Hand Signals in Turn Signal World

Remember hand signals.  No, not that one that every cabbie in Chicago or New York knows.  I already know that I am #1, you don’t need to remind me.  This morning, I am taking the Girl to school and I see this station wagon.  It could not have been very old it looked to be a early 2000’s.  So, I was puzzled when the lady rolled down her window, hung her left arm out the window and formed a 90⁰ bend at her elbow.

I was thinking what the heck is she doing, she was slowly down and the guy behind was losing his mind as I was passing them.  Then she glided over into a parking spot.  I must admit that it took me a good 10 to 15 seconds to figure out what she was doing.  She was using the old tried and true “hand signals”.

This seemingly outdated method of telling someone at 25 to 65mph that you are slowing down to stop or make a right or left hand turn.  In an age, where cars are shaped very differently today as when the signals first came out in God knows when and when cars did not have the sophisticated and redundant electrical systems.  Now, I am sure some of you can remember being taught to do this on your bike, but the moment you were away from the house you never used it.

As, I learned today some people still use these very antiquated tools, much like some people still use a newspaper, yellow pages or radio and TV. When there are much more efficient and quicker ways to disseminate information to the masses.

As close as she came to an accident using and old and outdated way to alert fellow drivers that she was stopping to turn right into a parking spot much is the way that you will get new business by using the “old” guard media to drive business to you or your business.  I chuckle to myself when I hear radio commercials that attempt to drive traffic to websites for computer issues, when the average person will only search for it when they are having issues with their computer not when they are driving in their car.

Much of the online avenues are free or cheap enough that is well worth your while to give them a try.  If you think about it the average person is starting online to look for anything whether they are on Google, Facebook or Bing.  Your message will last forever online, but the old way once it hits it dies.  Sure, the paper may linger around lining the puppies cage or you may get lucky with a catchy jingle but do you want to try your luck at that.

Or, do you want to know when your clients enters your name or product into the search box – you come up in the top 3

Dave