I use it literally everywhere out of habit, I got made fun of for using it when pulling out of my moms driveway once lol
The only reason I won’t possibly use it is when I’m in a turn only lane at a red light and don’t want to listen to it for 3 minutes
Most people I find only use it 75% of the time at best.
I’m 2.5 years into driving and am curious if it’s just what semi-new drivers do or if I’m the odd one out.
Ah, but do you follow the rules as well? Ride with traffic? Give hand signals for turns?
Not picking on you, but as a truck driver, I see far too many people riding against traffic, all over the middle of the road, and generally creating their own demise.
I do about 3k miles a year and safety is my top priority. I have (knock wood) never had a serious accident, but I’ve had a couple close calls (always from an inattentive driver). Every time I read about a road cycling injury, I shudder. The Gaudreau brothers incident was particularly harrowing.
I have flashing lights on my bike, wear high vis, ride with traffic, and signal when turning. But the absolute best piece of bike safety gear imho (and one which I see fairly infrequently even though it’s cheap), is an eyeglass or helmet mounted rear-view mirror. I see handlebar mirrors sometimes and I’ve tried them myself but they aren’t nearly as good (they are useless when turning). The eyeglass mirror is a little distracting at first, but eventually you stop noticing it unless you want to, and it’s like having eyes in the back of your head.