DriveSmartBC - Left Turn into the Wrong Lane
 

I've noticed a new way to do left turns onto a busy four lane highway near my home. You stop at the stop sign on the side road, look both ways, then turn left, head on into the left turn lane on the highway. Once there, you check behind and move right into the fast lane if there is room. If not, you stop and wait until there is room to proceed.

This does make life exciting if there is oncoming traffic wanting to use their left turn lane but it helps avoid the highway traffic that rarely slows to the posted 60 km/h limit. I've often thought that selfish drivers on the highway can't see a reason to slow from 90 until they are trying to enter the highway from a side road here. The trouble is, they don't seem to remember that difficulty when the duty is to slow for other drivers.

When the driver on the side road stops and yields to traffic on the highway close enough to be a hazard, the rules then allow them to proceed with caution. Traffic on the highway must now yield and let the driver enter. Never rely on right of way in this situation as it is unlikely that traffic on the highway will yield.

Don't make a practice of this new method of turning left. It's illegal! One must always make the turn to arrive in the first available lane to the right of the center line before you leave the intersection.

Reference Links

Who actually does this? Never seen that in my life, unless the person couldn't see the lines on the road on a rainy night.

what really pisses me off is when people turn left into the RIGHT lane on a 2 lane road

then they honk at ME when i right turn into my own lane.

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It's not about who started turning first. It's about who has the right of way and who should be yielding.

We both have greens. I believe I have the right of way in the certain situation I've drawn which happens way too much here in Richmond.

When you turn you turn into the nearest lane, then you switch to which ever lane you need to go into.

"Right of way is not something to be taken. It is something to be given."

You can argue who should be doing what, but in the end it comes down to defensive driving.

that is why when i am turning onto a 2 lane road with opposing traffic doing the same thing, i try to time my turn so that i slot in between 2 cars that are turning into their nearest lane so that i know i'll have time to avoid them if they just decide to take my lane instead of their own.

That's not how it works. The picture isn't complete as it's missing the lights in the intersection assuming it's a controlled intersection (likely). If it's uncontrolled, it's a 4 way stop.

For the car turning right

Yield if you have
- Red/Yellow
- Only turn if it's safe to do so.

Right of Way if
- Green
- Protected right turn signal

*Always watch for pedestrians no matter what*

For the car turning left

Yield if:
- Red, Yellow, AND Green
- Only turn if it's safe to do so.

On a yellow/red
a) don't turn unless your car is at least partially in the intersection
b) the right turner should be courteous and allow you to go since you would otherwise be stuck in a bad position

On a green, be courteous and move into the intersection to allow the car behind you to also legally make the left turn when the light changes.

RoW if:
- Protected left turn signal.

*Always watch for pedestrians*

Finally

Couple this with defensive driving as stated above for those dynamic situations or when someone makes a mistake. Notice that the RoW exists for only one car at a time: you either have it or you don't - there's no 50/50. Also, since the weather is getting better, watch for bikes who behave randomly. Apparently, they are amongst the most self-centred ppl on the face of the earth who have a difficult time listening to reason. Ideally, they shouldn't be on the road unless they've gone through some sort of training, but this is the way it is right now.

I'm sure I missed some details, but you get the idea..