Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2049/...e95bf71353.jpg

So the wife and I have a small difference of opinion on
this: Our driveway is on a street with two lanes going
each way. To complicate things, it's a fairly
well-traveled street. The situation is - I need to turn
left and there is a gap in the nearest, left-bound lane,
but going now will make it so that I'm driving toward and
merging right next to a car in the far left-bound lane.
If I don't go now, the hole closes, right-bound cars come
and I have to wait for a new gap.
When somebody turns next to my wife like this, it makes
her uncomfortable because she's never 100% sure that
they're not going to turn wide and hit her. As such, she
hates when I turn in this situation because it might make
the other guy uncomfortable. I say - what do I care if
he's uncomfortable? This is legal and I'm going.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

Legal turn, so fine to take it. But over the hundreds of times you do this, at some point somebody's going to change lanes without seeing you and you're going to get hit.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

I also hate when people do this to me. But, I just know the rest of you jerks are going to vote for turning now.

edited to add: I will only do this when it's really busy and I basically have no other choice.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

Is there no middle (turn) lane? I'm guessing not, it's not in the Paint.

Turning is fine, but the reason you could be "fecked", as you so eloquently put it, is if the guy driving in the adjacent lane decides to change into the left lane. It's his right-of-way and you would probably be held responsible. People change lanes all the time, it could be your bad luck that one of these times it's when you're executing this turn.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

if I've been waiting a short while I let these opportunities pass. If I've been waiting for a long time then I say F it and go.

For the most part I try not to turn unless both lanes are good to go

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

Oh yeah, I find it annoying when I'm behind people like OP and they DON'T turn. Particularly when it's a right turn and the right-most lane is open. For some reason if there's a car in either of the other two lanes they feel like they have to wait. WTF is that?

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

It's pefectly fine to do this, but understand that doing so does increase your risk of a crash. Either the other guy changes lanes into your lane without realizing your turning, or you midjudge and turn wide or something. Probably a chance you are willing to take, but it does increase your risk of being in an accident.

I try to avoid this as much as possible as there are just too many idiots out there that have no clue how to drive.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

[ QUOTE ]
Oh yeah, I find it annoying when I'm behind people like OP and they DON'T turn. Particularly when it's a right turn and the right-most lane is open. For some reason if there's a car in either of the other two lanes they feel like they have to wait. WTF is that?

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Because if the guy in the left lane decides to merge right (right into your car) you are at fault. It's a risky maneuver, and you have to drive defensively esp. in LA.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

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Because if the guy in the left lane decides to merge right (right into your car) you are at fault. It's a risky maneuver, and you have to drive defensively esp. in LA.

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This is dependent on location. It is illegal in some places to make lane changes in an intersection.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Oh yeah, I find it annoying when I'm behind people like OP and they DON'T turn. Particularly when it's a right turn and the right-most lane is open. For some reason if there's a car in either of the other two lanes they feel like they have to wait. WTF is that?

[/ QUOTE ]
Because if the guy in the left lane decides to merge right (right into your car) you are at fault. It's a risky maneuver, and you have to drive defensively esp. in LA.

[/ QUOTE ]


At this one particular turn I have to make pretty often I find myself thinking about how one day someone is going to just switch lanes and hit me. The reason I know it's going to happen is that none of these [censored] morons ever signal their lane change they just do it on a whim. In that crash scenario wouldn't it be the other guys fault for failing to signal?

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Because if the guy in the left lane decides to merge right (right into your car) you are at fault. It's a risky maneuver, and you have to drive defensively esp. in LA.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is dependent on location. It is illegal in some places to make lane changes in an intersection.

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It's a driveway! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

At least in California, changing lanes in an intersection is allowed. This plus the fact no one signals lane changes means that it's not worth the friggin risk.

My sister got into an accident the same way -- she was making a right turn and someone merged from left to right. By etiquette it's both of their faults, but by law it's solely my sister's fault.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

For me, it's definitely a function of the traffic. If it'll be a short wait to find a gap where I won't be merging in next to someone, I'll wait for the next one. If I've already been waiting for this gap for a while, I'll be impatient and turn now.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

agree with your wife

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

[ QUOTE ]
At least in California, changing lanes in an intersection is allowed. This plus the fact no one signals lane changes means that it's not worth the friggin risk.

My sister got into an accident the same way -- she was making a right turn and someone merged from left to right. By etiquette it's both of their faults, but by law it's solely my sister's fault.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your sister is Asian. She is obviously at fault.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

This guy has no reason to be randomly merging into your lane given the picture. He's not close to passing anyone, he doesn't need to be over there unless there's a left turn coming up or something. So basically you are fine to turn unless there is a popular bar or something 100 yards to the left of your driveway.

But of course, in reality some jackasses just get in the left (or center, in a 3-wide road) lane whenever they merge into traffic, even if they aren't going fast and there's nobody near them. These people deserve to get shot. Seriously.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

When did the 1 lane radius buffer zone rule take effect?

You need to turn left, there is an open lane. Why is this even a question?

Have we have become so mamby pamby we have to take into consideration the potential feelings of everybody driving around us?

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

yeah there doesn't seem to be any reason why the car would change lanes, so just go

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

People change lanes for little to no reason all the time, beyond the fact that they might want to turn left in the near future(frequency of this is location dependent, obviously).
There are a great many [censored](to be fair, some of them are legitimately in a hurry) who will change lanes just because the car in front of them is 1/3 car length slower than the car next to it.

I'd almost never turn left in this situation, though it's right turn counterpart I will do with regularity. The right turn version of this is significantly less dangerous because you're getting into your lane immediately and it's easier for the lane changing driver to see you and swerve imo.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

[ QUOTE ]
When did the 1 lane radius buffer zone rule take effect?

You need to turn left, there is an open lane. Why is this even a question?

Have we have become so mamby pamby we have to take into consideration the potential feelings of everybody driving around us?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think anybody but OP's wife is concerned about the other guys feelings, it's more a matter of how much money is coming out of your pocket when the idiot on the road hits you.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...h/untitled.jpg

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

Better than average MS Paint, bwana devil.

Fly's comments are right on. A right turn into the nearest lane is substantially less dangerous and it would require multiple acts of stupidity/carelessness for the two cars to collide.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

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Better than average MS Paint, bwana devil.



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ha. good reference. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] i forgot about that.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

i turn here and I also turn right when people across from me have a left arrow and there are two lanes and they are suppose to stay in the inside one. In that situation they are less likely to stay in the inside lane normally but will adjust if they see you turning right

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

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http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...h/untitled.jpg

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QFT

i've made said turn before but I generally try and wait for a gap , fwiw I was hit doing something similar (making a left when another guy had a blinker to make left on and went straight and smashed me) so I am little cautious of legal , yet risky maneuvers like that but not opposed to them

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

I don't make that turn most of the time because I don't trust other people's driving skills. I will pretty much only make it when A) it's really the only option for quite awhile due to heavy traffic or B) I'm holding up other cars behind me. If I can wait 10-15 seconds or whatever for a clear opening, I'll just wait it out and eliminate the 1% chance of a random lane changer hitting me.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

I guess it depends on road speed, on a 50mph+ I'm probably waiting for a solid gap, but anything lower and I think you turn here.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

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I guess it depends on road speed, on a 50mph+ I'm probably waiting for a solid gap, but anything lower and I think you turn here.

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Yeah, speed is a consideration too. Really, it's not cut and dry, but I'm not rushing into this situation if there are safer options seconds away.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

Pull out halfway, wait for car to go past, then gun it.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

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[ QUOTE ]
I guess it depends on road speed, on a 50mph+ I'm probably waiting for a solid gap, but anything lower and I think you turn here.

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Yeah, speed is a consideration too. Really, it's not cut and dry, but I'm not rushing into this situation if there are safer options seconds away.

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Yeah I agree. Obviously a total gap is preferable. My patience decreases as the speed limit decreases though, eg on a 30mph road I'm taking this gap a lot sooner than I am on a 45, and a whole lot sooner than on a 55+