No, I will NOT pull the fuck out!

(This is about traffic. Sorry if you were expecting something else.)

I was sitting at a stop sign where a residential street intersects a four-lane boulevard. There’s a lot of traffic on this boulevard and a lot of people change lanes from left to right or vice-versa depending on where they need to turn. I was waiting for the traffic to clear in both lanes when this guy behind me starts honking.

Hey, you! Yeah, you in the blue Camry, honking at me! Shut the fuck up! I’m not going to pull out into traffic until both lanes are clear. See that large thing heading toward us there? That’s called a bus. If I try to turn right now, I will probably intersect that bus rather catastrophically. I’d rather not do that. You, on the other hand, should be encouraged to do so.

I flicked this guy off - not really meaning to, and for the first time in my life - and he pulled out right behind me and almost followed me. I panicked and managed to make a left turn (safely) and take a side street home, my heart pounding all the while.

So to the person in the Camry turning onto Brentwood Blvd. northbound from Rosalie about 11:30 this morning: FUCK YOU. I hope you drive into an empty bus. Empty, because I don’t want anyone but you to get hurt from your ignorance and assholishness.

Hmmm…Do you mean to tell us that you’re defending the practice of making left turns into busy boulevards from a stop sign, and holding up everyone behind you who wants, much more sensibly, to make a right turn? If that’s not the case, we could use some clarification here.

No, we were both trying to turn right. He wanted me to pull into traffic when there was still traffic in the left lane of Brentwood - and I learned when getting my permit that you shouldn’t do that. That two-lane northbound traffic has full right-of-way and you don’t know whether the person in the left lane is going to decide they want to be in the right lane just as you’re pulling into the right lane.

Is that any clearer? It looks confusing from here, but I can’t make it any clearer without drawing a diagram. And I agree that people who try to make left turns onto four-lane streets at rush hour are assholes. I’m not one of them.

It’s quite clear. The bird you flipped was well deserved.

I thought from the OP that you wanted to either make a left turn, or go straight. Do you mean that if you want to turn right on a busy street, you have to wait until the entire boulevard is clear? Or did you mean you have multiple lanes going rightwards and you have to wait until just those are all clear?

I thought this was going to be about you refusing to use coitus interruptus as a birth control method. Sorry. :stuck_out_tongue:

On that front, unless marked “no left turn” I am afraid that people are allowed to do this and that they have a right to do so safely. It may not be the most wonderful thing in the world for the folks that wish to turn right (which is admittedly easier to do) but if you need to go left, and you are at a place where it is legal to do, you simply are not doing anything wrong.

Mind you, this is hypothetical as this is not what happened in the OP but I thought it worth mentioning.

I mean that there are TWO LANES on NORTHBOUND Brentwood. I need to wait until BOTH NORTHBOUND lanes are clear. I don’t care what the two SOUTHBOUND lanes are doing. He wanted me to pull out in front of a NORTHBOUND bus as I was trying to turn right and go north. I’m not trying to be an ass with the capitals, just clearer.

First the 69 thread and then this…

I’ve pretty much given up on giving other drivers the finger. I attribute this to my increasing maturity and the increasing numbers of drivers who have guns.

Goddammit, would someone just post an honest to God sex rant? All these misleading thread titles are giving me metaphorical blue balls.

When taking a right turn in the type of intersection that you are describing, aren’t you supposed to turn right into the right lane? Sorry, but from what I hear I don’t totally blame the guy behind you. You have a clear lane to turn right into. MOVE!

Was the bus in the right lane? Or the left lane? If it was only in the left lane, leaving the right lane clear to move into, I’m afraid I have to somewhat agree with road rash here.

If a person changes lanes suddenly into your lane, after you’ve already pulled out and are on your way, oh well, they’ll just have to wait,

We have a similar road in Anchorage, “Tudor” road, huge pain in the butt, lots of businesses off of the main road, so people are constantly changing lanes in and out. You have to just learn to judge people’s oncoming speed and pay attention to their “cues” as to whether they look as if they’re going to “suddenly” change from the left to the right lane.

Being OVERLY cautious can in some ways be almost as dangerous as being too reckless.

Your “ashole” today didn’t do anything, but if they average asshole is anything like in other places I’ve seen they can get pretty cranky and impatient, and can create even more dangerous situations.

That said, of course none of us were there to see the actual road, or situation that you were in, so it very well may have required such extreme caution.

About 2 weeks ago, I was almost hit by some idiot in a Jeep who decided he wanted to be in the right lane just as I was pulling out. By almost hit, I mean I almost hit the curve trying to avoid him. That didn’t so much make my day.

Depending on the traffic, I’ll pull out - but I’d rather be overly cautious and have a car in one piece than be right and have whiplash and no car to drive.

I find this interesting

It would seem like more guns in the hand of the public has made you a more curtious driver
Anyway, I think there are some reasons not to pull out making a right if there is traffic moving in the left, but under normal circumstances you should have made your turn when the right lane was clear.

If you take your argument to it’s conclusion you should not amke a right on a 2 lane road (1 each way) if traffic was comming from either direction, especially if the oncomming lane has a passing lane, making right turns just as time consuming as left, and adding transit time to an already overcrowded and polluting system.

I don’t know about everywhere else but in my jurisdiction a fundamental traffic law is drivers can’t change lanes in an intersection and it’s to address situations such as this. If you wish to turn right into two lane traffic and the right lane is free and the left lane is busy, you are entitled to, and supposed to, proceed to make your turn into the right hand lane, anyone changing lanes to smack into you as you are entering the right lane is breaking the law. If you sit and wait for both lanes to be clear before you make a turn into the right hand lane you are an incompetent dumb dumby driver.

Well I’ll be sure to tell the other driver that they broke the law when my husband is dead from an impact and I am in traction. That nice lawsuit will surely make up for the loss.

In this case, I am assuming that this is not considered an intersection for the flowing traffic. It is not atypical to have multiple stop signs along large thouroughfares. Think about a place where there are multiple commerical enterprises lining a street with hundreds of entry points. It is not therefore always illegal to change l;anes in front of a entering street that has a stop sign on it. If this were the case, there are many roads I drive on where you would never be able to change lanes except for the 50 feet that exist between stores, mall entrances, fast food joints, gas stations and mini-marts.

Nonetheless, I will not turn right until I am very confident a vehicle, in any oncoming lane of a major thoroughfare will a) not be able to make a lane change over to my area during the turn (such as a three lane+ road) or they are passing me as I make the motion, or b) traffic is moving slowly enough if they do make a lane change they will have adequate time to brake.

Getting to a destination is important, but getting there alive is the one and only goal anybody should have.

My condolences.

I don’t think “intersection” applies to parking lot entrances.

Cite? I, too, was sternly warned (by my driving instructors and the California Drivers’ Handbook) never to change lanes in an intersection. The vehicle code, however, is silent on the subject: it’s just a bad idea, you see, not an infraction. I suspect the same is true in other jurisdictions–perhaps yours?

Exactly, but this also includes intersecting roads with stop signs on them. In major cities, intersecting roads go across major thoroughfares about every 200-300 feet sometimes. Sometimes even less and this is just not parking lot entrances. My point was, you never know when someone is going to make a lane change and even if there is a law it does not matter that someone broke it if you are physically or emotionally hurt. Getting somewhere, 32 seconds faster is just never worth it.

Ah. I don’t have much experience with such roads, the majority of them in this area are in Washington, DC. I do not like driving in DC.