I said that because, in real life, the vast majority of folks who do things like this don’t look to see if anyone’s coming. Including, I’m sure, the folks who insist that they do.
And yes, there are situations where it’s acceptable to go around the car. If they’ve broken down (and hence have their four-way-flashers on), for instance, you pretty much have to (but very, very carefully, certainly not “shooting around” the other cars).
In my experience, most intersections that are that busy will have a dedicated left-turn lane, even if they don’t have a green arrow light, and the right-turn lane will also be busier. The scenario the OP describes mostly seems to come up on roads that are mostly sparse in general, but there just happens to be a little more density at the moment than usual.
If the road only has room for two lanes in that direction, and it’s a normal + shaped intersection, then there can’t be both a dedicated left turn lane and a dedicated right turn lane. At least one will be turn-and-straight. And if the intersection (usually) has more right turns than left turns (that’s a popular commuting route, or the road on the right is larger than the one on the left), then the turn-and-straight lane will be the left one.
Right. Your experience is very different from mine. But i drive in lots of roads where there’s no dedicated left turn lane, and it can be very hard to turn left. A free if then do have a dedicated right turn lane. So when i read the scenario you describe, I’m probably imagining a totally different situation than what you meant me to imagine. So what i think might be a reasonable reaction from other drivers and what you think is reasonable are going to be different.
You do not use the right turn only lane to go straight. Because it’s marked like that, going straight will earn you a ticket. My guess it would be for “failure to observe lane markings” or something like that.
I wouldn’t for very practical reasons, not for any high minded adherence to the letter of the traffic laws. Sod’s law says that, if you pull into the turn lane, the car at the front of the queue will have turned by the time you reach the intersection (by which time, of course, someone will be behind you turning right). Then you are the arsehole who is in the way of the guy behind you while trying to push back into the traffic in the busy left hand hand lane (because typically there is no way to carry on straight from the turn lane.)
If anyone still doubts their existence here (47.5082299, -122.3658310) is an example of such an intersection. Definitely RTO lanes and no dedicated LT lanes on 26th Ave. Plenty of room in the intersection for someone to pull around a left turner who is waiting for their chance. But often enough people just don’t do it, so everyone else has to wait behind them. A quick and, yes (believe it or not), cautious dip into the RTO lane can solve that problem and keep traffic moving. It’s probably not legal, although laws can be quirky sometimes. But setting that aside, as long as people take proper precautions, what does it hurt? As far as law breaking goes, I’d put it a slim notch above jay-walking.
And just because someone may have pulled in front of you once or twice in a similar situation does NOT mean “the vast majority…don’t look to see if anyone’s coming”. That’s nonsense, or rather confirmation bias pure and simple. Sometimes people don’t look when they change lanes on the freeway either, and you remember it very well when they cut you off, but it’s actually exceedingly rare when you consider how often people do look and take proper heed.
I would do this only if the following conditions have been met:
I know it will be a long green
I am the next car behind the turner
The turner barely pulls a foot or two into the intersection OR they did not complete the turn on the last light cycle
They refuse to turn if there is an oncoming car in view - even if a half-mile or more away.
This is the key point. In the situation described in the OP you are the last in a long queue of cars behind the car waiting to turn. in that situation there is a good chance the car will have turned by the time you reach the intersection and now you are blocking the intersection (and the turn lane) waiting to get back in the left lane.
One of the most annoying things is the person who pull up to the line at a 4-way stop clearly a full second before you, doesn’t go, and then when you peer at them to see what’s going on they wave you through like they are being helpful. No, you are just causing confusion.
I hate 4-way stops. They are even worse than hypocrisy. A junction where the right of way depends upon order of arrival is idiotic. (I grew up in the U.K., where such nonsense doesn’t exist.)
If there are only two lanes and you can go straight ( the street doesn’t end or change t o a one way) , at least one lane must be turn-and-straight. But where I live, in the case of a ordinary two lane street , it will almost always be the left turn that is turn-and straight if there is a dedicated lane.( Usually, both lanes allow you to go straight) . Left-turn-only really only happens when 1) there are more than two lanes or 2) there is a left turn bay , rather than an actual lane for left turn only. Normally, whether there is a left turn-only-lane or just a bay, there will be a signal specifically for left turns. Oh, and right turn on red is generally prohibited, so someone stopped at a red light in the right lane isn’t holding up someone who could turn right on red.
I agree that the driver who might do this is the one immediately behind the car(s) waiting to turn left, but.
i assume that
you aren’t reaching the intersection for a few light cycles if you stay put
if the light is still green when you get to the front of the right turn lane, you can cross the intersection and go straight
If the second isn’t true, it’s just a stupid move. If the first isn’t true, why bother.
It may still be unwise, and i assume it’s still illegal. But imagining the set up described, these are the conditions I’m envisioning as i judge that driver.
In any almost every intersection I’ve seen with a right turn lane, there is no way to carry on straight from the turn lane. That bit of the road ends (or in DC turns into street parking). E.g. this one next to my house (there is a right and left turn/straight-on lane and only one lane of traffic going straight after the intersection)
So if you are going straight from the turn lane you need to pull back into the other lane.
There’s no dedicated left-turn lane there; there’s a right turn only lane on the right side of the street, and there’s an open lane ahead of the “right turn only” lane. It is a “bus-only” lane.
People use both the “right-turn only” and “bus only” lane as open lanes especially during morning rush. It can be aggravating as hell, but I know I’ve given into peer pressure and done it. I’ve never seen anyone ever get a ticket for it (even though it is clearly illegal) and it happens every single day.
That’s the thing though you don’t know this when you decide to pull into the turn lane. Sod’s law says the day you decide to pull out the person at the front sees a gap the moment you pull out (and no one else in the queue is turning) and the day you stay put they are there all day.
The bigger risk for the driver pulling around the stopped traffic to pass through the intersection is causing a head on crash with the oncoming traffic that is making its proper left hand turn.
