Everyday Tactics #1 : Left Turns

This one evening in February I was driving back home and I pulled up at a red light at a typical 4-way intersection. 

I drove into the left turn lane and stopped at the line and waited for my light to turn green.

Then, someone coming from the light on my right hand side starts making a left turn of their own, so now they are crossing directly in front of me as they complete their turn, and because this person doesn't know how to aim, they only missed hitting my car by a few inches.  

Considering the low speed this car was traveling, I don't think anyone would have been injured, let alone killed, but yeah, having this butt head crash into my stationary car at a crowded intersection would have sucked big time.  If a large object is not moving, and you accidentally run into it with your car, you probably need a lot more practice driving, or a lot less alcohol in your bloodstream.   

This near miss changed the way I do things at intersections.  This was not the very first time I'd ever seen someone cut that left turn way too close, but around this time I had seen a serious increase in this kind of thing, and this is the event that made the difference for me, because this particular person cut their turn closer than anyone else I'd ever seen before.  

Nowadays, when I am pulling into the left turn lane at an intersection, I stop about 10 feet behind the line.  This way, if someone is coming from the light on my right hand side, and they make a left hand turn, they won't hit me, even if they are cutting the turn way too close.

Of course there are also the left turn lanes that are actually painted so that the front line is set further back, for exactly the reason we're talking about here, so what I'm really doing is manually turning every left turn lane into that better, further back version that you sometimes see. 

I think a lot of drivers need to invest some time playing more video games, so they can improve their hand eye coordination.  There is no reason to cut that turn so tight, even though, yes, most cars have a blind spot where the driver side window and the windshield meet that gets in the way in this scenario. 

Even if you are new to driving, you have probably seen this kind of thing more than a few times.  So many people do it, and since I can't really regulate the way they drive, I have to change something about my own strategy.   

Interestingly enough, I have noticed a few people cut their turns even tighter now, because by backing 10 feet off the line I am giving them much more space to do so, but that's ok, because my car is now so far away from them that it's much better for me overall.  One guy was especially bad about it to the point where it made me laugh in disbelief.  "Do you see the painted lines?" I wanted to ask. 

If someone crunched into me now, this way, I'd like to think that I'd have an open and shut case against them, if it had to come to that.   



One other Note

If you have to make a left turn across multiple lanes of traffic to get into / out of someplace, I highly recommend making a right turn and taking the longer route instead.  It will take you more time to get wherever it is you're going, but the huge increase in safety is worth it.

When I see someone trying to leave a gas station or something, and they turn left across 2 or 3 lanes of traffic at rush hour, I wonder what the hell they are thinking.  You will see signs prohibiting such turns, in certain locations, but certainly not everywhere, so in the end, it's up to you to make the better decision.   

UPS asks its drivers to avoid left turns whenever possible, and for good reason.