[McLaren Rulez]

You'll hate this American thing where the brake lights double up as indicators on many cars.

So flashing brake light = indicator while solid light = brakes on with the indicator taking priority.

[--gKrish--]

The only time I faced this issue was when a guy in an old motorcycle decided to turn right in front of me. I saw his feeble indicators only after my car stopped just in time to not hit him (I was driving at the speed limit). The problem is not just the dim turn signals, but the lack of concern for other road users and not slowing down or stopping before turning. These imbeciles know the oncoming traffic will have to brake hard to not hit them but still they decide to take the turn and risk their lives.

On a related note, most of the time I find people ignoring the turn signals of vehicles ahead of them. Rear turn signals are very bright and it is very unlikely to miss them unless someone isnt watching where they're going. I have to make a right turn on the main road to enter our street. I signal in advance and proceed to slow down but 4 out of 5 times people decide to pass me while I take the turn.

[sharktale]

Originally Posted by AntPaul

The 2017 facelift Honda City has a similar issue in my experience.

+1. I have noticed the same and reported the same earlier too! Team-BHP Link (2017 Honda City Facelift : A Close Look)

This problem is faced by most Honda vehicles due to its inherent design language. I guess only the Civic and CRV don't face it cause of LED Turn indicators.

Honda has definitely cut corners short by not opting for LED/High-powered Halogen Turn indicators. Even the LED strip on the ORVM is of no use cause it is so stupidly designed. "Form over Function"

[Blr_RK]

I think more than the design of the headlamp/indicator cluster, this has more to do with the right of way. The vehicle that is supposed to turn need to wait for the oncoming vehicles to pass before taking the turn, not for the oncoming vehicles to look for vehicles that are turning and slowing down.

If this right of way rule is followed, then this problem should not occur.

[DriveOnceMore]

I would like to add one more example to the BAD list.
The new facelifted Renault Kwid has poorest setup in this aspect.
The super bright LED DRL sits in front of the conventional bulb indicator.
Yesterday on the road, I was barely able to see the oncoming Kwid flashing his indicator especially during daytime and twilight situation.
Attaching image for reference

[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by Mr.Perera

The Good.
Innova Crysta has a tun indicator as a separate housing. Image Source: Team-BHP
Attachment 2016800

Has Innova ever had this type of headlight design? I can't relate with this pic.

Originally Posted by Superleggera

I have seen the the headlight automatically goes off when the turn signal is on. This is a common safety feature in many cars abroad as early as 2015.

I've observed a similar thing in Seltos during the day. The DRL gets disabled once the turn indicator is on. A simple feature but a thoughtful one.

[Reinhard]

Personally I feel for a halogen headlamp equipped car, the front turn indicators should be separately housed & not within the headlamp cluster. There is a clear difference in visibility & lower compromise.

Especially in our conditions where drivers come trained to use high beam all the time right from driving schools - the visibility of an oncoming car's turn indicator is really low. Even if I'm going slow - if the oncoming car is super fast - I don't get a chance to notice the indicator.

I always prefer utility over aesthetics & so front turn indicators are better of separate IMO.

[Samba]

Both my cars have this problem. It's indeed a bad design. So what I do is, when I have to take a turn on a single lane road, I put off the headlamp for a while with the fog lights on, so the opposite side vehicle do not miss the indicator and my car is well visible too.

While driving, I rely on predictive driving. Even if I miss the indicator of the opposite vehicle, I try to predict what the opposite side driver is planning to do, by following his speed or the path of his car.

In any case the right of way is to the driver who is going straight, but then again, how many people actually care about the right of way! So we need to be cautious.

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing, Mr.Perera! Moving thread to the Road Safety section.

[Thebat]

The previous week, me and my wife were out shopping from groceries, wife was riding her Vespa and I was sitting behind her, the road was wide too.

All of a sudden an older gen Scross with out of state plates and an updated build in the headlamp cluster started turning towards us and a few more vehicles to turn to a side road. The problem was due to the updated headlight the small indicators were not at all visible and the indicator housing is below the headlamp cluster.

We were at a speed of not more than 15 Kms so it was easy to stop, another lady on her Honda Activa was not so lucky and parked half of her vehicle inside the front bumper of the Scross.

I believe we have to exercise extreme caution in such cases, our roads after all are filled with idiots.

[paragsachania]

This set-up was a problem and remains one even today.

Long ago, 6 years back, I had posted in detail about the practice I follow on another such topic on road safety and that has kept me safe .

Originally Posted by paragsachania

While making that U-Turn, always keep your beams low, and keep the indicators turned on till you finish that U-Turn. The oncoming traffic can spot your flashing indicator from a distance if you are on low beam. They will avoid you in case you become a hero and flash that high beam to warn him and never spot your indicator.

Since last 3 years, I stay in an apartment and to enter it, most of the times I need to turn right to get into the gate by cutting across traffic from the opposite direction. The road exactly in front of our apartment widens up from both directions where the road is narrow. No speedbreakers and that means each one who sees this patch of wide road suddenly realises that they must go fast.

I cannot on a regular day think of having my headlights on and turn the indicators and grab the attention of the oncoming traffic. Most of the drivers/riders are simply in no mood to pay attention and I am always scared that they will T-bone my vehicle at dangerous speeds.

So I ALWAYS switch to pilot lamps a second or two before attempting that right turn to my gate, and in between I flash my lights once or twice to grab their attention. It always catches their eye because my headlights are anyway off (Pilot mode), and then they can easily spot my blinking indicators!!

We have also had an accident where an apartment resident turned right with his indicators on and the oncoming 2 wheeler didn't notice this due to his speeds. The car managed to escape any collision by barely managing to enter the gate but the 2 wheeler rider panic braked, skid due to presence of sand/soil on the side of the road (Thanks to rains) and hit a cab parked outside our apartment.

Bottom line : No matter what changes you make with the design of indicators and seperate that from the headlights, we always have jokers who are on high beams on a well lit road and expect other road users to spot the indicators on their car and slow down for them.

[BLACKBLADE]

I wish there was a technology which switched the specific headlight automatically to DIM while the turn signal was ON.

Many times I have thought about this . Such a feature will be really helpful. I have the practice of switching off the head lights momentarily, when I switch on the indicator and prepare to take a turn (but keep the parking light on), so that the oncoming vehicle driver could spot my flashing indicator easily.

[saket77]

I posted about this in 2013. In my opinion, yes, they are a nuisance and a major design flaw. Something as critical as a turn signal should be ‘fool proof’; meaning the visibility should not be dependent on the beam selection by the driver- hi or low.

Originally Posted by saket77

In most new cars, the front turn signal lamp or the indicator is mostly housed in close proximity to the powerful headlamp. This makes it very difficult sto see them blinking when the headlamps are on at the night. The driver of such a car thinks that he has conveyed the signal to fellow motorists coming towards his car by turning on the turn signal, but the fact is it is hardly visible! I am not sure if that saves too much cost, but IMO, its a design flaw!

[AdityaDeane]

Even I have had a problem with people driving in high beams and the integrated turn signals not showing, as they should, when they were about to take a turn. I have a perfect eyesight and no color blindness, tested and retested some time back.

Even I believe that especially in cars without LED Indicators on their ORVMs, the design should be such that Turn Indicators are located separate from the Headlamp cluster to be easily visible separately. If this was a Poll, I would have voted for separate turn indicators for sure. Only if the manufacturers are reading this thread and they make these changes in future models, especially on the ones without ORVM mounted Turn Indicators.

[SS-Traveller]

The thread title got me curious, but I consider this to be an unfounded grouse / worry, that can be considered to be an only in India issue.

Originally Posted by Mr.Perera

One of the most dangerous situation I have faced while driving during early mornings and at nights is when driving down a 2 lane highway, suddenly the car coming from opposite direction turns towards my direction.
...
the other person shouts "Can't you see I have put the turn signal ?".
...
had put the turn signal, but since the turn indicator is just next to the headlight housing due to the brightness of the headlamps the turn signals cant even be seen ! The problem is even worse when the opposite person is on his high beam. As per them since the turn signal is ON they think the car coming from the opposite direction will stop. But in reality it is a serious design flaw.

Have car manufacturers been looking into this as a safety concern ? Do you think many of the accidents that happen at night may be due to this reason ?

So someone wants to turn, on an undivided highway no less, and s/he does not wait for you to go straight because you have right of way...

And s/he's on high beams that are aimed directly at you...

And s/he thinks the car coming from the opposite direction will stop just because their indicator is flashing...

And so there's this thread asking car manufacturers to look into the integrated headlamp-parking lamp-turn indicator unit as a design flaw / safety concern / cause of accidents.

Many years ago, when Ambassadors and Fiats ruled the road, the front turn indicator was a part of the white parking lamp, which got a little brighter and dimmer alternately to tell you that it was working. People complained, and the turn indicator became amber in colour. In the US, however, they decided that turn indicators at the rear can be red, for the sake of aesthetics as well as cheaper manufacturing costs.

Yet, the colour amber has been found in many studies to be the most attention-grabbing, in spite of it being adjacent to the headlamp (preferably on low beam). To make the turn indication more prominent, there are repeater lamps now compulsorily on the side of the body (which have now moved to the ORVMs in many models) - watch for these repeater lamps, and you should not miss noticing the fact that the oncoming car has its turn indicator on.

As for me, I've never ever faced this issue.