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Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to

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Speaker 1: the show, Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much

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Speaker 1: for tuning in. Let's give it up for a superproducer,

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Speaker 1: mister Max Williams. Oh oh oh. Sometimes Turn, Turn, turn, Baby.

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Speaker 1: You ever noticed that sometimes like the sound of your

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Speaker 1: windshill wipers or the sound of your turn signal will

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Speaker 1: start to kind of have the sense of synchronizing with

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Speaker 1: your music, only for it to like, you know, drift,

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Speaker 1: of course, because it's just that golden moment where everything's

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Speaker 1: in alignment. But then entropy returns right and you might be, uh,

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Speaker 1: you might be on the road waiting to take a

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Speaker 1: left at a light and notice that your turn signal

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Speaker 1: is in time with the car in front of you.

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Speaker 1: That's a neat, little bit of synchronicity, a little cloud

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Speaker 1: Atlas moment for everybody in traffic. I'm Ben your Noll,

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Speaker 1: and we're continuing our a bit of an auto theme

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Speaker 1: in recent episodes because we are going to talk about

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Speaker 1: turn signals. Noel. In an earlier episode of Stuff They

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Speaker 1: Don't Want You to Know, I was I would say

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Speaker 1: pretty pretty forthright about the stereotype of BMW drivers and

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Speaker 1: you know, not using tone signal chronically. Yeah, I don't

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Speaker 1: think they know about them about I don't understand why

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Speaker 1: they in turn singles on BMW's at this point. Well, okay,

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Speaker 1: Devil's advocate here. Perhaps it's installed in an inconvenient or

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Speaker 1: out of the way location. Is that possible, fellas? Is

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Speaker 1: that maybe maybe I think I've been in a beam,

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Speaker 1: or it's in the same spot. It's maybe it's under

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Speaker 1: the spare tire in the trunk, you know. But we're

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Speaker 1: we're going to talk about turn signals today. You know,

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Speaker 1: depending on where you live in the world and what

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Speaker 1: your experience with cars is like, you may say, oh,

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Speaker 1: everybody uses turn signals, or you might say, hey, I

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Speaker 1: don't even think they're that necessary. We have strong opinions

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Speaker 1: about this, but as some of us might be surprised

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Speaker 1: to learn, electronic turn signals did not come around until

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Speaker 1: well after the invention of the actual car. People were

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Speaker 1: kind of just you know, gesturing, well, yeah, I mean

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Speaker 1: it's it's the same kind of system that cyclists use.

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Speaker 1: And I would argue, I don't know if this has

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Speaker 1: ever happened to you. You know, it is possible to

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Speaker 1: get cut off by a cyclist, okay, And I know

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Speaker 1: that they get the right of way and they have

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Speaker 1: their own land and everything, And I always try to

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Speaker 1: be very courteous and respectful to cyclists, but sometimes I'll

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Speaker 1: blast in front of me with their hand out, as

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Speaker 1: though I could have registered that as a warning. Because,

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Speaker 1: after all, a signal of any kind is meant to

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Speaker 1: imply intent and to communicate intent of what you're gonna do.

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Speaker 1: So it doesn't really work if you just kind of

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Speaker 1: blast past somebody with your signal on if they didn't

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Speaker 1: have a chance to clock which direction it was pointing.

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Speaker 1: Well said, because a signal, I love that you're pointing

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Speaker 1: that out. A signal is intent. A signal is not

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Speaker 1: making reality change according to your wishes. For more than

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Speaker 1: a hundred years, drivers a bicyclists have used hand signals

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Speaker 1: to indicate where they're at in life, where they're out

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Speaker 1: on the road. So if you look back at the

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Speaker 1: early twentieth century, we can see that the hand gestures

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Speaker 1: for signaling are still pretty much the same. You know,

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Speaker 1: stuff like raising your left forearm with your elbow bent,

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Speaker 1: and that means you're going to turn right. And I

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Speaker 1: think everybody who can who drives a car today probably

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Speaker 1: recognizes those hand signals, right, what about the rude signals? Man?

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Speaker 1: How far did those date back? Oh, they're they're they're ancient.

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Speaker 1: They're ancient, and they're well beloved. Also they're serious business

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Speaker 1: in some countries. Yep, Max is doing all the dirty

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Speaker 1: hand gestures. Well, did we do an episode on those?

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Speaker 1: I think I don't know if we did a whole episode,

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Speaker 1: but it's definitely something's come up. But I'm a little

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Speaker 1: rusty and and I'm having some trouble with this hotel WiFi,

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Speaker 1: so I can't see your video. Can you walk us

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Speaker 1: through real quick? Add add to add to these hand gestures,

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Speaker 1: some of the rude ones from throughout history. I would

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Speaker 1: love that so much. Yeah, for sure. So the okay

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Speaker 1: sign in the United States is very offensive. I think

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Speaker 1: in the Mediterranean, in Greece, the thumbs up sign is

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Speaker 1: aggressively offensive in Iran, I want to say. And then

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Speaker 1: the fig where you stick your thumb between your pointer

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Speaker 1: and your index, or your pointer in your middle finger.

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Speaker 1: That's like a middle finger. Everybody knows the old school

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Speaker 1: middle finger. Let's see what else? Oh, what about the

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Speaker 1: one where you do that with your chin? Like you

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Speaker 1: you flick your chin like, yeah, hey if afan gul

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Speaker 1: right like the Sopranos a while, and then there's the

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Speaker 1: old biting they're biting my thumb at you. It's just

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Speaker 1: a little less kind of lusted with lusters in Shakespeare's time,

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Speaker 1: but it's true. And I mean, you know, these early

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Speaker 1: cars were kind of open to the world, you know

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Speaker 1: that they were They were not convertible, they were just

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Speaker 1: like didn't have tops, right, so it was a lot

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Speaker 1: easier to see those kinds of hand gestures. You know,

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Speaker 1: you didn't have to you know, lean out the window

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Speaker 1: or something, right. Yeah, but these hand signals had some

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Speaker 1: problems even back when they were the main most common thing.

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Speaker 1: It's tougher to see people's hand signals at night, for instance,

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Speaker 1: if traffic's really bad, you know, and there's pouring rain,

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Speaker 1: you might miss the signal. And so you still have

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Speaker 1: to know how to use them today, right, you have

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Speaker 1: to be aware of them. But most people are going

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Speaker 1: to use electronic signals instead because they're on they should

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Speaker 1: be on every car, they should be working on every car,

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Speaker 1: and you have to You're only supposed to use the

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Speaker 1: hand signals in a vehicle Now, if something is wrong

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Speaker 1: with your turn signal, then I have an idea. Why

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Speaker 1: not just give them big goofy white Mickey Mouse gloves.

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Speaker 1: Then everyone will be able to see even in the

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Speaker 1: duck of nights. Oh, Man, tell me it wasn't so, Ben,

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Speaker 1: tell me it wasn't so. It was so. No. Thanks

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Speaker 1: to our research associate Jeff Barlett, we have learned from

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Speaker 1: the Japan Times that before trains and automobiles had automatic signals,

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Speaker 1: those at the controls had to use their hands to

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Speaker 1: signal their moves, and they started wearing white gloves to

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Speaker 1: make their hands easier to see. Wow, that's like forced

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Speaker 1: fashion choices, you know, because I've always found just the

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Speaker 1: gloved hand in general to be a pretty serious commitment.

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Speaker 1: You know, if you're wearing black leather driving gloves, that's

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Speaker 1: a look for sure. And then wearing them just kind

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Speaker 1: of around, you know, with maybe a top coat or something.

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Speaker 1: I can't not think of you in murdery ways, you know,

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Speaker 1: I just always think of the glove down is the

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Speaker 1: bringer of death. But white gloves makes me think of

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Speaker 1: a couple of things, and makes me think of like

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Speaker 1: Disney cartoons and Mickey Mouse and stuff and also kind

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Speaker 1: of creepy, like minstrel show vibes, you know those like

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Speaker 1: white gloves and like jazz hands and stuff. I don't know,

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Speaker 1: it just there's something about it that gives me the

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Speaker 1: creeps and feels a little off. I don't know why. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you're you're hitting some really some really fascinating, kind of

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Speaker 1: disturbing tropes there. Last time I was in Japan, I

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Speaker 1: ran into several very fancy cab drivers and the white

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Speaker 1: glove thing is still a thing. Oh wow, Yeah, it

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Speaker 1: feels superficial. But also I feel like any white item

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Speaker 1: of clothing is a commitment, is a flex because it's

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Speaker 1: sort of like a guy who doesn't have it all

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Speaker 1: together himself. When I see somebody where, you know, white pants,

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Speaker 1: white gloves, I'm like, wow, it's It's the clothing version

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Speaker 1: of not having a case on your cell phone. You

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Speaker 1: know what I mean. You're living on the edge. You're

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Speaker 1: one puddle away. My friend and Max is also Max

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Speaker 1: is also wearing gloves today, black gloves, And I always

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Speaker 1: makes you think of the old expression. Maybe it's not old,

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Speaker 1: maybe somebody invented it more recently, but it's talking about

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Speaker 1: someone who's a real good salesman saying they could sell

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Speaker 1: a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves. That

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Speaker 1: is a good one. That is a good one. Never that,

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Speaker 1: so we know it's not just in Japan. In October

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Speaker 1: of nineteen twenty, the Washington Harold said that the local

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Speaker 1: least captain requested all motorists in the city to buy

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Speaker 1: a pair of white gloves, expressly to wear them after

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Speaker 1: dark to make their hands easier to see. And you know,

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Speaker 1: it was an inexpensive solution. The captain said, these gloves

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Speaker 1: only cost ten cents a pair. For a quick inflation calculation,

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Speaker 1: that's a dollar fifty in today's money. And then they

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Speaker 1: also said, look, if you can somehow afford a car

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Speaker 1: but don't have a dime to kick in for gloves,

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Speaker 1: you can just buy one. We just need to have

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Speaker 1: one glove Michael Jackson style. That makes sense. You just

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Speaker 1: needed the one gloved signaling hands. M yeah, just the

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Speaker 1: action hand. And that is why, exactly, that's why Michael

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Speaker 1: Jackson's got is one glove. It's a shout out to

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Speaker 1: the early days of turn signals. True story, no in

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Speaker 1: fact check us and honestly, all that glitter on MJ's

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Speaker 1: glove probably just made it catch to light better and

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Speaker 1: make me mean for even more safe invisible hand signals. Right,

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Speaker 1: what if you like you favor of the other hand,

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Speaker 1: I guess you're always going to be signaling out of

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Speaker 1: the left the driver's side window no matter which hand

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Speaker 1: you favor, you would never like it wouldn't be safe

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Speaker 1: to lean over to the passenger side and do it.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, it'd be a bunch of left handed gloves,

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Speaker 1: a run on left handed gloves. Right, So how did

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Speaker 1: we get to how did we get from there to

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Speaker 1: the modern electronic turn signal? I think there's some there's

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Speaker 1: some folks we have to thank one in particular, right,

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Speaker 1: that's right? And what a what a name? This individual

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Speaker 1: hash Florence Lawrence. I don't know why. I just like rhyming.

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Speaker 1: It always makes me giggle. But that's This was an

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Speaker 1: individual whom was actually a big part of the women's

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Speaker 1: liberation movement of the nineteen twenties and the way cars,

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Speaker 1: oddly enough, kind of factored into that because cars were

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Speaker 1: sort of a symbol of freedom of being able to

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Speaker 1: get out there on the open road, and also a

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Speaker 1: symbol of autonomy because you could teach yourself. You know,

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Speaker 1: we know that cars of this era and more classic

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Speaker 1: cars are easier to work on. I mean easier, isn't

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Speaker 1: the right word? Was certainly more possible to work on

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Speaker 1: by individuals. So not only were women out there zipping

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Speaker 1: around in cars, they were taking it upon themselves to

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Speaker 1: learn how to repair their own cars. And Florence Lawrence

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Speaker 1: told a reporter in nineteen twenty this about how driving

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Speaker 1: kind of become the symbol of liberation for women. Quote,

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Speaker 1: the average woman does her own repairing. She is curious

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Speaker 1: enough to investigate every little creek and squeak of her

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Speaker 1: car and to remedy it. Pretty cool. She actually then

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Speaker 1: very cool. She started to do a little tinkering, didn't

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Speaker 1: she She did, she did. In nineteen fourteen, she developed

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Speaker 1: an early version of the turn signal, which she called

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Speaker 1: an auto signaling arm. It's the predecessor of the modern

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Speaker 1: turn signal, but it's very different from what you have

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Speaker 1: on a car today. You place down the back of

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Speaker 1: your fender and you could raise or lower it with

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Speaker 1: the push of a button. She was telling Green Book

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Speaker 1: magazine about this in an interview. And she also put

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Speaker 1: in some early safety measures because the signal that indicated

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Speaker 1: stop would pop up automatically whenever you pushed the brake.

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Speaker 1: So brilliant stuff. And also she's from a family of inventors.

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Speaker 1: We should mention that Florence Lawrence's mother patented a cleaning

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Speaker 1: device for windshields just a few years after that. So

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Speaker 1: brilliant people. Yeah, and then speysically automotively, you know. Minded.

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Speaker 1: I think that's so interesting about the break feature because that,

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Speaker 1: you know, it definitely makes sense, but it would have

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Speaker 1: kind of, you know, gone on to be improved where

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Speaker 1: instead of like hitting the brake killing the term signal,

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Speaker 1: just turning the wheel at a certain ratio, you know,

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Speaker 1: to the left or right kind of triggers the thing

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Speaker 1: to reset. But as you know, even in modern cars,

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Speaker 1: you'll sometimes have that signal on and you can't you're

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Speaker 1: on too straight of a path or like the turn

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Speaker 1: isn't isn't sharp enough and it won't reset. So even

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Speaker 1: that modern technology is imperfect almost the I guess there

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Speaker 1: could be drawbacks to having it tied to the break specifically,

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Speaker 1: but also there's some ways that I almost think that

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Speaker 1: might be better than the current system. Yeah, and Florence

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Speaker 1: was one of several people who were working on these concepts.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen oh nine, just a few years before, a

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Speaker 1: British guy named Percy Douglas Hamilton patented a literal set

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Speaker 1: of hands that were attached each side of the car

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Speaker 1: and they would light up the show when you were

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Speaker 1: moving and so like that. Why it's that creepy sounding,

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Speaker 1: It just seems like it would be odd and off putting.

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Speaker 1: Why they have to be hands, just lights would do. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's pretty weird. And according to John Heitman, a professor

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Speaker 1: at the University of Dayton who special wise, this an autohistory.

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Speaker 1: Even though people cite our pal Percy as being the

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Speaker 1: first patent for turn signals, nothing ever happened with it.

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Speaker 1: You don't have wonky cartoon hands on your car today,

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Speaker 1: And Professor Hyman says, it's pretty Yeah, it's pretty unlikely

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Speaker 1: that Florence Lawrence ever knew about this. She thought of

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Speaker 1: it on her own. She was an independent inventor, but

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Speaker 1: she didn't yet she did a little parallel thinking perhaps

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Speaker 1: one yeah, one hundred percent, which happens all the time.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's it's who gets to the patent first.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, but especially with an idea where it's just

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Speaker 1: kind of like the car was screaming out for something

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Speaker 1: like this, you know, just a matter of time, but

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Speaker 1: before somebody cracked it. But it's not in and of itself, well,

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Speaker 1: you know, certainly is unique. I guess for the first

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Speaker 1: person in the thought of it, it is something that

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Speaker 1: kind of the mind is naturally drawn to. Okay, we

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Speaker 1: need something better than these hands signals. Perhaps it'll be

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Speaker 1: a combination of a life or something there, you know

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Speaker 1: what I mean, Or you know, a weird cartoon hand. Okay,

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Speaker 1: maybe not that. Let's let's simplify a little bit here

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Speaker 1: and then not too far off from the modern you know,

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Speaker 1: the modern term signal at this point. Yeah, Or you know,

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Speaker 1: there were other ideas. Someone's like always have five or

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Speaker 1: six small goats in the back of your car and

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Speaker 1: just throw one in the direction that you're turning in. Uh.

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Speaker 1: But you know, that was a very different time. It

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Speaker 1: was possibly people where people were, people were just there.

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Speaker 1: There's all the excess goats, there's cluttering things up, cluttering

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Speaker 1: up the joint. You know, it was a real nightmarish time.

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Speaker 1: I'm really glad we got past that um again to no,

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Speaker 1: it was a straight sword seahorse teeth at all is

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Speaker 1: crooked seahorse teeth to the maximum. Um. But you know,

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Speaker 1: it's like I said, it wasn't too long before we

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Speaker 1: got to something that definitely resembled what we know as

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Speaker 1: the modern turn signal. Yes. Yes, so now we're cooking

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Speaker 1: with gas, right, or we've got high octane gas in

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Speaker 1: the tank. Of turn signal history. If you go to

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Speaker 1: a December nineteen eighty five issue of Popular Mechanics, you

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Speaker 1: learn about the Protects Safety Signal Company, And no, these

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Speaker 1: are the folks who introduced flashing turn signals in nineteen twenty,

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Speaker 1: right were they the first? Like pretty much the first ones?

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Speaker 1: I think that's right. The Protexts Safety Signal Company introduced

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Speaker 1: flashing turn signals in nineteen twenty. Really the first modern

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Speaker 1: turn signal, however, can be attributed to somebody else, So

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Speaker 1: not quite. I mean again, this is kind of like

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Speaker 1: a parallel thinking situation. A guy named Edgar A. Wals

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Speaker 1: Junior who in nineteen twenty five actually did get a

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Speaker 1: patent for one, and he tried to market it, but

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Speaker 1: I guess it just didn't take off because a lot

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Speaker 1: of times the marketing is just as if not more

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Speaker 1: important than the technology of the invention themselves. How do

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Speaker 1: you sell this thing to people? How do you convince

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Speaker 1: them and they need this in their lives? Folks just

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Speaker 1: weren't having it. So the patent actually expired after fourteen years,

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Speaker 1: and all the while inventors were trying to figure out

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Speaker 1: something that was a little more streamline perhaps, And the

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Speaker 1: Smithsonian actually in their collection has a handmade, one of

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Speaker 1: a kind signal that Oscar j similar created in nineteen

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Speaker 1: twenty nine. So this actually allowed for communication of several

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Speaker 1: types of moves right, not just the turning direction, but

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Speaker 1: also slowing down. You know. Essentially what we I guess

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Speaker 1: not today is like a break light and a signal

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Speaker 1: of a stop. I guess when the break in the

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Speaker 1: clutchroom of pressed at the same time. Yeah, cool stuff,

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Speaker 1: but still not on every car. Turn signals were not

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Speaker 1: offered to consumers until nineteen thirty nine, and they became

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Speaker 1: more and more widespread as the years wound on, Like

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Speaker 1: through the nineteen forties and back in this time, if

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Speaker 1: you had a car, you were far more likely to

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Speaker 1: be tinkering with it on your own time to add

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Speaker 1: your own kind of improvements, the stuff that you like

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Speaker 1: and a lot of times people had to do this

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Speaker 1: because the technology was still kind of new. It was

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Speaker 1: a little wonky to a lot of folks. So you

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Speaker 1: would have these kits that could convert different parts of

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Speaker 1: your automobile. And not all of them worked, not all

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Speaker 1: of them were successful, but some of these kits would

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Speaker 1: become standard features on later cars. And just like you said,

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Speaker 1: with the marketing, that's one of the key pieces here.

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Speaker 1: If we look at the nineteen thirty eight Buick, then

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Speaker 1: we see the first flashing turn signals sold to customers,

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Speaker 1: and it was called the flashway directional signal because it flash,

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Speaker 1: it was different directions. That sounds like a lot of fun.

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Speaker 1: I gotta have that in my life. I love this

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Speaker 1: idea of kits and about how like what we know

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Speaker 1: today is standard safety features, being kind of like you know,

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Speaker 1: accessories at the time. It's just it does make you

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Speaker 1: laugh and think a little bit and be grateful. In general,

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Speaker 1: as screwed up as things are in many parts of

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Speaker 1: American life, there are some standardizations of safety that we

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Speaker 1: can at least rely on. And those flashway directional signals

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Speaker 1: that you mentioned, Ben worked only on the backlights of

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Speaker 1: the cars. You can only really see it if you

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Speaker 1: were directly behind somebody. In nineteen forty, Buick changed around

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Speaker 1: the directional lights by extending it to the front lights

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Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, that would make sense. You know, if

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Speaker 1: someone's behind you and signaling and wanting to pass, you

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Speaker 1: would need to be able to see that from the

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Speaker 1: front and the back. Oh man, snail's pace. This stuff

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Speaker 1: is advancing out, but still we're getting there. This also

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Speaker 1: had kind of what we know of the modern self

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Speaker 1: canceling mechanism that I was describing, where you know, when

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Speaker 1: the wheel turns into a certain degree, the blinker will

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Speaker 1: just go off on. It's almost sure as hell. Doesn't

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Speaker 1: stop Honda Odyssees from riding in front of Ben for

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Speaker 1: miles at a time with their blinkers on interminably. No,

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Speaker 1: it does not. So what happens next We've got now

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Speaker 1: kind of stock, We've got kind of stock blinkers on,

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Speaker 1: you know, with the front and the back. Does it

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Speaker 1: start to spread to other brands? Yeah, yeah, it does,

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Speaker 1: like any other innovation, right, you don't want other cars.

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Speaker 1: You don't want a competitor's car to seem like it's

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Speaker 1: safer or cooler than yours. So in nineteen forty, these

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Speaker 1: things become standard on Cadillacs, Buicks, Hudson's, you name it, Chevrolet's, Ouldsmobile,

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Speaker 1: all the hits, all the good ones. And if you

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Speaker 1: had an older vehicle that did not have turn signals,

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Speaker 1: then you would go to places like the Lester Company

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Speaker 1: in Illinois that would have a kit and you could

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Speaker 1: take this kit and you could put it on whatever

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Speaker 1: vehicle you had, and it was guaranteed to work, quote

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Speaker 1: like factory installed models on those expensive cars. But Ben,

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Speaker 1: I mean nowadays you can get a ticket for just

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Speaker 1: having a break light out. At this point, the stuff

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Speaker 1: wouldn't have been legally you know, required, would it. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: the laws get a little bit unclear or you know,

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Speaker 1: they don't all occur at the same time. Like we

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Speaker 1: were talking about with crash test dummies. There was this

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Speaker 1: huge need to make the laws uniform so that you know,

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Speaker 1: driving in New York is hopefully the same legally speaking

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Speaker 1: as driving in Nevada. And to do that, you know,

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Speaker 1: ideally everybody has the same equipment. And blinkers do become

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00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:05,239
Speaker 1: mandatory in the sixties, I think, right, I think that's right.

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Speaker 1: But that's also like, I mean, yes, yes, that's correct.

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Speaker 1: But also, I mean, we talked about this on a

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Speaker 1: recent episode in our Kind of Car series. I don't

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Speaker 1: think it was until the It wasn't until like the

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Speaker 1: fifties or maybe even the earliest. When was it the

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Speaker 1: driver's licenses were even required across the board? It was

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Speaker 1: shocking it was the thirties, but like twenty plus years

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Speaker 1: after the medal, two twenty plus years into the whole game. Yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 1: So it would not surprise me one bit if it

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Speaker 1: wasn't ntil the sixties that turn signals were legally, you know, required.

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Speaker 1: M Yeah, that makes sense, I mean, and even driver's

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00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:45,040
Speaker 1: licenses were kind of state by state. I think the

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Speaker 1: first ones were Missouri Massachusetts in nineteen o three. They

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00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:52,360
Speaker 1: were like, Okay, somebody's got to be qualified to do this.

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Speaker 1: But who knows, maybe it was maybe it started out

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Speaker 1: as a grift and they were like, hey, now we

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Speaker 1: can make a little more money off some folks. But

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Speaker 1: it's good that people have driver's licenses. You should have

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Speaker 1: to take a test to get behind the wheel of

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Speaker 1: a car, and it's good that these things are mandatory too.

386
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Speaker 1: We can go into the weeds on some of the

387
00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:19,320
Speaker 1: different types of approaches people took with turn signals. But

388
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Speaker 1: what you need to know is legislatures across the country.

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Speaker 1: We're kind on the fence in the sixties just for

390
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Speaker 1: a minute about whether or not you should have turn signals,

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Speaker 1: what kind of turn signals you should have, And eventually,

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00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:41,919
Speaker 1: thankfully they aired on the side of caution and said, hey,

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Speaker 1: while we're moving at tremendous speeds, we should let each

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Speaker 1: other know where we're going. And I feel like that's

395
00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:54,320
Speaker 1: pretty reasonable, right, Yeah, And it's weird because what's being

396
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Speaker 1: touted is like a kind of a further innovation in

397
00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:01,480
Speaker 1: this you know, blinker tech Forward in twenty eleven introduced

398
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Speaker 1: something called the three blink function, which I guess it

399
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:07,119
Speaker 1: is just like you click the blinker and it clicks

400
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:10,640
Speaker 1: three times and then automatically turns off. But I mean

401
00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:12,640
Speaker 1: to me, that seems, you know, yeah, you don't want

402
00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:15,280
Speaker 1: someone writing with their blinker on all day, but you

403
00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:18,119
Speaker 1: also don't want it to be so hat so quick

404
00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:21,719
Speaker 1: that you missed it. Yeah, and that seems like three blinks.

405
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,400
Speaker 1: I don't know if that if that really does the trick, agreed, Agreed.

406
00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:28,200
Speaker 1: And it's also weird when you think about people having

407
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Speaker 1: a turn signal on while you're waiting in traffic. This

408
00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:34,240
Speaker 1: is really a three blink and you miss it kind

409
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Speaker 1: of thing. So how much of an innovation is it?

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Speaker 1: Thank you that womp womp. I know you, I know

411
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:51,720
Speaker 1: you're putting in. But but what what we're saying here,

412
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:57,320
Speaker 1: what Nolan Maxiner're saying, is that this kind of research continues.

413
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:01,480
Speaker 1: There's still improvements being made in pretty much any safety

414
00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:06,240
Speaker 1: oriented aspect of any automobile. Some cars now have turn

415
00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:09,920
Speaker 1: signals on their side mirrors, which is great for visibility.

416
00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:14,400
Speaker 1: And some cars have the side view camera and that's

417
00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:17,119
Speaker 1: that's neat, But that one takes them getting used to.

418
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Speaker 1: On my part, you know, I don't know if I

419
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Speaker 1: can trust the camera. I just I gotta get over it. Yeah,

420
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Speaker 1: I mean I have gotten to the point where, like

421
00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:25,880
Speaker 1: my my backup camera has like a solid line which

422
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:28,720
Speaker 1: is like a good you know, maybe six inches of

423
00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:31,520
Speaker 1: clearance let's say, on the bumper. And then there's the

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Speaker 1: dotted line which I have measured and I have, you know,

425
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Speaker 1: I once you get comfortable with it, it it kind of

426
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:39,520
Speaker 1: opens up some you know, superpowers in a way, because

427
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:42,240
Speaker 1: I know that dotted line is Yeah, I can't go

428
00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:44,600
Speaker 1: any further than that, not even not even a click.

429
00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:47,639
Speaker 1: So once you get comfortable with those lines and that

430
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:50,280
Speaker 1: feedback you're getting from those cameras, it can be really powerful.

431
00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:54,120
Speaker 1: But I know it definitely kind of weird some people out. Yeah. Yeah,

432
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:56,679
Speaker 1: and I've got I've got you know, backup cameras that

433
00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:00,399
Speaker 1: I'm slowly learning to trust. But I'm still you know,

434
00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,240
Speaker 1: a turnaround, look over your shoulder, guy, which is probably

435
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:06,520
Speaker 1: gonna make me look very old in about a decade.

436
00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:09,800
Speaker 1: No wait, who am I kidding? In a decade, people

437
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:13,880
Speaker 1: won't be driving cars right all, be autonomous. Maybe you'll

438
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:15,800
Speaker 1: still be turning over your shoulder and looking back while

439
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,320
Speaker 1: your heart does it for you. Yeah, well that's because

440
00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:20,200
Speaker 1: he's look, he's looking for the guy in the in

441
00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:23,359
Speaker 1: the black suit is after him. Yes, yes, with the

442
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:26,560
Speaker 1: gloves and uh and so it looks like does it?

443
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:28,840
Speaker 1: Don't Gloves make your They make your fingers look creepy,

444
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:31,600
Speaker 1: like white gloves. When you when you noodle your fingers

445
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:33,600
Speaker 1: around like that, wearing white gloves, there's no way for

446
00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,000
Speaker 1: you not to look like a creep If I see

447
00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:42,160
Speaker 1: anybody wearing gloves in general, and it's not very cold outside.

448
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:45,000
Speaker 1: I'm making some assumptions. I am man, I'm with you.

449
00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:47,480
Speaker 1: We're on the same page. Ree gloves, It's gonna be

450
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:49,240
Speaker 1: the middle of July when I have my black leather

451
00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:51,560
Speaker 1: gloves on. It's gonna be so ridiculously hot. But for

452
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:54,399
Speaker 1: this bit, I shall to do it. Yeah, especially if

453
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,040
Speaker 1: you have a T shirt on, like just a T

454
00:26:57,160 --> 00:27:01,399
Speaker 1: shirt in the sleeve of shirts short shorts one. Yeah, Ben,

455
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:03,040
Speaker 1: you might have you might have an answer to this.

456
00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:07,000
Speaker 1: And in terms of car innovations, how the hell do

457
00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:10,600
Speaker 1: those like high end cars have a view that lets

458
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:14,320
Speaker 1: you have a bird's eye view down from above the car?

459
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:19,440
Speaker 1: Is it? Is it magnets? It is its triangulation of stuff?

460
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:21,920
Speaker 1: What is it? It's witchcraft, is what it is. I

461
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:24,240
Speaker 1: don't like it. I like how we went in saying

462
00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:26,920
Speaker 1: cloud posse for a second though, Is it magnets? Maybe

463
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:31,560
Speaker 1: it's magnets. The you know what I'm talking about. I

464
00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:33,280
Speaker 1: know what you're talking about, but I don't know how

465
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 1: it works well, and I would love I would love

466
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:38,159
Speaker 1: to learn more about it. I also love for us

467
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:43,280
Speaker 1: to do some more weird, ridiculous car history stories and

468
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:47,440
Speaker 1: can't wait to get digging on those there's all sorts

469
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:49,680
Speaker 1: of stuff we can talk about, like the way turn

470
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:54,040
Speaker 1: signals evolved in Europe, and all sorts of weird names

471
00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:57,960
Speaker 1: for different devices like trafficators, which is just a more

472
00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:01,199
Speaker 1: primitive version of what Florence Laurence was doing. But but

473
00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:03,679
Speaker 1: I think we can. I think we can call it

474
00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:07,960
Speaker 1: a day today. I think in Atlanta we're all traffic haters,

475
00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:15,439
Speaker 1: Am I right? Gampwamp Yeah. And honestly, I mean the

476
00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:18,640
Speaker 1: name is really the funniest part about that innovation because

477
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:21,399
Speaker 1: it really was kind of uh, just didn't quite hit

478
00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 1: the mark as close to what Florence Lawrence came up with.

479
00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:26,399
Speaker 1: So thank you, Florence Lawrence. And now we're on the

480
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:30,640
Speaker 1: heels of International Women's Day, so, you know, retroactively, happy

481
00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:35,399
Speaker 1: International Women's Day to you and yours, Florence Lawrence from

482
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:38,280
Speaker 1: from beyond um. You know, a lot of times, it's

483
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:40,719
Speaker 1: true women don't get credit that they deserve for innovations

484
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,360
Speaker 1: like this, And it was certainly first for me hearing

485
00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:46,520
Speaker 1: the name Florence Lawrence, which is just still so funny

486
00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:48,720
Speaker 1: to say Florence Lawrence. It is, you know what I mean,

487
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,959
Speaker 1: It's like a theater kid warm up Florence, Lawrence Florence,

488
00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:59,800
Speaker 1: New York, New York exactly. Yeah, wow, Yeah, that's a

489
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,120
Speaker 1: shout out to our wonderful friends of the show and

490
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:07,800
Speaker 1: guestos Laura Vogelbaum and Michael Alder June who did an

491
00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 1: episode on Whether with You Max on whether a house

492
00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:14,600
Speaker 1: can be legally haunted? Do check that out and do

493
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:18,760
Speaker 1: let us know what's on your mind with ghosts, with

494
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 1: turn signals, with weird auto history and folks. You can

495
00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:27,160
Speaker 1: find us on Ridiculous Historians on Facebook, but you can

496
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,880
Speaker 1: find us online not just as a show, but as individuals.

497
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 1: It's true. You can find me. I'm pretty much exclusively

498
00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:38,800
Speaker 1: on Instagram at how Now Noel brown Man. I think

499
00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:42,080
Speaker 1: there's a couple of social media watering holes people can

500
00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:47,320
Speaker 1: find you in. Yeah, for sure, Farmers only. My space

501
00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:54,959
Speaker 1: zanga I'm just man Zanga is the best one. So

502
00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:58,240
Speaker 1: if you can't find the Zega page, you can follow

503
00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:01,560
Speaker 1: me on Instagram and a creativity I call myself at

504
00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:04,640
Speaker 1: Ben Boland Bowli in there. You can also find me

505
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:08,120
Speaker 1: on Twitter at Ben Boland HSW and if you are

506
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:11,960
Speaker 1: on Twitter right now, per Alon Musk. The most exciting

507
00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:14,840
Speaker 1: thing about that that whole platform is that you might

508
00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 1: have a chance to find our own superproducer, mister Max Williams. Yes,

509
00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:21,840
Speaker 1: I am still technically on Twitter. You can find me

510
00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,560
Speaker 1: at at L underscore Max Williams. There will be a

511
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:29,520
Speaker 1: Twitter page that technically exists until you get until you

512
00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:33,120
Speaker 1: get stripped of your your blue check mark you purchased,

513
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:37,080
Speaker 1: you faker, your phony, your fraud. I'm thinking about king

514
00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:40,480
Speaker 1: at geospace. Oh yeah, bring it back, bring it back.

515
00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:43,760
Speaker 1: And then I don't know what's a good turn signal joke?

516
00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:45,640
Speaker 1: Do we want to end on a turn signal joke?

517
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:48,720
Speaker 1: Did we already see turn? Turn? Turn? And we did

518
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:54,719
Speaker 1: at the beginning? Okay, we turn, We'll see you turn

519
00:30:55,560 --> 00:31:00,000
Speaker 1: turn yourselves in. Okay, wait, here's a terrible one. Full disclosure.

520
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:03,560
Speaker 1: We didn't write this, but let's see what you think.

521
00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:07,320
Speaker 1: It's really bad. Noel, if I was a cop, I

522
00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:10,480
Speaker 1: would be ticketing people for not using their turn signals

523
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:16,840
Speaker 1: left and right. That's so bad. I just died a

524
00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:20,480
Speaker 1: little inside. But it wasn't yourself, Ben, I blame the Internet.

525
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:30,479
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time, folks. For more podcasts from

526
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:33,400
Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or

527
00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:35,479
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows,