You DO NOT Have The Right Of Way!

[blas]

We have had many, many stories in this particular section regarding this kind of suckitude, but my experience the other morning was the absolute worst I have ever experienced of this (even though this particular foolery and idiocy happens to me almost on a daily basis, this is the worst I EVER experienced).

Simple concept....unprotected left turn, light green....you must yield to all oncoming traffic going straight or turning right. You DO NOT have the right of way.

(To anyone who is unclear or questioning me right now, I am talking about intersections with no green arrow, just a single green light, where it is just plain green in both directions....so people turning left HAVE to wait for those turning right or going straight....left has right of way last.)

There are many intersections like this in the city I live in, I'm not sure why. Anywho, this intersection isn't far from my home, it's just that if I get Subway, I take that intersection and to the right to get back on the main road because a few blocks down there is a 4 way stop, so I am not stuck at a regular stop sign by the Subway waiting for several minutes on end to be able to turn left.

Anyway, so I am approaching the intersection where I will be turning right. The light is now red, I am behind a few people going straight.......I put my blinker on and get in the right turn lane.

The light turns green. I almost shat myself, because I was just about to go....

Every single fucking moron in the opposing left lane started turning LEFT! Yes, even with all the people next to me about to go straight, at this UNPROTECTED left turn, these opposing fucking morons are just turning left anyway!

I suppose it would have been silly for anyone going straight to move forward or try to prove a point when all these idiots are just plowing through...but my gosh....REALLY? ALL OF THEM!

[bhskittykatt]

The intersection by my workplace is like that (in fact, I'll shortly be posting my own thread). It simply blows people's mind that the road does, in fact, continue past the intersection, and that there could be oncoming traffic...once, it was even a cyclist who cut me off! I nearly ran him over!

[It's me]

I've had them do it even after I've started to enter the intersection....

[Summerfly413]

I hate that. That usually happens at a left turn arrow too. It turns yellow, people speed through, turns red, people still go through, probably with the mentailty "well, the person in front of me did" causing a chain reaction until someone with a brain and knows the rules of the road actually stops.

I also hate people who don't get the concept that if they're turning left, the car turning right onto the same road has the right of way before them. I've almost been hit by people trying to turn into me, probably thinking I have to stop and wait for them for some reason. I always think to myself "If I had been going straight they still would've had to wait, why can't they wait when I'm turning?"

[Kogarashi]

Sounds like the city I live in. I've seen so many cars pull that stunt (not all, just a lot), that at those particular intersections the cars going straight have taken to holding off just a second or two in case the person waiting to turn left decides to pull a crazy.

Having been the one waiting to turn left, I can see a kind of cause and effect chain too, with the entitled left turns being the effect.

The cause? Those same cars holding off, to the point where I've had to wave people driving straight on because, hey, guess what? YOU have the right of way, not me!

And then I end up having to finish my turn just as the light turns red (or just after, depending), because all the oncoming traffic going straight decicded to blow the yellow and run the red light for good measure, and by that point I can't back up because there are other cars behind me. Or sometimes it's pedestrians who cross the side street I'm turning onto, when they still have a Don't Walk. The pedestrians always manage to time their crossing for when I have a gap in oncoming traffic. There have been times when just such a scenario has forced me to make my turn when the cross traffic had their green, just because I'd already pulled into the intersection for my left and was blocked from completing it.

[Rine]

I also hate people who don't get the concept that if they're turning left, the car turning right onto the same road has the right of way before them. I've almost been hit by people trying to turn into me, probably thinking I have to stop and wait for them for some reason.

I hate it when I have the green left arrow and try to make my turn, but someone turning right onto the same street thinks they have right of way. No. It's right turn on red after stop.

But, I've almost been hit by people making left turns on no arrows and I have the right of way making a right...blah. It just sucks.

[Sapphire Silk]

Having moved from one state to another, I have found that the laws regulating left turns on unprotected green light vary.

In California, you CANNOT turn left on green unless it is a green arrow. Ran quite a few lights before I figured out why people were honking me. Luckily, didn't get spotted by a cop.

Then I moved to North Carolina, where you CAN turn left on an unprotected green light. Had a lot of irate people honking at me while I waited for the green arrow to light up.

[blas]

Oh, I hate that too, when I have the arrow and someone turning right totally blows right into traffic and looks at me funny when they get the horn.

[ADoyle90815]

That sounds like many intersections, even when there's a sign saying that left turns must YIELD to traffic before turning. Often, this is after the left turn arrow has run its cycle, yet people are still allowed to turn left if it's safe to do so on a regular green light.

[slavetotheman]

Having moved from one state to another, I have found that the laws regulating left turns on unprotected green light vary.

In California, you CANNOT turn left on green unless it is a green arrow. Ran quite a few lights before I figured out why people were honking me. Luckily, didn't get spotted by a cop.

Then I moved to North Carolina, where you CAN turn left on an unprotected green light. Had a lot of irate people honking at me while I waited for the green arrow to light up.

I don't mean to be argumentative, but this piqued my interest enough for me to try to look it up, but it seems the California driver's manual disagrees with you:

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/traff_lgts_sgns.htm

Are you sure you weren't being honked at because you were cutting people off?

[Sapphire Silk]

I don't mean to be argumentative, but this piqued my interest enough for me to try to look it up, but it seems the California driver's manual disagrees with you:

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/traff_lgts_sgns.htm

Are you sure you weren't being honked at because you were cutting people off?

A fair question

This was over five years ago. They may have changed the law since then.

[Stormraven]

I'll support Sotm - I've lived in CA for nearly 20 years now. It's illegal to turn left if there's a protected arrow, and said arrow isn't green. If all you have is a basic light with no protected turn, it's legal to turn on green, if you safely can. Has been that way since I got my CA license.

[Andara Bledin]

In California, you CANNOT turn left on green unless it is a green arrow. Ran quite a few lights before I figured out why people were honking me. Luckily, didn't get spotted by a cop.

I don't mean to be argumentative, but this piqued my interest enough for me to try to look it up, but it seems the California driver's manual disagrees with you:

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/traff_lgts_sgns.htm

This was over five years ago. They may have changed the law since then.

Been driving in California for the last 18 years. The only time it is not legal to turn left at an intersection is when there is a sign posted prohibiting said turn.

All a lack of arrow signal means is that you must yield to oncoming traffic (and pedestrians, but you always have to yield to them, even when they're crossing against the light) and those turning right from among the oncoming traffic.

They could have been honking because they thought you had space to go and you didn't take it. There are some incredibly impatient people in the world.

That reminds me of a story. The bosslady at my work, once upon a time, had an old Caddy, the big luxury car variety. But it was old, so it didn't have the gumption it once had. It also was a bit... finicky, resulting in it being nicknamed Carrie.

One of it's favorite tricks was locking the driver's door so that the person couldn't get out that way and it would have to be unlocked with the key from the outside before it could be opened. But this would never happen when the bosslady drove, only when others did, such as the bossman, her husband.

One time, she was waiting to turn left at an intersection with a protected lane (dedicated to only those turning) but no separate signal and the passenger, another co-worker, complained that she didn't take a gap in traffic to make the turn. The bosslady explained that it wasn't zippy like the small car the co-worker drove and the co-worker made some disparaging comment on the Caddy's age.

At which point, the rear-view mirror promptly fell off the windshield and whacked her in the knee.

^-.-^