Photo of the Day: Turn signals are sexy

I snapped this photo while riding across the Hawthorne Bridge this morning…

Her patch says, “Turn signals are sexy.”
Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, contact me via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a paying subscriber.

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Robert Dobbs
Robert Dobbs
16 years ago

Awesome!

Josh
Josh
16 years ago

that is a sweet patch, and a good pic. good find jonathan

Jaime
Jaime
16 years ago

A little education, a little humor. Perfect. I love it.

Victoria Taft
16 years ago

Is he referring to other bicyclists who routinely fail to use signals or car drivers, many of whom consider turn signals optional equipment?

BURR
BURR
16 years ago

I think it\’s meant for the motorists

L
L
16 years ago

Nice. Another fav of mine is the \”You\’d Look Hotter in a Helmet\” sticker: http://www.bikecommuters.com/2007/12/18/youd-look-hotter-in-a-helmet/

jleiss
jleiss
16 years ago

Turn signals are sexy for bikes, too! Let me see that sensuous wrist waving to the left or right!

peder horner
16 years ago

Perfect composition Jonathan, only you could snap such a fine photo while riding a bike!

Stripes
Stripes
16 years ago

I think it\’s aimed primarily at cars who want to mow you down, although the reminder also serves rude bicyclists too.

PS – Victoria – if you look at the photograph, he is actually a she 😉

Robert Dobbs
Robert Dobbs
16 years ago

For what its worth, \”Victoria\” is a Iraq War Apologist, right-wing, anti-gay, anti-cyclist \”christian\” wanna-be blogger who likes to troll Bike Portland occasionally.

Just be sure not to feed the trolls, and they will go away.

Aaron
Aaron
16 years ago

That\’s Julie. A very pretty grad student at PSU who\’s been loosely involved in biking while spending lots of time in class.
Hope she stays in the community after graduation.

bahueh
bahueh
16 years ago

funny (and sad at the same time)..\”Victoria\”s blog reads like a highly uneducated, bigoted person who probably hates herself as much as other community groups. has nothing going on in her own life so he has to do her part to interfere in others. fairly typical.

man, when will they quit giving blogs to just anyone…

Julie P.
Julie P.
16 years ago

Yeah! My debut onto the BikePortland.org website!

In regard to motorist vs. cyclist — it\’s both. The patch is something I had thought about for awhile. One for motorist since they could hit me and two because it was ridiculous for them to yell at me if I was in their way since they never had their turn signal on. (As far as I could tell they were going straight.) Secondly, I started noticing this same thing with cyclist. I would think they were going straight too and then all of the sudden they would turn. It bothered me enough that I made this patch. Thanks to Jasun it\’s sexier then my original (potentially offensive) \”Jesus would use his turn signal\”.

Mike
Mike
16 years ago

Cool patch, my buddy is painting a reflective bullseye on the back of her bag, which I also found funny.

John Russell
16 years ago

I find it funny that this comes up the day I was nearly right-hooked by a school bus wrongly using her turn signal.

Jasun Wurster
16 years ago

Julie,

What can I say, I have a knack for non-offensively offending people… but you were still the inspiration.

Ice Ardor
16 years ago

Rock on! I practically rely on cars using their signal to know whether I should let them go ahead or keep on going. By not signaling, it should yield their right of way to turn.

Scott Mizée
16 years ago

[insert segue here…]

I like this photo too:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1319/536716552_e154f90a05_m.jpg

Jean M
Jean M
16 years ago

Victoria Taft is the afternoon radio personality on KPAM 860 AM. She\’s very reactionary and quite obnoxious. Why should be \”trolling\” on this fine forum of unashamedly bleeding-heart liberal bike hippies is beyond me, except that she has nothing better to do. Poor lady. 🙂

Great pix, JM!

David Feldman
David Feldman
16 years ago

Another slogan that needs revival–some years ago a Seattle bike store printed shirts that read \”One More Parking Space.\”

bahueh
bahueh
16 years ago

Hey Jean…

saying that Victoria Taft has a \”personality\” is actually rather funny…

Torfinn
Torfinn
16 years ago

Note, for the record I am not by any stretch of the imagination a bleeding heart liberal, or a hippy.

I also think that lady is a Fried douche on a stick.

Sarah
Sarah
16 years ago

Julie, you and your turn signals are sexy!

Jean M
Jean M
16 years ago

Sorry if I offended, Torfinn. There are cyclists of all ilks here. What I meant was that, since BP is a welcoming, friendly, open-minded forum for all things cycle–whether we agree or not–it seems like VT is wasting her time here. All she does is get fodder for her hatemongering radio show–kinda like a female Lars Larson but not nearly as intelligent.

Jean

Torfinn
Torfinn
16 years ago

No offense taken, I was just pointing out that that kind of blather was dull and inane to all walks of life, and not just the leftist ones necessarily.

🙂

I would also agree, BP is a welcoming openminded place, as is for the most part PDX.

We can all agree how stupid close mindedness is.

Jason
Jason
16 years ago

Hey, Johnathan, if you have a better quality version of this picture, would you put it on flickr? I\’d like to have it in my revolving wallpaper collection! Thanks.

Matt Picio
16 years ago

Robert Dobbs (#10), Jean M (#20) – Well, whatever she is, I\’ll at least give her credit for \”equal-opportunity slamming\” both cyclists AND motorists in the same post.

I\’d be surprised, however if she realized exactly how often cyclists can\’t safely signal, or the fact that the cyclist determines what is \”safe\”.

Matt Picio
16 years ago

Oh, hey – where are my manners? Julie – great patch, I love it!

SkidMark
SkidMark
16 years ago

I like it. I like the bumper stickers that say \”visualize using turn signals\”.

Whether or not Victoria is a potential Mrs. Rush Limbaugh or not she raises a valid point. Some cyclists don\’t signal, and some car drivers don\’t signal. I think the message could be for both. The patch I want for going over the Hawthorne Bridge is: Saying \”on your left\” is sexy.

brady
brady
16 years ago

It\’s great… I\’d also love one that says \”at least 3 feet, please\” with some arrows.

Robert Dobbs
Robert Dobbs
16 years ago

Ignorance of the law is not an excuse (to slam cyclists):

814.440 (2) sez:

A person is not in violation of the offense under this section if the person is operating a bicycle and does not give the appropriate signal continuously for a stop or turn because circumstances require that both hands be used to safely control or operate the bicycle.

So yeah, if taking your hand off your bars to signal might cause you to bite pavement, then as a cyclist you are exempt from turn signal requirements.