Today, I almost got involved in a collision with a woman at an intersection.
Here is what happened.
I was stationary at a stop light with my indicator flashing left. A woman on the opposite side was also stationary with her indicator flashing right.
When the traffic lights turned green, I proceeded to the far left lane to the left. and the woman on the opposite side proceeded to the loose right ( heading towards the lane I’m about to use) and missed me by an inch. She gave me the middle finger as if I was in the wrong.
I’m thinking maybe it’s because she was making a right turn as to why she felt she had the right of way.
But wouldn’t she need to make her right turn to the far right instead of skipping a lane to get all the way over to the left lane to her right ? See image below.
In TN, if you are in the left turn lane with a green left turn light on, then the opposing lane should have a red light except for the their green left turn light, or if all your lanes have the green light as well as the left turn green light, then all the opposing side would then have all red lights, but since you can turn right on red from the right turn lane, the one turning right still has to yield to the car turning left with the green light…
If both opposing sides are green with no left turn light on and if there is room for you to turn left, then anyone turning right in the opposing lanes has to yield as you have the right away while turning left against someone turning right… On coming traffic has the right away over you though if no green turn light is lit…
IF I am understanding your situation correctly that is, but different states as you know have different laws, you would have to read up or ask a state trooper that is on duty and not real busy, why? cause if he/she is off work, they probably don’t want to talk to you/anybody about work, or they don’t have time to stop and ask questions that you can look up yourself… But if the on the clock with nothing to do, ask away, they probably bored anyway… Long days just sitting on the side of the road watching cars drive by…but if he/she looks at their watch to check the time, you have overstayed your welcome… lol
PS: And although I am a strongly for our 2nd amendment rights and may or may not have access to lots of guns in one way or another, I do not carry a gun in the vehicle anymore, cause I understand I have some road rage at times and I would probably shoot some of these dumba$$ _ _ drivers on the road today…
I don’t know what they call it but I call it making a wife turn. My agent discussed that in class as something to watch out for. We have one ,ocsl intersection where it is common for someone to cut you off like that. The solution? Be aware and ready to yield to them. Whether they are right or wrong.
Brings back memories of drivers training back in 1964. Our fighter pilot instructor more than once said to first make sure regardless of signal light on etc. He just died at 96 so was careful in cars as well as planes. He did have a temper though.
Yeah, in my state, when turning right, you must yield to the car in the opposing lane turning left, unless you have the green right turn light, and you also must make a tight right turn into the far right lane, wait a couple seconds, then with your left turn signal on, make the (safe) lane change, then wait, then repeat making the next lane change… So if I understand your situation clearly, then the other driver was in the wrong according to my states driving laws to the best of my knowledge…
I think your next vehicle needs to be a H1 Hummer with a lift to aid you getting in and out of the vehicle…
You either have really bad luck, make your own bad luck, or have a red and white target sign or kick me sign on your vehicle somewhere… lol
Theoretically when making a turn you don’t cross lanes, like the right hand turn stays in the right hand lane, left hand turn stays in the left lane. Never really works out that way imhop.
I have been observing this trend more and ,ore in recent years, especially from drivers of SUVs and Pickups More people are turning into thne wrong lane than are tirning into the proper one Except in the case of double left or right turn lanes, you shoul never cross more lanes than yo have eo/ A turn from the gar left lane should;d always be made int the far left lane and the right lane should;d always turn into the right lane That is just not happening and the behavior is rude,stupid and dangerous It is not hoing to stop unless the police start issuing tickets for it
Yeah that’s exactly what I said. Of course she was wrong but the idea is still to avoid accidents. Not the first time getting an unearned salute. I had a girl do the same after she ran a stop sign. I stopped for her but she was mad.
In New York State I believe the law says that a vehicle turning right must turn onto the right lane and a vehicle turning left must stay to the leftmost lane straight ahead lane. Many intersections around me have dashed lanes through the intersection guiding turning vehicles to the correct lane.
In addition, vehicles turning right on red must always yield to other traffic and pedestrians. The lady turning right must have had a red light since you had a green turn signal. She was wrong on two counts. Was she eating a sandwich and talking on the phone too? I find that distracted drivers turning into an intersection make some of the poorest, most unaware choices.
My son in law drives semi’s, when driving a car he still makes wide turns.
Yes clueless, she was wrong, but just another case of you needing to be aware of your surroundings and drive defensively.
Different situation, we have numerous intersections with double left turn lanes as shown below. Many times I have been in the right hand left turn lane, driver of left hand vehicle decides to move to the right hand lane during the turn. I am always watching for those drivers.
Yes, I observe that too… sometimes.
What I see far more often in situations where there are two lanes for a left turn is that the people in the righthand left turn lane wind up very far into the lefthand left turn lane, midway through their turn. I have seen a lot of close calls because of these people who can’t seem to follow the lines and stay in their own lane. Because of this type of situation, I try, whenever possible, to use the righthand left turn lane, but I am ever vigilant for the folks in the other lane who can’t or won’t follow the lines.
But, all of these situations help to explain the purpose of Defensive Driving. For your own protection, one should always be on the lookout for drivers/cyclists/pedestrians who are doing the wrong thing.
Yes, she had the green light just like I had the green light.
The intersection rule is that when the green light is on, you can go straight across or make either a left or right turn, depending on which direction you are going.
If you are going straight, you don’t need to yield to traffic ( except when other vehicles are already occupying the intersection, such as someone running their red light or pedestrians walking across ). But when making a turn, you must yield to traffic and pedestrians and emergency vehicles ), and make your turn to either to the far most left or far most right.
It is illegal to make a loose ( wide ) left or right turn ( except if you’re driving a huge truck).
But here is the trick; I’m not sure if left turns are considered auto at-fault. So this is why I’m posting this here. If the woman illegally made a wide right turn and collided in me while I did my turn legally, maybe I would have been at fault simply for making a left turn.
Okay, so I’m reporting back to inform I found the information I was looking for from the DMV.
“ If drivers approaching from opposite directions reach an intersection at about the same time, a driver that turns left must yield to traffic that moves straight or turns right.“
I’m wondering if this is referring to an intersection with a single lane? It makes sense I would need to yield in that scenario. But the intersection I had the encounter at had multiple lanes.
If the rules still apply, then I was in the wrong.
However:
According to DMV. “ RIGHT TURN: As you prepare to turn, get as far to the right as possible. Do not make wide, sweeping turns. Unless signs direct you to do otherwise.”
