Gapers Block reports a scathing expose on the lack of turn-signal use in a Sun Times article today.  Why, pray tell, would Illinoisians not want to use their turn signal?  Because, apparently, not using your blinker adds a level of excitement slightly above ripping the tags off your mattresses.

A 2006 survey by Response Insurance, a national car insurer, found that 57 percent of American drivers don’t signal when changing lanes. Men are less likely to signal than women, and drivers under 25 are less likely to signal than older drivers. Their reasons were a bit scary:

• 42 percent said they didn’t have time,
• 23 percent said they were lazy,
• 17 percent said they don’t because they forget to turn it off,
• 12 percent said they changed lanes too frequently to bother,
• 11 percent said it was not important,
• 8 percent said they don’t because other drivers don’t. And, most disturbing of all
• 7 percent skipped the signal to “add excitement” to their trip.

Most disturbing, indeed.