The hand signal for a left turn is to extend your left arm straight out horizontally from the driver’s side of the vehicle. In other words, put your left arm out through the open window, fully extended, with your hand pointing straight away from the car. This is one of the standard hand signals recognized in traffic laws (useful for situations like when your turn signals aren’t working or if you’re on a bicycle or motorcycle).
To recap the basic hand signals:
Left turn: Left arm straight out.
Right turn: Left arm out and bent at the elbow upward (so your hand is pointing toward the sky). Essentially, you make an “L” shape with your arm.
Stop/Slow down: Left arm out and bent at the elbow downward, with your hand open (palm facing the drivers behind you, fingers pointed at the ground). This indicates you are braking or stopping.
But the question asks specifically for the left turn signal, which is just arm fully extended to the left. When using hand signals in a car, you generally use your left arm because that’s the arm closest to the outside (we drive on the right side of the road in the U.S., so the left window is on the driver’s side). Make sure to signal well in advance (100 feet before the turn, typically) and make the signal clear and visible. For a left turn, hold that arm straight out until you start the turn (and ensure it’s safe to do so).
So, the left-turn hand signal is: arm straight out to the left.
