I must be a masochist, but I must submit this rant or it won’t go away.
This morning in my car, I’m approaching a very large intersection near a freeway. The direction I’m going has 4 lanes (2 turn left, 2 go straight) and the 4th right lane is extra wide. For turning. Clearly for turning.
Dumbass pulls to the front of this 4th lane. So that he blocks my car and I can’t turn. Turning there quickly had been my goal, since the traffic and lights were in perfect alignment, which is rare.
But no. I tried to get his attention, smiling & waving nicely while hoping he could see me in his mirror. Then I was screaming silently through the windshield, but he didn’t hear me. He just kept yapping on his phone. I gently beeped my horn; surely he wasn’t aware that if he moved forward just a tad (a foot maybe) that I could make my turn within the little window that was there.
No. I apologize in advance to all of the right-lane hoggers that will surely defend their mindset, but GOD, have a fucking clue about the people around you folks.
Like when they’re sauntering through a crosswalk when a car is waiting, I think some people are willfully inconsiderate. Butt-heads. :mad:
Okay, the guy was a bit of a jerk (or a bit oblivious) for not moving forward to give you room to turn.
But there’s nothing wrong with someone who’s going straight occupying the right lane. I’ve heard many people make this complaint, but I’ve never understood it. There are two lanes on the road for a reason. The right lane does not exist for the sole purpose of making right turns. Do you really expect everyone who’s travelling straight on the road to cram into the left lane so you can make your precious right turn without waiting for the light, like everyone else?
Demanding that would prevent people from even driving in the right lane between lights, because they might not have chance to scoot over if a light ahead changes unexpectedly.
If the lane is clearly for turning, it would be a right turn lane, not a straight + turn lane. If it’s a straight+turn lane, then people who are going straight are allowed to be there.
If I’m in the right lane, where turns are an option, I’ll try and let the person behind me through, but ONLY if their turn signal is on. I don’t care if your honking, waving, or “obviously” trying to make the turn, if your signal is off, I’m not budging an inch. Yes, I’m petty that way, and I hope non-signallers get really pissed off when they’re stuck behind me.
No, but when I find that I am in the right lane and I catch a red light, I make it a point to put my vehicle as far to the left side of the lane as possible and to pull as far up to the intersection as possible so that if I am the only car actually going straight, the six or eight cars following me who wish to turn right will have the opportunity to turn right, (oncoming traffic permitting).
I live near an odd series of intersections where red lights can last as long as a minute and fifty seconds. It is pretty maddening to have to sit behind some oblivious jerk for one minute and forty-nine seconds–with no cross traffic for a minute and forty seconds–because the twit cannot be sufficiently aware of his or her location to drive in a courteous manner.
Stuck behind a double-bottom gravel train? ::: shrug ::: Sometimes stuff happens. Stuck behind a Neon or an Escort parked on the right hand side of a lane when they have no intention of turning? Such people should be ticketed for obstructing traffic.
Ya know, stupidly, I never thought of this. I don’t always signal when I’m turning a corner (if no one else is affected by it). I’ve been in the frustrating position of the OP and now I’m wondering if the driver in front of me saw my turn signal they would scootch up a little. Sadly, I somehow doubt it. :rolleyes:
When I find my self cursing those people I remind myself that they are indeed perfectly entitled to use that lane. It’s the total lack of awareness of one’s surroundings that burns my biscuits. As tomndebb does, I pull up as far as I can in case the person behind me wants to turn. And no, I don’t want a medal or a trophy; I don’t need to be rewarded for doing what should come naturally.
Another example is the people who walk, nee, crawl three abreast on the sidelwalk at the park(goodness knows we’ve had threads about that before!). I’m not saying they don’t have as much right to be there as anyone else, but they can’t here the sound of running feet and heavy breathing coming up behind them?
If I’m in that right lane but going straight, I’ll usually check behind me first to see if anyone has their blinker on as we approach the stop. Awhile back I did pull over to the left and allow the blinking guy behind me to pass, then followed behind him. Heh, you should have seen the look of utter amazement on his face. Priceless.
I try to do the same thing as well, because its just considerate.
However, a related event that bothers me even more is when there IS a dedicated left/right turn lane and I have ALMOST enough room to get through, but the car in front of me has is too far to that side or left an unreasonably long distance between him and the car in front. The majority of the time they’re yapping on their cell phone. I generally will not honk in this case, because maybe they’re closer than I think, or whatever. Similarly in these cases, if I know I might be blocking a turn lane, I’ll try to leave as much room as possible so the person at least knows I TRIED to leave them space.
The only situation in which I will consistently honk at the car impeding me is when its a light at which we can make a right turn on red, and the person seems to think they need all 3 or 4 lanes to be clear before making a turn into the right most lane. Yes, I understand you’re not legally required to turn on red if you’re not comfortable; but if you’re clearly TRYING to turn on red (ie, inching up forward, your head strained to look left so you can look for a gap) and you can’t figure out that it takes only one–possibly two, if you’re in a big car or worried about someone changing lanes into you–to turn, you’re an incompetent driver or completely unaware of how to control your vehicle. Stop waiting for ALL the lanes to be clear while blocking the 20 cars behind you trying to turn right that could have all been gone had you not been there.
I have one of these near my work, but it’s even worse than that. When the light turns green, the people yield to the cars on the other side turning left. Let me repeat that for clarity’s sake. They yield to those making left turns. Now, I can see that a lot of those making left turns are going really wide because they want to get on the interstate exit that’s only about 300 yards away, but the way I figure it is if they hit me while I’m making a right turn into the lane farthest to the right, it’s entirely their fault and I have every right to pull them out through their window and beat them senseless with a DMV manual.
If someone comes barreling over into the right lane from one of those left lanes that’s not empty, not only am I in a car wreck, but I’m most likely going to be cited too. No red light is long enough to warrant that risk. So sorry that it’s not fast enough for you.
For what it’s worth, if you were sitting behind me honking, I would definitely wait for the green light to turn.
You should check your city/state’s traffic laws before sliding up beside a car that’s already in the right lane so that you can turn right. Here, there’s almost always a bike lane there, and it’s illegal to make the bike lane your personal turning lane. I know several people that have gotten tickets for doing that. And when there is a bike lane, I will not sit to the left so that people can break the law by using the bike law to turn. No matter how much you honk or flip me off, or as one moron did, “gently nudge” (as he put it) my car with yours to get me out of your way.
I have an intersection just like this on my evening commute. However, 95% of the people turning left merge immediately into the right lane. This is the lane I want to turn into. After a couple of close calls, I’ve learned my lesson and assume that everyone is going to be a jerk and I just wait for the light to change. A pisser, isn’t it?
It’s called defensive driving, which means that if someone around you is clearly doing something stupid which may cause an accident, it’s STILL in your best interests to avoid it.
I agree with you that if these idiots are crossing on a green it’s idiotic, but I might do the same.
But, if you’re waiting to make a right on a red light, and the traffic from the other direction has an arrow, turning, even into your own (right) lane is going to put you at fault for not waiting for the intersection to clear.
Mr Bus Guy has it right. The left turners have an arrow, and I have a red light. I believe the rule is that with these conditions, I may turn if it is safe, and it would be safe if they weren’t turning directly into the right lane. I was taught in driver’s ed that one turns from a left lane into a left lane, but I’m not going to assume that these boneheads are going to observe any safety guidelines. In practice, the vast majority don’t.
Of course not, that’s there for people to double park. Or at least that’s how bike lanes here get used. I don’t really understand why they put them there if I’m just going to have to dodge parked cars, busses pulling in and out, car doors, and potholes.
If it were up to me, the gentle nudge would be prosecuted as assault with a deadly weapon. And if it ever did happen to me, I would probably respond as if it indeed were. Usually, I try to pull as far into the intersection as I can manage, so that none of the traffic tries to turn right from my immediate left (IIRC, statistically the most common type of car-bike accident).
We have an intersection like this right outside my work. The thing is, there’s always a good amount of cars waiting to turn left (bout 5 to 10) and there’s always even more cars turning right (probably 10 to 15, it’s a hospital parking lot). So if none of the cars turning right ever yielded to any of the cars turning left, basically, one left turning car per light would be able to get through. And it’s a long light. Within a half hour you’d have a really, really ugly back up. I am forever grateful that the right turners consistently yield to us left turners. Not everyone does but probably about every third or fourth.
Also, if they have a green arrow and you have a solid red, they have the right of way, yes? You should be yielding to them anyway. Turning right on a red at the same time someone else is turning left that has a green arrow is just stupid.
