If you are waiting to make an unprotected left turn – pull the fuck forward into the intersection!! If, Og forbid, the light turns yellow, don’t painic. Don’t try to back up. No one is going to jet out from the sides to hit you. Just wait for the uncoming traffic to stop and make your turn.
I’ll be right behind you.
Next one of you assholes that fails to follow proper procedure is getting a laser-guided missile from my roof-rack mounted rocket launcher up your chickin-shit ass.
End of lesson.
And the turn signal is for informing the people around you that you are going to be turning in the near future, so that they may plan accordingly. You turn it on BEFORE you turn. It’s not just for communicating, “I’ve already started my turn; I’m just turning on my signal as an exercise in pointless obviosity.”
If you’re waiting for uncoming traffic, you may be waiting a while.
It’s a good thing you don’t live where I used to live (most recently, Shreveport). I swear to Og I was the only person in town who knew how to turn left. I had people backing up instead of turning all the damn time. I learned to expect it. At least in Maryland they know how to turn left, even though they do all sorts of other Pittable things on a regular basis.
I learned to drive in L.A., where if you didn’t turn on a yellow or (more likely) red, you’d get rear-ended by the cop behind you trying to turn himself!
Well, 'round these parts it’s turning right but it’s the same deal. If the light turns red, you can still complete your turn. You’d best not take all day, but on the other hand, you can just turn normally without panic. In fact, you must complete your turn - you are NOT running a red light if you turn so long as your car is already over the stop line. Over that line, and the light no longer applies to you. You won’t get a ticket - but you WILL get one for obstructing the intersection if you sit there like a dipshit.
On the average suburban street, you should be able to get two cars through. You can get more through on bigger intersections.
I was in Tucson this spring, and I don’t know if this is a local thing, or something more widespread, but at intersections with left turn arrows, the sequence is reversed from what you expect.
If you’re in a left turn lane, the traffic going straight gets the green first, while you wait. Then, after they go yellow, then red - the left arrow comes. For opposing traffic as well - so all the traffic goes straight first; clears then the turns get to go.
After the green arrow goes yellow, then red, there’s enough of a delay before the cross traffic gets their green.
This left no one having to sit at an unprotected left turn. Yeah, there intersections without arrows altogether, which I think is more what the OP is getting at, in which case I soundly agree that people ignorant of the process should be pulled over, their keys ripped from the ignition, and their cars pushed down the nearest deep, rocky ravine. With them inside.
The thing that gets me is that the people who refuse to pull out into the intersection when they are supposed to are the same people who pull out into the intersection on a red arrow, when it’s illegal. The sample study is my co-workers, with whom I drive hom in traffic every night.
We don’t have red arrows here, but I did see them in Florida. Fortunately, I wasn’t driving. What the hell do they mean? Is it simply Don’t block traffic to make a left turn?
It’s Stay the hell where you’re at until you get the green.
ETA: around here they’re used on roads with very heavy traffic (e.g.: US 1 in Crystal City).
In California
Green light = you may turn left when it is safe
Red light = Stop
Green arrow = you have the right of way, you get to make a protected turn*
Red arrow = You may not make a turn*
Combos:
Green light + Green arrow = traffic may go straight ahead, and make a protected turn
Green light + Red arrow = Straight ahead, NO turn*
Red light + green arrow = no straight ahead, only turn is allowed*
Red light + red arrow = Stop
Here in Ca when we have arrows on opposite side of an intersection the timing of the arrow may vary. There are three combos that I can think of:
Both arrows before the straight ahead drivers get the green (at beginning of the cycle)
Both arrows after the straight ahead drivers got the green (at the end of the cycle)
One direction gets the arrow at the start of the cycle, and the other direction at the end of the cycle.
*While usually pointing to the left, and referring to a left turn, there are spots where the arrows may point right.
Yeah, I hear it’s backwards here compared to most cities or states. But, we still get an unbelievable amount of morons that will sit behind the stop line(you can lead out into the intersection to see if its clear) then wait for the green arrow to only start CRAWLING out to turn. I’ve also been behind people that waited until the fucking green arrow turned yellow, which means NO TURNING NOW DIPSHITS, at which point they zoom out and go. 
We do get alot of people running the arrows here though. I’ve seen it to the point that both side of traffic, say East-West, had to wait like 2 seconds after their light was green because drivers just kept turning from the North-South. May not seem like a long time, but considering that after the green arrows turn yellow that theres about a 2 second delay before the others get the green, its a pretty long time.
I snug in nice and close behind the left-turner in front of me - you might want to back up, but you cannot, because I won’t let you. Sack up and make your turn already. Yeah, you’re hanging out in the intersection and your light is turning red - so go and clear the intersection already. Yes, I know, there are three cars running the fresh red - wait for them, then clear the intersection.
My peeve is the dudes behind me when I’m waiting to make an unprotected left; I drive a Corolla. If I’m facing a line of behemoth-mobiles and I can’t see any of the oncoming traffic, I AM NOT GOING UNTIL I KNOW IT’S CLEAR. I am no chicken driver; I’ll go the second I feel confident of my ability to clear safely. You might have a fine view in your jacked-up half-ton behind me, but I will not get t-boned and be at fault because you are impatient. I have to see; me, not you. My car, my responsibility, my line of sight. I also cannot follow a behemoth-mobile through the intersection, because I can’t see the oncoming traffic until he clears the lanes (almost got t-boned doing that last year - had a brain fart and almost got caught by oncoming traffic I couldn’t see).
I’m waiting for the day I can get a periscope installed in my car so I can see traffic around me again. :rolleyes:
With all due respect to the OP, in my neck of the woods, Yellow means caution/stop, and it is generally a ticket-able offense to block an intersection. And counting on the other direction’s yellow/red cycle to safely permit your turn constitutes a combination of carelessness, stupidity and in many places an illegal blocking of the right-of-way.
There are enough stupid/careless/suicidal drivers who run red lights and blast through intersections that I am never going to volunteer my vehicle as target practice for the Vehicutard Brigade. Nope. And as for vehicles who climb up on my ass, fuck them. With a rusty pole. Coated in Ebola-infected monkey shit. Fuckers need to maintain safe distance between cars. Shit happens, and I don’t need to be rear-ended or worse because some rectally-cephalo-occluded fucktard can’t be bothered to stay more than three inches off my rear bumper.
Fuckers, safety first. If my safety costs you thirty seconds, or even longer, fuck you, and your little dog too. There’ll be other green lights. Plan your trip so that you can eat some traffic damage. I’m not putting myself at risk or under stress to fit your schedule. If you’re at an intersection, you shouldn’t be in it until you know that you can clear it under some sort of green light. If the yellow lights are on, the idea is to begin stopping. People run red lights.
And I agree about those vision-blocking, rolling-over, normally-sized-vehicle-crushing vehicles.
Oh, and when it’s raining? At night? Slow the fuck down, and stay off my ass. If the road’s wet? Same deal. My car and yours require friction/traction to operate correctly, and wet roads tend to be a bit impaired, coefficient-wise.
Only a slight hijack… but DAMN! Where can I get one of those? 
The same place that I get my coaxially-mounted 25mm cannons, one fore, one aft. And the retractable gun turret in my trunk. And my Very Short Range EMP Disruptor.
If you’re just sitting there, then yes, you’re blocking the intersection. But if you’re sitting there because someone’s blocking you’re way, then that other dude’s the one who’s blocking the intersection.
-FrL-
I’m not saying that you should enter the intersection on the yellow. I’m saying that it is legal and proper to occupy the intersection on the green and then compete your turn and clear the intersection as soon as you have the right-of-way. You are not blocking the intersection. You are not running the red light. Yes, you have to watch for red-light-runners, but you have to do that no matter whether you are turning at a protected or unprotected light so that is not the issue. Now, man-up and get with the program.
I agree with the OP and with this. Man, I hate the people who think turn signals are something you flick on during the turn to, well, to do what, I don’t know.
On the way back home just this morning, I’m signaling a left, with lots of cars in my direction going around me to go straight (I also have this crazy idea that if I can safely wait for my left while simultaneously letting people around me, I do) and I see a guy coming the opposite direction just sitting there, then he rolls forward lightly, then a bit more. I wait, and wait, and wait, wondering what the hell he’s doing. Finally he rolls his eyes and flicks on his left turn signal, as if to say (ISTM), “what are you waiting for, idiot?” I’m waiting for you, nitwit. I’m not a mind-reader, and I’m not going to make the turn and have you t-bone my car. Those turn signals ACTUALLY SERVE A PURPOSE. Sheesh. Okay, I’m done.
I would really like to see the exact wording of the law here, since I would tend to agree with cerberus in that you can’t pass the solid white line until the way ahead is clear. What if the cars coming from the other direction all run their red light (yeah they broke the law but it’s still your problem) while you are sitting out there in the middle of the intersection? Then the other two lanes get their green arrows, and you are still sitting out there stuck in no-man’s land as they turn in front of you.
You are not to cross the white line unless your vehicle can continue on and completely clear it. Therefore, you should not proceed into the intersection if there’s another car in front of you and you can’t clear the white line if you pull up behind him. This is to prevent people from blocking crosswalks as they stack up to turn left.
If you’ve got enough room to drive across the white into the intersection, that’s what you are supposed to do. In some places they have additional ‘gridlock’ laws that say you should not enter the intersection unless you know you will be able to clear it when the light changes to red. in other words, if the oncoming traffic is completely stopped and blocking the intersection, don’t add to the problem by driving into the intersection to turn left and wind up being stranded there.
But other than that, the correct procedure for turning left is to proceed into the intersection on green, and then turn left as soon as it is safe to do so. You are not breaking the law even if the light goes red for a significant period of time before you are able to clear (say, if people coming the other way keep running the yellow so you can’t clear until the light is red).
These are the traffic signals:
Green: proceed through the intersection.
Yellow: clear the intersection.
Red: Do not enter the intersection.
You will not get a ticket for entering an intersection when the light is yellow, even if you don’t clear it until the light is red.