Left Turn Intersections
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Memorial & B Street. |
Okay, so I was turning left onto "B" Street from Memorial a few weeks ago and found a driver on my side facing the opposite direction preparing to do a U Turn. No problem with a U Turn, but the driver was on my side of the intersection. When I motioned that she needed to be on the other side, she shook her head, pointed her finger and mouthed that I was the one on the wrong side.
I faced an almost identical situation later while driving with my wife, Rebecca. I laughed about it and explained this had just happened a few days ago. Rebecca raised one eye brow and said, “She’s right, you know.” Wow, you’d think she’d trust my expertise.
Okay, Rebecca, here’s the explanation: When you’re turning left in an intersection, you need to stay inside the left side of the intersection. The other way creates the potential for a bottleneck.
The law (49-644) reads, “The driver of a vehicle intending to turn left shall approach the turn in the extreme left-hand lane lawfully available to traffic moving in the direction of travel of the vehicle. Whenever practicable the left turn shall be made to the left of the center of the intersection and so as to leave the intersection or other location in the extreme left-hand lane lawfully available to traffic moving in the same direction on the highway (highway is legal-speak for road) being entered.”
Here's a picture.
I've changed my silent question from, "What would Rebecca do?" to "What would Rebecca do, except driving." Yeah, I think I'm going to catch it when I get home.