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?

[/ 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.

Re: Left turn courtesy question with MS Paint
 

[ 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.

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?