Does anyone really think that anyone would not stop for a jaywalker? Sorry, but if you walk out from behind a cube van and I can’t stop or swerve, It’s the pedestrians fault. It’s not an all of the sudden unmarked crosswalk.
No, I think an unmarked crosswalk really means any controlled intersection. Which is fine. I always give pedestrians the ROW in controlled intersections.
This is a bit of a sensitive issue for me. About 3 years ago some teens where walking down the middle of a 35mph street at night in dark clothing. It was snowy and icy. Surprise. Guess what happened. One dead teenager. They must have known that a car was coming. Headlights are hard to miss. So much for ‘unmarked’ cross walks.
If you look at the sign it clearly shows that one lane is ending and the other continues. It’s always accompanied by a text RIGHT LANE ENDS sign. I don’t understand how this can be puzzling.
No. The lanes are not getting closer together. That’s a physical impossibility. One lane is ending. The sign makes that obvious.
I’ve been driving for 30 years now. Never an accident of any kind. I have never seen that sign used as a way to say that the lanes are getting ‘closer’ together. It isn’t used for that. Trust me. Outside of the oddball bridge in the country, lanes are of a specific size (12 feet in most cases). The sign means the right lane ends.
When one lane ends, It follows that the road will get narrower. You need to understand that it is important to stay in your lane and these types of signs will help you anticipate what you need to do.
Heh…. The site is back up. And they still have #15 and #16 wrong.
After thinking about this a bit more, I figured out where the confusion is. You see the black lines on the sign as actually representing the roads. In that case, yes, they get closer together. Actually, the black lines represent the road EDGE. So if you envision the area between the black lines as the driven way, the right lane ends.
Which I is why I said you have to yield if you can. It’s just like you’re supposed to stop when the light turns yellow if you can.
That could be what they mean. In fact, that’s probably it.
That really sucks, but I’m not sure that this necessarily applies to the topic. Visibility was impaired, stopping distance was increased due to ice. If no reasonable person could have stopped, then that’s it.
The issue, I believe, is that if you are clearly able to yield to someone crossing the street, you’re supposed to do so. If you see someone crossing illegally up ahead, maintain your speed with horn blaring, and nick the person, that’s a problem. The Texas driving handbook (PDF!) states:
Now that I’ve given it more thought, “yielding” is probably not the right term for this. It’s more like “preventing the other person’s jackassery from causing an accident.” It’s just like how you’re always supposed to try to avoid an accident with an other vehicle, even if it’s driver does something stupid. You obviously know this and never said otherwise.
So back to unmarked crosswalks at intersections. If there is an intersection with no crosswalks painted, then you still have to yield to pedestrians as if the lines were painted. Are we agreed?
Signage:
Are we looking at the same sign? It clearly shows two lanes. The left is straight. The right gets closer to the left, then continues parallel to it. Both have the same cutoff at the top. It does not show one lane continuing more than the other. This sign is NOT accompanied by a “right lane ends” sign in many places in the USA.
Obviously they don’t actually get closer together, hence my objection. Obviously one lane is ending, but the sign does not show that. That’s what it actually happens, but that’s not what the sign shows. The sign shows lanes getting closer together, like the quiz says. If this is correct, then they’re probably refering to the area before the lane ending, where the incoming lane is often at an angle to the highway. It curves toward parallel to the highway. I see no need to indicate this. The important part is that the lane is ending and that incoming traffic must merge. There are other signs to indicate this though. “Right lane ends.” “Merge left.” etc.
Your driving record is irrelevant. I have always understood the sign to mean “right lane ends.” HOWEVER, there are other signs to indicate this, which you’ve mentioned are often used in addition to the sign I don’t like. The incoming lane does get closer to the the other lanes as it approaches. That could be what they mean, but if that is then I think it’s silly to indicate this. If that’s not what they mean, then I think the sign should be different.
Texas DPS says the sign means, “Gives advance notice of a reduction in the number of lanes of pavement ahead [page 34].” Too bad the sign does not show any reduction in the number of lanes. It looks too much like the “You are approaching a point where two roadways come together, but you are not required to merge an additional lane begins. Watch for traffic in the new lane [page 33]” sign.
I may not be able to respond to all your post. I’m a bit busy today trying to work outside. I may be back and forth.
Perhaps, but the record shows that the rules I have followed has prevented an accident due to others ‘jackassery’.
Yes. As long as it is an intersection with a stop sign. If there are lights, then the pedestrians should obey them.
The black lines do not represent the driven way. They represent the edges of the driven way(pavement, whatever). Till now, I have never run across anyone that saw it differently. Though, I’ve never really asked. It’s always been perfectly clear to me.
Again, the black lines do not each represent a lane. Once you realize this, other signs will probably make more sense too.
I’m not jumping on you, but I do find it intersting how different people can interperet something so simple. I never even thought about that sign, what they are trying to say is clear to me, but pehaps it should be made clearer.
Let me try to be clearer. Each black line does not represent a lane. It depicts the outside of the road edge. The lines parallel each other, then one angles in. In the case of the Right Lane Ends sign. The line on the right angles in and then continues to parallel the line on the left. On the sign, there is now half the distance between the lines indicating that the road is now narrower, and the right lane has ended.
80%. Well, I’ve never driven in the USA, and my failures were all on knowledge of local laws (pedestrian right-of-way and those bloody non-standard signs which most of the world doesn’t use )
I can’t hit the site now either. I suspect they are getting a bit of feed back.
They must have fixed that question. This morning it was ‘Road narrows’.
Ehhh. No offence to my programming brothers around the world. But they don’t understand US road signs. That’s fine. Someone called someone and said ‘fix it’.
Speaking of Engrish, check out answer ‘c’.
This sign means that you should not pass: (Select one)
DO
NOT
PASS
a. Other vehicles for any reason
b. Unless it seems safe to do so
c. Until after pass the sign.
Until after pass what sign? :rolleyes:
RE: The right lane ends sign-
It’s stunning that such a simple pictograph could be interpreted in such a different way.
I think that once it is misinterpreted. It is always seen that way. The signs are meant to give information to drivers very fast. If you get it wrong the first few times, you will always see the sign in the wrong way.
Where are the wrong answers? The answer to 13 is marked or unmarked crosswalks… which is correct. The answer to 15 is that the right lane will end ahead… which was correct when I checked my results. And 16 was do not pass vehicles for any reason, which was correct on my results.
I got a very stupid one wrong, I had the correct answer marked originally but… I got a 95%.
I got a stupid one wrong as well. The crosswalk one. I read it as a way to legalize jay walking.
There was an answer key posted over the weekend on GMAC’s site that had wrong answers listed for 15 and 16. I was comparing it to my answers when I realized according to them, I would have got an 85 or 90.
stated that the answer was c. ‘Less room between lanes ahead.’
stated that the answer was c. ‘Until after pass the sign’.
I’ll post a link to the key if I can find it again. I seem to remember they fixed on of the wrong answers, they it went away.
Well, you have to use them at the right time. Never use them if another car is coming. You can anticipate if a car is coming around turns and hills out in the sticks. You always turn them off when another vehicle is coming. And never aproach a vehicle from behind with your brights on.
They are particullarly usefull when trying to spot wildlife. Deer are a big problem where I live, and the brights can help spot them.
Nope, at marked and unmarked crosswalks was the answer. This was the one I missed. I don’t understand what the hell an unmarked crosswalk is though. I got 95% and am from Maryland, which was in the mid 40s.
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