California Driver Handbook, English 2011, Page 21 states:
(bolding mine)
In contrast, Illinois Rules of the Road, English 2011, Page 22 states:
(bolding mine)
Alberta Basic Licence Driver’s Handbook, Feb 2010 Revision, Page 78 states:
(bolding mine)
I find this poorly worded, but it seems to say that moving into the intersection to wait for a clear break in traffic is okay in Alberta, as long as there is room to do so.
It’s in Alberta’s Use of Highway and Rules of the Road Regulation, AR 304/2002. See particularly s. 52(1):
Two things to consider. Left turn lanes without turn signals and turn lanes that have turn signals but also allow yield on green.
Then there is are you allowed to enter the intersection, is it preferred you enter the intersection, or is it required by law for you to enter the intersection?
You are allowed to enter the intersection.
It is preferred you enter then intersection.
The law states you are legally able to enter the intersection when it is safe to do so and wait.
If you do not enter the intersection when it is safe to do so and wait for
a) a break in traffic to complete your left turn or
b) the signal to change to amber or red and complete your left hand turn when opposing traffic stops
You are not (where I’ve driven)
a) contributing to efficient traffic flow
b) adhering to convention
c) skilled enough to be in possession of an unrestricted driver’s license
This is exactly my complaint.
In California (Pasta’s next to last post) it reads to me that hanging out in the intersection is NOT allowed. You can’t be SURE you can make your turn until the light turns red and oncoming traffic comes to a halt (and thats assuming some folks dont run the red to boot, keeping you out there even longer). And you arent allowed to be in the intersection when it does so.
Building on the previous California posts, in California traffic school, the instructor taught that it is illegal to enter the intersection until such time as you can fully clear the intersection. So, if you want to turn left and there is oncoming traffic that would cause you to stop in the intersection before turning left, you can’t legally cross the limit line into the intersection. People enter and wait all the time, but it does open you up to a possible gridlock ticket.
Here’s the actual California law:
Arguably, you are allowed to enter and wait under that language, provided your turn meets the space accommodation and non-obstruction parts of the code. I wonder if the statute has changed since I took traffic school.
I still say a strict interpretation of that doesnt allow you to hang out there and hope for a clearing, particularly the one at the end that may or may not come as the lights cycle.
To me this is only tangentially related to the concept of entering the intersection and waiting for a break in traffic or for the light to change before completing the left turn.
DON’T BLOCK THE BOX tells me not to enter the intersection if there is not enough room on the other side of the intersection for you to clear the intersection. This would occur during extremely heavy traffic and would apply whether you were attempting to go straight or right or left. You would be obliged to remain behind the stop line during green light conditions regardless of your direction of travel until such time as traffic moves on the exit side of the intersection allowing you to clear it.
Under these circumstances, you would not enter and establish yourself in the intersection for a left turn, waiting for the a break in traffic or for the light to change. You would, indeed, remain behind the stop line even if the light is green.
If, however, there is room on the far side of the intersection (i.e. you won’t get stuck within the intersection due to a lack of space because it’s occupied by other cars stuck in traffic), you may proceed into the intersection on a green light if it’s safe to do so and wait until there’s a break in traffic or the light turns and oncoming traffic stops and then complete your left turn.
Look at the wording: “sufficient space on the other side of the intersection or marked crosswalk to accommodate the vehicle driven”.
To me, a strict interpretation would be that as long as there is enough room on “the other side”, you are allowed to enter the intersection. For someone turning left, I think the only reasonable interpretation of “the other side” is the road the person is turning onto. It really says nothing about the oncoming traffic.
That interpretation is in keeping with the spirit of the law as well.
I have to say that I’ve observed the behavior described by the OP since the 1950s, long before the advent of the cash cow cameras.
I have been held up far more times behind somebody that failed to pull into an intersection to make their left than by somebody on the cross street waiting to to complete their left. While there are hazards including maybe tickets, setting at a green light is an invitation to being rear ended. When the light turns green, check the intersection and go. Oh, you are driving and should be paying enough attention to know when the light turns green. If you can’t do so. perhaps you should pull over until your vital conversation is finished.
FWIW, I got a ticket once for being the second car to complete a left turn when the oncoming traffic stopped. It was a big intersection and I pulled up behind another car that was camped out thinking that I was also far enough into the intersection to do it. The cop disagreed and I had no way of proving it.
I will point out a situation that appears to be uncommon, except here in Texas.
Many lights do not do the standard Left turn green, then straight green with left yield. They lights cycle in a variety of orders, including probably most common:
One side gets Left and Straight Green, other side is red. Then Left for the first side turns left yield, and far side gets straight green. Then straight for first side turns red and left red, and far side Left turns green with straight green.
If you are in the side that goes Left green first, you should not stop in the intersection and wait when it goes to yield, because you will get a red light while in the intersection and the oncoming traffic is green straight. You will be stuck in the intersection until cross traffic goes, and will be running red to proceed.
You really have to know your traffic light patterns. Sometimes left turns green first, sometimes last, sometimes the lefts are green together and sometimes they are green at separate times. And what’s really horked up - sometimes a particular light will be green first and sometimes it will be green last, depending upon the time of day.
I will say that if I know the light cycle I may pull into the intersection to wait for cross flow to give a gap, but if I don’t know the cycle or it is one like above, I will wait behind the line so that if it cycles red on me, I’m not in traffic. There is usually enough visibility that if I see oncoming traffic is getting a gap while I am still green yield, I can proceed into the intersection in anticipation.
Here, there are lane markings for the analogous situation (turning right) - a sort of curved yield sign that shows where you go in the intersection and wait for the oncoming lane to clear.
Like if you go here: and look in streetview
ETA : “WAG” is Afrikaans for “Wait”
I was a wondering.
Here in the USA it stands for wild assed guess, which I suspect it not a very good way to try making a left turn through oncoming traffic 
Can I make it? WAG says yes!
Collision ensues…
FWIW, way back when I took driver training in high school, the instructors explicitly taught that you were supposed to pull into the intersection under the green light and wait to make your left hand turn. When we were driving the driver training cars around town, if a student stopped behind an intersection when making the left hand turn, the instructor told them to pull out under the light. Pennsylvania, about 40 years ago.
To me, there’s a big distinction between pulling into the intersection for a left hand turn with a clear lane on the street you are turning onto, and pulling into the intersection when there is no room where you are going on the other side of the intersection. The latter is “blocking the box”, and just turns a backup in one direction into two-direction gridlock. The former is not - when the oncoming traffic in the lanes you are crossing stops, you are going to complete your turn.
That is sad. Perhaps a reflection that tickets have become more revenue based than accident prevention based since so many jurisdictions are hurting for money. I find that outrageous. So would Thomas Jefferson.
If I am on a 2 lane street and stay behind the cross walk waiting for my left, I am blocking the intersection. I have seen people stop up the intersection through more than one complete light cycle. If the law requires that, it is one more stupid law.
It seems quite clear to me in our crowed streets, people should pull into the intersection and over to the center to allow those behind them to go around them. Another part of the problem is the oncoming straight through traffic still entering the intersection on red, not giving the left turners a chance. I would think our revenue agents could easily fill their quotas with them. Not only would it help left turns, but would get the traffic with the green flowing quicker.