Are hand turn signals legal in lieu of electronic turn signals? If so, why is it necessary to have working turn signals to get a vehicle inspected?

State law says drivers may signal their intention to stop or turn by using signal lamps or hand signals.

The hand signals, which must be given continuously for at least 100 feet, according to R.S. 32:106:

Left turn — “Hand and arm extended horizontally, with the hand open and the back of the hand to the rear.”

Right turn — “Hand and arm extended upward at an angle of forty-five degrees from shoulder or elbow, with the hand open and the back of the hand to the rear.”

Stop or decrease speed, start — “Hand and arm extended downward at an angle of forty-five degrees from shoulder or elbow, with the hand open and the back of the hand to the rear.”

Pulling from a curb or the side of a highway — “Same as for left turn.”

The law says the lighted signals must be used “when the vehicle is so constructed, loaded or operated as to prevent the hand and arm signal from being visible, both to the front and to the rear.”

The presence of operational turn signals figures in the process because the inspection program, as state regulations note, is “designed to promote safety” — and because state law requires drivers to have functional signal lamps on their vehicles.

For more info: www.legis.la.gov.

 

Fire station precinct damaged by flooding

I would like to know why my assigned voting site, the Ward 4 Fire Protection District 4 fire station, has been temporarily closed for the last couple of elections and I have been asked to go to R.W. Vincent Elementary School in Sulphur to vote.

When will my assigned voting site be open again? The volunteer fire department is continuing to use the building.

The fire station, at 789 West Houston River Road, won’t be used as a polling site until spring, said Calcasieu Parish Administrator Bryan Beam.

Flooding in the weeks before the April 29 election forced officials to move the polling place for Precincts 460E and 460W from the station to R.W. Vincent, Beam said.

Additional flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey’s rains in August led to further damage at the station — and that forced crews to begin their construction and repair work anew, he said.

For more info: www.geauxvote.com.

 

The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com.