimensions of road behaviour, not merely the mechanical rules.
Vehicle technology
Some manufacturers have explored prompting systems that alert drivers when they change lane or turn without indicating. Used sensibly, such technology could serve as a useful nudge without being obtrusive. It should, however, complement good habits rather than replace them — the goal must remain a driver who signals automatically, not one who relies on their car to remind them.
Cultural change
Ultimately, this is a cultural problem as much as a regulatory one. Campaigns that reframe signalling not as a bureaucratic rule but as an act of basic human respect — I see you; here is what I’m about to do — could shift attitudes over time. The way we talk about driving in public discourse matters. Normalising the expectation that considerate, communicative driving is the standard, and that failure to signal is genuinely antisocial behaviour, would be a start.
A Final Thought
There is something quietly revealing about how a society drives. The roads are one of the few spaces where we are forced into close, anonymous proximity with strangers, navigating shared space with potentially lethal machinery. How we behave in that space — whether we communicate, whether we extend small courtesies, whether we acknowledge that other people’s safety depends on our actions — says something about us.
The indicator stalk sits two inches from the average driver’s hand. It requires less effort than checking a mirror, less thought than adjusting the radio, and less time than the most fleeting glance at a phone. It is, by any measure, the smallest possible gesture of consideration for the people around you.
The fact that so many of us can’t be bothered is, perhaps, worth reflecting on.
If you’re interested in improving your own driving, IAM RoadSmart (iamroadsmart.com) and RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders (rospa.com) offer assessments and advanced driving courses across the UK.
Signalling is as much about judgement as operating the indicator. Read my practical guide to when a signal might mislead another road user.
