by Jean Marie Moffa
June 15, 2005

I've spent too much time in my car, these past months.

As my family transitions from our old home in Bloomington, Indiana, to our new home in Brighton, Michigan, we've found ourselves in temporary housing - an apartment across town - which means that what was once a walk to the school bus stop is now a 15-minute drive to school. What was once a 5-minute drive to the best baguette of our lives is now another 15 minutes. (Still worth it.) Church, 10 minutes, not 3. Allergy shots, additional 10 minutes. You get the picture.

Factor in the many trips we've taken to Michigan, to find our new home (5 hours, each way), and I think I've had more than my share of time to notice the obvious: the turn signal is at risk of becoming extinct.

How could such a benevolent invention have become so much of a burden that it is virtually obsolete? What would motivate drivers not to use it? During these extra minutes, and hours, of driving, I have pondered these very questions.

Could it be that we have become too important? Too busy, too preoccupied, too accustomed to our rights of having the world on our own terms? Could our culturally imprinted passions for individuality be at the root of it? And, ironically, could the very world of automotive commuting that we have created be isolating us to such an extent that we no longer feel obliged to "share the road"?

Whatever the cause, the turn signal is at risk. But it's not too late to save it. I present to you this challenge, this opportunity: With the flick of a wrist, embrace your community of drivers. With the flick of a wrist, dare to announce your intentions to the world. Ask permission to proceed. Grant it of others. Acknowledge our collective commuting existence. Participate in the global community.

With the flick of a wrist.