Why does the hand signal signal on a motorcycle look like a hand gesture?
- August 8, 2021
This week’s issue of New Scientist is packed with fascinating stories from around the world.
Read the first in a series of articles on the hand signals on motorcycles.
The hand signal on motorcycles, sometimes referred to as hand signal “riding”, is often used as a signal to indicate that a rider is moving towards an approaching rider, in a way similar to the way a car driver might call a passing car ahead to speed away.
The movement of the hand and the gesture can also be used to signal the presence of a rider, a rider being followed, or to alert an approaching vehicle to a rider’s presence.
The most obvious hand signal is the hand gesture.
If you look closely, you can see that the thumb and index finger are curled up in a fist, as they would on a bicycle.
That’s the hand sign for “go”.
The hand gesture on a bike can also appear as a finger gesture.
The fingers can be crossed in front of the thumb, so the fingers are pointed towards the left.
The thumb is also raised, as in the hand-signal “ride”.
If you look closer, you’ll see that there are two different types of hand signals: the finger gesture, and the thumb gesture.
The finger gesture is the easiest to understand.
It means that the hand is moving in a circular motion with the fingers pointing upwards.
When you have a thumb and fingers pointing inwards, the fingers feel pressure from the hand.
The thumb gesture is usually used by riders who are waiting for a rider to pass by, in order to indicate they’re following.
The other hand signal, on a hand-shoulder device, is the gesture that indicates that the rider is approaching.
A rider might hold his or her left hand out towards the rider and the right hand out to indicate to the rider that he or she is ready to make a left turn.
This gesture is often accompanied by a hand signal with a left thumb and right fingers pointing downwards.
You can see a video of the finger and thumb gestures in action here.
For a closer look at how they’re used, you should watch this video.