Hand signals on the road?

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Tired

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Afternoon all.

First off, I don't ride.

However all the girls that keep their horses at ours do. One of them had an 'incident' that she was recounting to me, when out hacking when she encountered an HGV.

The short version is, she was riding, heard something coming. Stuck her right hand out and moved it up and down to tell the vehicle to slow down. He didn't, blasted past her, she was ok, no real harm done. Driver still sounds like a bit of an arse to me but there we go.

I questioned her arm signal though, as that actually means "I am slowing down" not "I want you to slow down".

Or at least, that's what it means in the Highway Code, both theory and all 3 practical driving tests I've sat, as well as my cycling proficiency test from primary school.

The girl was adamant however, that the BHS rider training teaches it as she was using it. Can anyone here clarify? Are there any representatives of the BHS, or any instructors here that can confirm this? Seems odd that different road users are taught different meanings of the same signals?

Sorry if this has been covered before, I'd imagine it probably has.
 
If you look them up in Highway Code you will see they are ARM signals. Hand signals are those exhibited by those suffering road rage.....& are less than polite!
 
As far as the HWC and what is taught to drivers is concerned, you're correct. I don't know where all these riders get the idea that arm-waving means "you slow down" not "I'm slowing down", but I can't imagine the BHS teach it.

It's a common source of annoyance to me on here. "I waved my arm up and down and the cheeky git didn't slow down!" Well, of course not, because that's not what the signal means! That said, obviously these guys should've slowed down anyway, but...
 
I don't think I could go much slower on Frank so would hope others would work out it's a message to them :p. I must have picked it up from somewhere- likely a horse and pony magazine!
 
I think the arm signal for slowing down is what the police do, i.e. erect posture and hand out at shoulder level, palm outwards. No movement.

Bleddy difficult if you're riding, especially if someone is hooning towards you, particularly from behind.

And IMO the majority of motorists and cyclists in particular have never read their Highway Code and haven't the sweetest FA idea of what you're asking them to do, and even if they did would do BA and keep going the speed they were, stooopid gits :(
 
Unfortunately this is something the BHS teach as part of the riding and road safety course, well they did when I took it many moons ago! It's still widely advised on websites like HRSA - Horses and road safety awareness as a way of asking a driver to slow down.
 
catroo said:
Unfortunately this is something the BHS teach as part of the riding and road safety course, well they did when I took it many moons ago! It's still widely advised on websites like HRSA - Horses and road safety awareness as a way of asking a driver to slow down.
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I see. Doesn't seem terribly clever that the one arm signal means 2 quite different things to different road users.

Thanks for all the replies, I was really just curious about it.
 
I find that a lot of drivers simply ignore a waved arm, or even wave back, so if I want something to slow down then I will put my arm out at shoulder height with a flat palm and keep it there until they respond by slowing, seems to work much better. If they stop, so be it, but most take it as a signal to slow do and pass carefully. If I actually want them to stop, I will keep my hand up until they do.
 
There are two different signals that involve waving your right arm up and down.

The 'arm out straight, raise and lower' is 'I am going to stop or slow down'.

There's also 'arm out, waved almost in a vertical semi-circle' which is 'please slow down'.

They sound similar when described but are very obviously different in practice.
 
does the latter not look like a driver with no indicators indicating left?

TBH I think its one of those things only riders know about, eye contact and a stop signal probably work much better.
 
ester said:
does the latter not look like a driver with no indicators indicating left?
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Indicating left shouldn't involve any movement - just the arm bent and forearm upwards, rather than a giant, sweeping wave.

It is covered in the driving theory test (did mine a couple of weeks ago, so it's still fresh!) but most drivers probably wouldn't pass the theory test so...
 
Pippity said:
Indicating left shouldn't involve any movement - just the arm bent and forearm upwards, rather than a giant, sweeping wave.

It is covered in the driving theory test (did mine a couple of weeks ago, so it's still fresh!) but most drivers probably wouldn't pass the theory test so...
Click to expand...

A driver indicating left will stick their right arm straight out the window and draw a circle with their hand. Not sure quite what you're describing?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_070566.pdf
 
JFTD said:
As far as the HWC and what is taught to drivers is concerned, you're correct. I don't know where all these riders get the idea that arm-waving means "you slow down" not "I'm slowing down", but I can't imagine the BHS teach it.

It's a common source of annoyance to me on here. "I waved my arm up and down and the cheeky git didn't slow down!" Well, of course not, because that's not what the signal means! That said, obviously these guys should've slowed down anyway, but...
Click to expand...

As said by catroo actually the BHS do teach this as part of the riding and road safety (we were told to do it when i took mine) and its advised on HRSA so understandably lots of riders who have taken the exam or read up on road safety do this,

however maybe somebody should inform drivers as to what it means when a rider does this otherwise where is the point in teaching it?
 
splashnutti1 said:
As said by catroo actually the BHS do teach this as part of the riding and road safety (we were told to do it when i took mine) and its advised on HRSA so understandably lots of riders who have taken the exam or read up on road safety do this,

however maybe somebody should inform drivers as to what it means when a rider does this otherwise where is the point in teaching it?
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I agree. Someone above says its obvious, but given that motorists are taught that it means something completely different, I don't think it's that obvious. And the few times I've been pulled over, the police have used their lights and sirens, not their hands.

I don't necessarily see the need for this arm signal from on top of a horse though, any sensible motorist should slow down and apply some common sense anyway, but I don't think it helps that different road users use this signal for different things.

Anyway, my question has been answered, that is how it seems to be taught so thanks again for all the replies.
 
Interesting as I was taught this signal too 40 years ago and have used it in certain circumstances on the road. When I've used it the drivers have all slowed down, both in the UK but also here in Canada and the US. So some drivers clearly know what it means. Crumbs even on our little back lanes that I sometimes ride on, drivers take instruction readily from the horse riders and will stop or slow down if we ask.
 
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