From what is described in the OP, it appears as though he complied with section (a) by waiting until he had a clear opportunity to proceed against traffic from the opposite direction. Once into his turn, section (b) requires that the guy turning right on the red light, remain stopped until the OP’s turning vehicle had cleared the intersection.
Additionally, regarding the responsibility of the person making a right turn on a red light:
The OPer, being the one with the green light in this situation, retains the right of way.
Just to add more confusion to this thread, are you sure he didn’t have a green right turn arrow?
I was almost hit the other day by a guy who had a left-turn green arrow. But since it was illegal to make a U-turn at the light I had a green right turn arrow. He would have creamed me if I hadn’t hit the brakes, and he gave me a dirty look. I commented to my wife that I bet the guy thought he had the right of way because of his green light.
If those right turning drivers have a yield sign in their right-turn-lane then you have the right-of-way and the drivers behind you are trying to remind you of that.
The OP has ROW only if he completed his U-turn and is now crossing in front of the right turn-er. Otherwise, the right turn vehicle would have ROW (U turns are a type of left turn and as others have mentioned, you don’t have ROW).
I’m assuming the OP is making a U-turn in a left turn only lane with a green light (since you cannot enter an intersection on a red for a left/U-turn). In this case, the right turn person has ROW.
Anyways, I don’t see how it should be a huge deal. Neither car should be moving that fast and I’d like to think the right turn person would be able to detect a vehicle moving into their lane.
Strangely enough there seems to be no such thing as a three point turn in USA, most roads are quite wide enough to do a U turn in. You can really worry an American passenger if you do one
We have the divided lanes with medians here, so two situations are considered u-turns. The first is when you make a u-turn at an actual traffic light - this is legal unless noted by signage. This is what our drivers handbook says about making turns into an intersection with a traffic light (i.e. “right on red”)
Shayna beat me to it, but in California, at least, the right-turner-on-red must yield ROW to everyone else. The RTOR, or really any right-turner who is waiting to go while his direction of traffic does not have the green light, has to allow for perpendicular traffic, even U-turners to complete their maneuvers.
I agree. This happens to me all the time as well. The person at the red light, who is making a right turn on red, is required by law to make sure that conditions are safe before making that turn. That includes yielding to traffic that is legally negotiating the intersection. This includes U-turners, where legal.
We have a little-known law here that increases the fun. Say you are on a two-way street, sitting at a red light at an intersection that meets a one-way street. According to local traffic laws, you may execute a left turn on red onto the one-way street, traffic permitting. :rolleyes:
Freejooky kinda needs to get back in here and clear up the confusion about the right turning car. Is it a right turn on red? A yield sign? A stop sign? None of the above?
However doing a 3 point turn was part of the drivers test in New York, at least when I took it mumble mumble years ago. Though living in California now, I understand why hardly anyone does it - we’ve got wide streets.
We have them too, except we call 'em “traffic circles”. These can be small (Chesterfield Road & South Dinwiddie Street, Arlington, VA), medium (Dupont Circle, Washington, DC), or large (Palisades Parkway entrance, Fort Montgomery, NY). They can even be oval (Shirlington Rotary, Arlington, VA).
AFAIK, it doesn’t much matter what kind of right turn it is. A right-turner, unless given express permission to turn right by a right turn light, or a 4-way stop sign, must yield to other traffic. The right turner is the only one who is totally protected, and that is why they give up their ROW. Left/U-turners and straight traffic in the direction the right turner wants to go are all exposed and are therefore protected.
As an example, I turn left at an intersection with a light every morning. There are many right-turners at this intersection. Every damned morning I GET CUT OFF BY A RIGHT-TURNER. hey man, I’m the one who is risking getting stuck in the intersection, or struck by a car coming from the opposite direction, back the fuck off and let me complete my fucking turn!
At least that’s the way it works(ha!), in California…
You can do this in California also. It makes perfect sense. You can also do a right turn on red from the leftmost of two right turn only lanes.
As for the OP, I know that many right turn on redders don’t really bother to look. I’ve had to face them down even when I’ve been making a u-turn on a left turn arrow. And there is no mind-reading involved - in several of the intersections near me, about half the cars in the left turn lane make u-turns to get to the stores on the opposite side of a divided road. Anyone with any brains stops and waits until you are sure the car turning left is actually turning left. It’s not that hard.
If you are making a U turn on a left green arrow which allows U turns, the person to your left has a RED light, whether he is turning right, or wanting to go straight. So the OP is correct, at least in the driving situations I’ve come across.
Yes, you’re allowed to turn right on a red, provided you yield to traffic with the right of way. In t his case, the guy U-Turning with a green arrow on a U turn allowed intersection.
It’s been around 30 years since I took my drivers’ test, but it seems like I remember this one from the book. I could be wrong though.
He has a red light, he’s supposed to be yielding to any other traffic. (and about that “supposed to” what Inigo said, never assume they’re going to).
And as to how you’re supposed to know? A car making a left turn goes into the turn very differently than the car making a U turn, if you’re paying attention, as you SHOULD be if you’re at a RED wanting to turn right, you can see the cars in the left lane manuevering themselves into the “U Turn position”. That is, they swing somewhat wide as they approach the intersection and begin to make their U turn quite early on. As opposed to the gentler wider flowing out into the left turn lane of the intersection that is a normal left (sorry best description of a regular I could think of ). At any rate, they do look very different, especially with the larger vehicles attempting to make them.
It occurs to me we do have another unamerican way of turning: rounderbouts. Which are practically made for it