Like marriage, turning left onto a major road is a privilege, not a right. After the influx of additional traffic lights in our town, it became apparent to me that the problem can broadly be defined by residents of smaller roads not wanting to wait at intersections longer than they feel is right. But when looking at the situation a bit more precisely, the problem is better defined by people thinking they should be allowed to make lefts onto major roads at all times.
I live on a road that intersects with the main street of our town, aptly named Main Street. I know that if I want to make a left onto Main Street between the hours of 8AM and 8PM, rather than turning from my block directly onto Main Street, that I need to take a few additional side roads to get to a light that will allow me to make a left easier. It adds about thirty seconds of travel time, but that time is made up by not having to wait at the intersection for the opportunity to make a left.
In addition, the main shopping center in our town has a single-laned exit with no traffic light. If a person wishes to make a left out of the parking lot, they can hold up an entire line of traffic to make a left onto Main Street. Meanwhile, there is a parking lot across the street from that intersection with two entrances. If you make a right onto Main Street, you can easily turn into the parking lot across the street, then make another right onto Main Street, which will send you in the original left direction and on your merry way.
Basically the point I’m trying to make is that if we required it to be easy to make a left onto all main roads at all times, nearly every intersection would have a light at it. Yes, I understand that lights are most certainly necessary at some intersections, but there are ways of getting places without having to make a left onto a main intersection. In the situation I described above, it’s even faster to make the right and use the parking lot across the street to turn around than waiting for an opportunity to make a left. So really what I’m trying to say is, drivers suck and everyone should be as wonderful as me. THE END.
Which is one of the reasons I live in a town where rush hour consists of two cars, six trucks, and the occasional horse. DRIVERS SUCK, except for Craig who is the epitome of all that is wonderful and right in this world (campaigning for Dancing Monkey of the Month
)
I can’t say I’ve noticed that much here but I understand where you are coming from. Most of the time I’d rather drive around the block and get going with the light than sit and wait and try and cross against the traffic.
Nothing annoys me more than people who think you are supposed to drive with one wheel ON the line. BETWEEN the lines people, not ON th line. I’m always sure they are suddenly going to smash into someone in the other lane and I’ll do what I can to never have to be in the lane beside them.
Since to get home I make a left out of that shopping center, there are many times when if someone behind me is waiting I will make that right and go through the bank down to Union and make the left there.
I am in that shopping center a lot “picking up chinese for dinner”
Which explains why the chinese population of our town has been dwindling.
Drivers do suck. Especially all those furrners from NY & NJ who come up here and clog our roadways in the summer, turning every which way and taking up more parking spaces than their one car should take up. And even more especially all the goddamned Massholes.
All this and humility too? It is a wonder you aren’t overrun by fans on a daily basis.
Craig, I love you more now.
*waves cane* You tell em!
Craiggers I am SO with you on this! Coming home from work, there’s a side road that exits onto a 4 lane highway without a light. The sign there clearly says, “No Left Turn 3-7pm”. Can i tell you how many times I’ve sat there at 4:15pm waiting to turn right while some idiot sits in front of me trying to turn left? no i can’t cause it happens ALL THE FREAKIN’ TIME!!! I have never wanted to have a Klingon disrupter mounted on my hood any more than at those times!
HUGS…
I have a driving pet peeve about people making lefts: If the only way you can get into the left turn lane is to suddenly cut across a lane of traffic, wait until the next light and make a u-turn there. Avoiding a two-block detour isn’t worth trying to kill me.
Polt: Klingon disrupters are a good idea. I’ve wanted a roof-mounted rocket launcher until I realized that a smoldering pile of wreckage is even less mobile than a stupid driver.
Agree!
I always thought life would be better if I could program a LED display to send a message (reversed so it could be read in the mirror) to the car in front of me. Like “Dude, you can pull into the central lane and merge with the traffic.”
I can get to any point within 2 miles of my parents’ house without crossing or using the overcrowded main streets.
I wish everyone was as wonderful as you.
“Which explains why the chinese population of our town has been dwindling.” Ha! Good one!
Cupcake: yeah, exploding cars from being hit by missiles can create more problems than their worth. Just atomizing them with the disrupter is the way to go!
HUGS…
YES! I may or may not have been laughed at more than once by folk at work who have driven with me and discovered that I can do all sorts of maneuvers in order to avoid unprotected left turns. (I drive to work on THIS route, but drive home on THAT one. Doesn’t everyone?)
(It made me happy that you posted at exactly 1234 today.)
I think that some guys may feel that making a challenging left turn (or crossing a busy street) is a test of their masculinity. They may feel that avoiding the left turn is wimping out.
I have absolutely no problem avoiding a challenging left turn. I see it as a reduction in risk, and a possible efficiency improvement as well. There really are some times when it just isn’t _safe_ to turn left.
Technically, what you describe about using a a parking lot as a u-turn may not always be legal. I am aware of people having received tickets for cutting through parking lots. While I have sometimes done this, I generally try to avoid it. Usually one can just go down a side street and either make a u-turn or go around a block.
Despite the fact that NJ drivers are the worst drivers in the entire country, I’ve grown to like jughandles…much more convenient than waiting to make a left turn (or being stuck behind other people who want to make a left).
At least I’m only ONE day late commenting on this.
I’ve seen problems in Boston like the one you’re mentioning, Craig, including people making illegal left turns (where it’s clearly marked “No Left Turn”) and people making a left turn from a right lane — a (thankfully) rare but still typically Bostonian manoeuvre.
In Boston though we have a different kind of problem with people making left turns, or rather, two:
1) The old-timer Bostonian (this is rarer now than when I first moved to Boston) who just assumes that people making a Left have the right of way when the light turns green and just immediately go. Actually, it’s not that. It’s that this type of Boston Driver just has the attitude “I ALWAYS HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY”. I’ve even been honked at by people behind me for NOT taking a left when I DIDN’T have the right of way and there was oncoming traffic!
2) The opposite, super-timid driver, who apparently DIDN’T LEARN IN DRIVERS ED that when the light turns green and you are going to make a left, YOU PULL INTO THE INTERSECTION and wait for the oncoming traffic to clear (which often means you can only execute your left just as the lights change). The key is that as soon as the light turns green, you are SUPPOSED to pull into the center of the intersection, aligned with the right lane of the road you’re turning into. I can’t count how many people don’t do that, and sit at the line, then miss the light entirely because they’re too scared to execute the left. Needless to say, you’ve been stuck behind them the whole time and the next round when the light turns green you may be stuck for another round.
Actually, there’s a
3) People who do the above, but then execute the left anyway, blowing the red light, and leaving you stuck at the red behind them. That is preferable to (2) but it’s still obnoxious.
(Since I am a Boston driver, if the person in front of me KNOWS HOW TO DRIVE and pulls into the intersection to make a left, I will pull up right behind them and even if the light has changed, I will execute my left since, well, *innocent face* I am already *in* the intersection, right? Heh heh)
Anyway, yes, drivers suck, and Boston drivers (sorry Oz) are the worst in the world.
And yes, I’ve wanted disrupters or rocket-launchers mounted on my car more times than I can count.
Lastly, another pet peeve of mine (I could write for pages and pages on pet peeves about Boston drivers) is people who park in the right lane of a road with right turn on red, even though they’re not making a right. They can have a whole line of people behind them with the right turn signal on, ALL OF WHOM could have made the right and “been on their merry way” (as you delightfully put it), but becuase they’re too self-absorbed to pick the right lane, they block everybody behind them until the light changes and they can go straight.
Oh, what the hell. Then there are the people who think they’re being *COURTEOUS* by letting everybody who DOESN’T HAVE RIGHT OF WAY make a left in front of them, holding up the entire line of traffic behind them, then goes on their way just as the light is changing, leaving us all fuming behind them and wondering how they can be so courteous to the left-turning drivers in front of them and so unaware of the drivers behind them.
Wow! Now I’m fuming! Thanks, Craig, this post of yours has really woken me up and I haven’t even had my caffeine yet
I can make 5 left turns on to Main St. in the time it takes to read 1 Justin comment.
Jesus Paul it took you eight hours to think that one up?
But marriage IS a right.
We can’t turn right on red here in Europe…..one of many reasons I hate driving in Belgium.
Really?! No Right Turn on Red in ANY country in Europe?