| Re: Signal timing foiled by inattentive drivers [message #796702] |
Sun, 02 March 2008 21:09 |
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On Mar 2, 10:49 am, Scott in SoCal <scottenazt... [at] yahoo.com> wrote:
> Some dork pulls up to a red light and stops. Because of the protected
> left turn arrows, the traffic to his left is also stopped. He wants to
> turn right, but first he sits there for a while, uncertain of what to
> do - what if all those cars on his left get a green and start to move?
> So he waits. Finally, he decides they're going to be stopped forever,
> so he trepidaciously makes his right turn on red - JUST as the traffic
> on the left gets the green light. By this time, of course, his head is
> turned to the right so he can negotiate his turn, and he has forgotten
> all about all those now-moving cars. As he accelerates Slothily away,
> he can't understand why he is suddenly surrounded by cars and why
> there is now an angry driver tailgating him.
This is not a problem if everybody is turning into the correct lanes
on most intersections.
Right turns turn into the right lane, left turns turn into the left
lane. What you describe does not present a traffic conflict unless
there's more than one left turn lane opposing the right turn, or only
one lane on the cross street everybody is trying to turn on.
Though since it looks like we're talking about California, the whole
concept of following the rules of the road is completely foreign there
anyway and this is a moot point...
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| Re: Signal timing foiled by inattentive drivers [message #796704 ] |
Sun, 02 March 2008 21:31 |
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Paul Johnson wrote:
> On Mar 2, 10:49 am, Scott in SoCal <scottenazt... [at] yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Some dork pulls up to a red light and stops. Because of the protected
>> left turn arrows, the traffic to his left is also stopped. He wants to
>> turn right, but first he sits there for a while, uncertain of what to
>> do - what if all those cars on his left get a green and start to move?
>> So he waits. Finally, he decides they're going to be stopped forever,
>> so he trepidaciously makes his right turn on red - JUST as the traffic
>> on the left gets the green light. By this time, of course, his head is
>> turned to the right so he can negotiate his turn, and he has forgotten
>> all about all those now-moving cars. As he accelerates Slothily away,
>> he can't understand why he is suddenly surrounded by cars and why
>> there is now an angry driver tailgating him.
>
> This is not a problem if everybody is turning into the correct lanes
> on most intersections.
>
> Right turns turn into the right lane, left turns turn into the left
> lane. What you describe does not present a traffic conflict unless
> there's more than one left turn lane opposing the right turn, or only
> one lane on the cross street everybody is trying to turn on.
>
> Though since it looks like we're talking about California, the whole
> concept of following the rules of the road is completely foreign there
> anyway and this is a moot point...
Here in Nebraska the left-turn pattern is to turn from the leftmost lane
into what ever lane you want to be in (left of there is no clear
preference) via a wide sweep that just barely misses the curb. If there
is a second left-turn lane, you pull out into the middle and stop until
the left lane is cleared.
Right turns are essentially the mirror image except you wind up in the
left lane no matter what.
There is no clear rationale for installing right lanes here, only people
from west of the Rockies ever drive in them, and then mostly to pass
traffic and prepare for left-turns.
--
Requiescas in pace o email
Ex turpi causa non oritur actio
http://members.cox.net/larrysheldon/
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| Re: Signal timing foiled by inattentive drivers [message #796752 ] |
Mon, 03 March 2008 04:36 |
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Post removed (X-No-Archive: yes)
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| Re: Signal timing foiled by inattentive drivers [message #797047 ] |
Tue, 04 March 2008 19:58 |
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In article <94f829a4-e63c-4ce6-ad89-c43506ab9a96 [at] e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
Paul Johnson <baloo [at] ursine.ca> wrote:
>This is not a problem if everybody is turning into the correct lanes
>on most intersections.
>
>Right turns turn into the right lane, left turns turn into the left
>lane. What you describe does not present a traffic conflict unless
>there's more than one left turn lane opposing the right turn, or only
>one lane on the cross street everybody is trying to turn on.
>
>Though since it looks like we're talking about California, the whole
>concept of following the rules of the road is completely foreign there
>anyway and this is a moot point...
California requires right turns as close as practicable to the right
hand curb (in practice into the right lane unless you're a large
vehicle like a tractor-trailer), but left turns may be made into any
available lane on the destination road.
Some other places restrict left turns to go into the left lane of the
destination road.
Visitors to other places may want to find out before going what the
law says in this respect.
--
------------------------------------------------------------ ------------
Timothy J. Lee
Unsolicited bulk or commercial email is not welcome.
No warranty of any kind is provided with this message.
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