This is a question about U.S. driving that I never have been able to figure out. Imagine a four lane road in the city. The two directions of traffic are seperated by a wide median (for streetcar tracks). I am thinking specifically of Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. A commonly required move is to drive across the median in order to make a U-turn and go in the opposite direction. Imagine that the median as a very short two lane bi-directional road. When you turn onto the median, what side of it are you supposed to be on? I always turn onto the right side because that is the direction that you drive on the rest of the time but cars turning onto the median at the same time from the opposite side often try to turn head-on into me on that side (their left, my right). Which way is correct? I admit that turning onto the left side seems a little more efficient.
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Moving to IMHO.
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I think what you are refering to is actually called a “grade crossing”. This is any stretch of street (however small) that crosses rail lines. The term is usually used for rail roads but I assume the same thing would apply to street cars. What I am envisioning is that your car is positioned perpendicular to traffic. Keep right. I can only guess that the Bostonians were living up to their reputation as especially bad drivers.
“The art of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss”
As I take it you actually have 6 lanes here. 2 in one direction, 2 lanes worth of median and 2 in the other direction.
If the median is marked w/ double yellow or crosshatched yellow line it is illegal to use this to make a turn anyway so it doesn’t matter.
If it is legal to turn here and is not marked as 2 lanes but as a left turn lane then you should treat it as a single lane.
If it is 2 lanes then keep right.
But you have to temper the above with a little common sense
Regardless of the presence of railroad tracks, I have seen these in a number of cities. Often these are treated as U-turn lanes, where you hug the median during the whole turn, thus being on the left when you pass a car making a U-turn in the opposite direction, and whose U-turn lane just happens to be paved all the way over to your U-turn lane.
These are not usually marked as U-turns, not that such things are usually marked. This practice becomes all the more questionable when there happens to be a single side street facing the gap.
That’s my observation, but I’ve always wondered the same thing.
Also I think it is illegal to make a u-turn on RR tracks. Anyone else heard of this?
Thank everyone for the replies so far. I am not referring to anything shady or illegal. This is the way that you have to drive on Commonwealth Avenue to reverse directions (also think of St. Charles avenue in New Orleans if you know it). I encounter this problem almost every day when I drive home from work. See the illustration below. Imagine my car is the little ‘^’ on the right hand side and I want to turn on to the left hand side and travel in the opposite direction (towards the bottom of the page). Now when I turn across the center I can hug the left side of the turn or go further and be on the right lane. There are no lane marking in the center turn. There also may be cars trying to do the same thing from the opposite direction and I don’t want to hit them by choosing differently than they do. Which side should we choose when we enter the center?
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Two attempts to make your graphic work.
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The question is independent of the train or trolley tracks. It is a common problem here in Houston, Texas, where there are no trolleys. Any divided highway with a median - many streets in the Clear Lake area are like this. The medians have gaps or pass throughs that are nominally to allow cross flow traffic either into parking lots or onto streets that go perpendicular to the main street. They are typically 2 or 3 car widths wide (sometimes more).
This is a tricky question. Some are marked with double lines as if you are supposed to stick right. This works best if you are trying to turn onto the cross street. If you stay right, then you don’t have someone pull in between you and the oncoming traffic you are trying to monitor to see the gaps. However, if you are both making U-turns, it is actually easier and better to both keep left. That way you go right around the curb and never cross each other’s path.
Of course here in Houston nobody will follow any plan consistently. Firstly, they don’t line up neatly and wait their turn, but rather stack 2, 3, up to 5 or 6 cars into the gap as can possibly fit. This is done if you are, say, second coming up behind someone and want to get clear of the inside lane of traffic, you pull beside the person who is already waiting so you are totally in the median gap rather than protruding into the traffic lane to either get hit from behind by a speeding motorist or stop a lane of traffic and piss off the other drivers. Then the third person comes along behind you and does the same thing. Etc. It can get really hairy when 3 or more people from each direction are trying to use the same passthrough and traffic on the main street lanes is busy enough that there aren’t any significant gaps.
Technically, keeping right is correct and taking turns one car at a time, waiting in line, and not blocking the traffic from the other side if your waiting. But nobody drives that way.
Thank You Irishman! You understand the problem perfectly. This question got moved from GQ to IMHO although I am not sure why. I thought that there should be actual traffic laws that laid out legally correct answer. I am tired of getting the “finger” whenever I choose differently than drivers turning from the opposite direction. Does anyone know if there are laws that prescribe the legally correct choice.
Also Irishman, thank you for fixing my graphics.
This is why I don’t drive in Boston. Ok, it’s really because I’m terrified of the Tobin bridge, but…Boston drivers, from my limited Boston driving, are better than MA drivers on the south shore. If it wasn’t for the bridges, I might drive down there more often.
I understood Shagnasty the first time through and even better with Irishmen’s reitteration… having blown off these intersections both in Boston and in Florida (another marvel of high speed lanes, flatness, and blatent regard for window tinting over driver education) I’m sitting here getting road raged. I would vote “keep right”, but…
A recent visit to Vegas reminds me of the exact scenerio, but several of the “pass-overs” or “pass-arounds” had a jersey barrier, forcing you to “keep left” through it all. Felt unnatural, but kept things moving and everyone was on the same page. So when you go there and rent a Mustang convertible, you feel like part of the naughty crowd by flinging a yewie with the top down, cranking the Techno, and merging into the oncoming traffic with twelve feet of right-of-way full throttle. Go for it. At least you’ll look the part. And nobody ever gives you that asshole look or finger… between the rented car and your oblivious approach, you’ll always be one up on the locals.