When was the last time you reviewed the rules of driving? If it’s been a while, you might find yourself not knowing basic things like whether or not it’s illegal to not use your turn signal in a drive-thru.
TikTok user @20.civic says he was recently ticketed while driving, and like most people who have been hit financially by the long arm of the law, he was overly cautious.
But this caution seems to extend to driving scenarios other than highways and residential areas, like fast-food drive-thrus.
The TikTok user is asking a legitimate question that others may have wondered too: “Where do road laws end and where do they begin?”
Drive-Thru Directional Indicator
In a TikTok that has garnered more than 57,000 views, @20.civic films his car waiting in line at a drive-thru, with a line of cars visible ahead of him from behind the wheel.
But the line doesn’t face straight ahead: It curves to the left, and the driver turns around to pick up the food after ordering, just like the drive-thru at nearly every fast-food restaurant.
But he worries that making this turn without using his blinker would technically be breaking the law.
“Is it illegal to not use your turn signal in a drive-thru?” he asks in a text overlay on the video. “I got a ticket and I’ve been really scared ever since,” he added in the video’s caption.
It’s scary to think that there might be plainclothes fast food cops just waiting for someone to screw up.
But is it illegal?
It’s hard to find a clear answer. Online Traffic School, Drive wisely, Sacramento Bee, AAA, Davis Law Firm, First time driverAnd let’s not even mention drive-thru etiquette.
However, almost all of the resources mentioned above state that you should use your turn signals when driving on the road under any circumstances. You should use your turn signals when merging onto a highway or turning on a road.
This is true even when there are no cars around, but there is situational context: if you’re in the drive-thru late at night to get Jack in the Box tacos and you don’t signal, the cop probably isn’t going to give you a ticket.
But then again, it’s generally considered illegal to make a turn without signaling, so if you’re faced with a cop who is overzealous in writing you a ticket, legally, they’re probably in the right.
TikTok users make good points
One person commented that they had once been driving behind a car that had its blinker on at a roundabout, writing: “Saw someone with their blinker on at a roundabout. There’s only one way to go, my friend.”
Others suggested the same logic should apply to fast food drive-thrus: “I never thought to use my turn signal in a drive-thru but everyone knows what they’re doing so it’s ok,” they wrote.
Another simply said: “Where else are we going to go?”
Again, these seem like common sense arguments: the only time turning without signaling in a drive-thru is considered potentially dangerous is if you turn out of your lane.
However, one commenter wrote about the usefulness of using turn signals while driving through a parking lot. They said, “When you’re in a shopping center, it’s a polite thing to do because it lets people know to get around you.”
But that situation is a little different than waiting in line to buy a burger and fries, right?
Watch on TikTok
The Daily Dot reached out to @20.civic via a comment on TikTok. Green Light Driving School Please text us for more details.
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