To the lady in the highlander

Kinja'd!!! "TheTurbochargedSquirrel" (thatsquirrel)
11/20/2016 at 13:45 • Filed to: None

Kinja'd!!!3 Kinja'd!!! 18
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Get off the cell phone and pay attention to what is happening in the intersection you are tying to enter. I was pulled way into the intersection waiting to turn left with the intention of turning as soon as either a gap opened up or more likely when the light turned, stopping the traffic in the other direction. Their light turns red, I get cut off by a guy turning right on red in front of me, out of the corner of my eye I see highlander lady accelerating straight at my door. Give it a full racing style launch complete with massive tire chirp and highlander lady misses me by maybe 6 inches. Pay attention to what is going on around you people.


DISCUSSION (18)


Kinja'd!!! LongbowMkII > TheTurbochargedSquirrel
11/20/2016 at 13:56

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Or don’t enter the intersection until it is clear.


Kinja'd!!! TheTurbochargedSquirrel > LongbowMkII
11/20/2016 at 14:00

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With traffic the way it was today and an intersection without a left turn signal you would never end up making your turn. I did exactly what is taught in driving school.


Kinja'd!!! LongbowMkII > TheTurbochargedSquirrel
11/20/2016 at 14:07

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I’d get my money back. keeping the intersection clear is generally the (poorly enforced) law. For the interest of traffic flow and emergency vehicles.


Kinja'd!!! Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > LongbowMkII
11/20/2016 at 14:13

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While common sense dictates this, I live somewhere that doesn’t believe in turn lights. You literally will never turn if you don’t enter the intersection. If the infrastructure is as good as it should be, then no, wait.


Kinja'd!!! Noah - Now with more boost. > TheTurbochargedSquirrel
11/20/2016 at 14:14

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Yesterday I saw a lady in a highlander looking into a bedazzled hand mirror, plucking her eyebrows at an intersection. Clearly there’s a trend here


Kinja'd!!! TheTurbochargedSquirrel > LongbowMkII
11/20/2016 at 14:19

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I wasn’t blocking the intersection. I was setting up to be able to clear the intersection at the soonest possible moment. Everybody in MA drives like an ass meaning that you have to be somewhat aggressive about making your intentions known.


Kinja'd!!! TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Noah - Now with more boost.
11/20/2016 at 14:22

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Sounds like a highlander driver to me.


Kinja'd!!! Logansteno: Bought a VW? > LongbowMkII
11/20/2016 at 14:29

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Actually no, he wasn’t obstructing the flow of traffic in the intersection while waiting to turn so he was perfectly fine. He was already in the intersection when the light began to change so he had the right of way to turn before the people whose light turned green began to go. This Highlander lady is actually in the wrong.

You might want your money back.


Kinja'd!!! LongbowMkII > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
11/20/2016 at 14:31

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You should wait in the turn lane. If you are stopped in the intersection, no matter what color the light is, you’re in the wrong.


Kinja'd!!! Logansteno: Bought a VW? > LongbowMkII
11/20/2016 at 14:41

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Just as an example, this is from the New York driver’s handbook.

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On top of that, if you Google “entering the intersection to make a left turn” there are multiple results saying it is perfectly legal.

Once again, OP was in the right.


Kinja'd!!! LongbowMkII > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
11/20/2016 at 14:46

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Example A sounds like traffic going in the same direction. Don’t pass left turning traffic on the right. Opposing traffic turning left won’t assume or see the passing car.

Example B is standard, yield to opposing traffic when making a left turn.


Kinja'd!!! gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > LongbowMkII
11/20/2016 at 18:23

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This is literally what you are supposed to do at a green light with no left turn signal. You advance into the intersection so you can get through smaller gaps, leaving room for the guy behind you to do the same. Unless there’s no gap to your left to pull into, of course, but that’s rarely an issue.


Kinja'd!!! wafflesnfalafel > TheTurbochargedSquirrel
11/20/2016 at 22:04

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sucks... I’ve got an intersection like that on my commute, uphill right hand turn through a busy crosswalk against on coming traffic that has to turn because of a one way. I just expect to have to honk at some dumba$$ once a week to get them to pay attention (both driver and peds..) We had a lady on a bike get killed their a couple years ago (honestly, mostly her fault..) and we get a several accidents there every year...


Kinja'd!!! DynamicWeight > LongbowMkII
11/21/2016 at 13:57

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The internet (and everything I’ve ever heard) disagrees with you. Please stop holding up traffic unnecessarily. You are totally allowed to enter the intersection to make a left.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=clearing%20the%20intersection%20left%20turn


Kinja'd!!! LongbowMkII > DynamicWeight
11/21/2016 at 14:20

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I can google too, nothing definitive.

If I have to wait on you to clear the intersection in order to proceed on green, it’s not me holding up traffic.


Kinja'd!!! DynamicWeight > LongbowMkII
11/21/2016 at 14:44

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The only way you would have to wait is if someone ran the red. The yellow + the moment that both lights are red is enough time for me to clear.

Also, every google link there said it is okay to do. How is that not definitive?


Kinja'd!!! LongbowMkII > DynamicWeight
11/21/2016 at 15:00

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Every google link says it’s a gray area and depends on your local laws. And they have all the authority of yahoo answers.


Kinja'd!!! gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > LongbowMkII
11/21/2016 at 21:09

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Go back up to those who first A and B examples. Look at example A. Ignore the passing aspect, and think about why there’s a car in the interesection waiting to turn left. It’s definitely traffic traveling in the same direction. The car in front has advanced into the intersection, waiting to turn left, and you’re behind it, waiting to go straight through.

I remember this very clearly from my provincially sponsored Driver’s Ed program. When the people teaching you about the laws are also the ones administering them, it’s not fuzzy or grey at all. When making a left turn from a green light, you advance into the intersection and stop and wait for oncoming traffic to clear before proceeding. Absolutely no traffic is being obstructed. If you have to wait until the light changes before tgere’s a suitable gap, that’s just fine. It’s why there’s a couple seconds when the lights are red in all directions, to allow any cars still in the intersection to clear it.

No traffic is being obstructed at all. In fact you could actually be obstructing traffic by NOT advancing into the intersection, because then you would need a larger gap in traffic to complete the left turn, and then when the light changes and traffic does clear, you’re now sitting at a red light, and could easily be for several cycles, meaning you’re holding up traffic behind you. But if you had advanced into the intersection, you would be clear by the end of the cycle, and the majority of drivers who aren’t turning left would be able to proceed unobstructed.

The only way advancing into the intersection to turn left would obstruct the flow of traffic is if there wasn’t enough room in the lane you’d be entering for you to enter when the light changes. Just like when you’re at a green light going straight, you can’t proceed if the lane you’re in is so full of cars you end up sitting in the intersection if you drive through.

Instead of everyone arguing at you that it is the case, find us a single shred of evidence saying it’s not completely legal or proper to advance into the intersection to make a left turn at a green light. You’ll quickly realize this area is not as grey as you think and that you’re the odd one out.