Left turns..is that a good idea?

eman1200

eman1200

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Bro do you even lift
in 2019 there were over 10,000 accidents after making a left turn in north carolina alone (categorized as ‘improper turn’). even if you put your blinker on, do you feel safe making left turns? what is the DOT doing to prevent this? some people turn faster than others, I think something should be done about this. I’ve had my drivers license for 8 days now.
 
No left turns. Only rights and u-turns, or jug-handles, or Michigan lefts, or whatever you want to call them.
 
I'm also a new pilot (greener than green, not even a PPL).
Perhaps good faith discussions should be entertained when a newbie is asking about recent fatal accidents instead of making fun of them. Just a thought. Feel free to berate me and my lack of experience as needed.

Edit - in a lot of places roundabouts are being installed as a safer alternative to deadly intersections, btw
 
There is a special place in the "bad place" for drivers who turn left, even when there is a lot of traffic. I'm glad to work around left turners, people with their hazards on, and an occasional ambulance or car with stalled engine who is trying to limp through the intersection and turn into the Buc-ee's before the light changes.

But the BMWs, the RAM trucks, and dare I say, Tesla drivers who can't be bothered to just go straight are annoying.

Am I doing this right? :p
 
eman1200 said:
in 2019 there were over 10,000 accidents after making a left turn in north carolina alone (categorized as ‘improper turn’). even if you put your blinker on, do you feel safe making left turns?
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Turns are dangerous period. After a few years you learn that some left turns are safer than others based on road conditions and geometry. Lefts are hazardous to drivers while rights present special hazards to pedestrians.

what is the DOT doing to prevent this?
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In CA most intersections with visibility issues have turn arrows or don't allow turns.

some people turn faster than others, I think something should be done about this.
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Why?

I’ve had my drivers license for 8 days now.
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As drivers we are the final arbiter of safe operation of our vehicles (yes, the police can disagree). Safe speeds vary by road conditions, vehicle, weather, presence of people/animals, and driver alertness/emotional state.
If you don't mind, what kind of car are you driving? (Compact, sedan, van, etc).
 
Baked Potato said:
I'm also a new pilot (greener than green, not even a PPL).
Perhaps good faith discussions should be entertained when a newbie is asking about recent fatal accidents instead of making fun of them. Just a thought. Feel free to berate me and my lack of experience as needed.

Edit - in a lot of places roundabouts are being installed as a safer alternative to deadly intersections, btw
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Good faith discussions are entertained. See the thread that this one spun off of.

on the other hand, newbies proposing changes to long-established procedures based primarily on ignorance gets kind of old, and is worthy of a little fun.
 
eman1200 said:
in 2019 there were over 10,000 accidents after making a left turn in north carolina alone (categorized as ‘improper turn’). even if you put your blinker on, do you feel safe making left turns? what is the DOT doing to prevent this? some people turn faster than others, I think something should be done about this. I’ve had my drivers license for 8 days now.
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Making left turns is only part of the problem. I don't have the stats, but I'm pretty sure that most of the collisions probably occur with another vehicle that is going straight ahead through the intersection. Maybe something should be done about that.
 
Baked Potato said:
Edit - in a lot of places roundabouts are being installed as a safer alternative to deadly intersections, btw
Click to expand...

Hate roundabouts….. Diverging diamonds are where it’s @. ;) Take a really long rig through a roundabout - the meet yourself going and coming phrase applies.
 
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EdFred said:
No left turns. Only rights and u-turns, or jug-handles, or Michigan lefts, or whatever you want to call them.
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Which is ironic, because the Michigan Left is a left turn. Whenever we went to Grayling, we had to remind everybody to play the game or win a prize.
 
TCABM said:
Which is ironic, because the Michigan Left is a left turn. Whenever we went to Grayling, we had to remind everybody to play the game or win a prize.
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Well, yeah, you do turn left, but not fully across traffic.
 
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Mxfarm said:
Hate roundabouts….. Diverging diamonds are where it’s @. ;) Take a really long rig through a roundabout - the meet yourself going and coming phrase applies.
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They put in a couple of roundabouts near my in-laws…the local truck driving school had to find another way to get in and out of their lot, because the roundabouts weren’t big enough for semis.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Right turn on red is the worst, but left's at an "uncontrolled" intersection are not good either.
And, backing out of driveways.
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I’ve only been hit by a car once while on bicycle…the city thinks its appropriate to signal left turns and signal “walk” for a conflicting crosswalk at the same time.
 
The busiest intersection in DuPage county is about 1/3 or a mile from my house. I NEVER turn left, there. I never proceed into the intersection on a yellow- there's always some maroon who committed to the yellow light 300 yards back and his moving 60 mph in a 45. Mostly I avoid that one location.
 
The average automobile and light truck spends a small percentage of time with Reverse selected. But, depending on your data source, 20-25% of accidents involve a vehicle in reverse.

Ban the reverse trans!
 
eman1200 said:
in 2019 there were over 10,000 accidents after making a left turn in north carolina alone (categorized as ‘improper turn’). even if you put your blinker on, do you feel safe making left turns? what is the DOT doing to prevent this? some people turn faster than others, I think something should be done about this. I’ve had my drivers license for 8 days now.
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As a very new driver, you have good insight into this dangerous situation. Since you didn't elaborate on the situation that prompted this post, please allow me to recount:

You were driving a slow, 1972 Ford Pinto in the land-vehicle-traffic pattern on an 'uncontrolled' roadway in North Carolina. After making a few traffic calls (muttered to yourself) and yelled out the (hand cranked) window as well as engaging your turn indicator, you decided it was safe to make the left turn. You did mention seeing a much faster Ferrari F8 Spider approaching at approximately 207 mph on about a two mile final to cross the intersection. The Ferrari was also making calls by flashing his lights and honking the horn loudly. Unfortunately, you made the left turn and the faster land-vehicle overtook you and plowed into your rear-end causing a mid-land collision.

Most have not heard of the mid-land collision in North Carolina where the Ferrari was doing a straight-in and hit your Pinto doing land-traffic-pattern work. My question is there is alot of ambiguity on which vehicle has the right of way. We know generally the vehicle not making the left turn has the ROW but also vehicles making left turns if the other vehicle is a safe distance away. But what constitutes a safe distance away? 1mi? 2mi?
Does anyone think the DOT should clean up the rules to not allow for land-vehicles to approach each other at uncontrolled intersections but under certain circumstances i.e traffic lights? Fast vehicles (Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc) especially at uncontrolled intersections. I am finishing up driver's-ed (driving test hopefully at the end of the month) and really would worry about driving in my suburban area with traffic lights but the more I drive into uncontrolled intersections the more I am really glad I drive where there are traffic lights.
 
Baked Potato said:
...

Edit - in a lot of places roundabouts are being installed as a safer alternative to deadly intersections, btw
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good grief. "roundabouts" in massachusetts are a complete disaster - waaaaay too many drivers don't understand who has the right-of-way.

ok, it's not the "roundabout" that's the problem...

and that also goes for the so-called "deadly intersection"... same problem.
 
Bob Noel said:
good grief. "roundabouts" in massachusetts are a complete disaster - waaaaay too many drivers don't understand who has the right-of-way.
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Same drivers that think when cars merge onto an expressway, people on the expressway are supposed to slam on their brakes to let said car in.
 
MauleSkinner said:
They put in a couple of roundabouts near my in-laws…the local truck driving school had to find another way to get in and out of their lot, because the roundabouts weren’t big enough for semis.
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There's a roundabout just South of Garnett, KS which really has no reason for existing, lol. It connects US59/US169 where there's not really any significant volume of traffic getting onto US59. So, all of the truck traffic in the middle of Nowhere, KS on US169 gets to shut down from running 65-70mph, to go through a tight roundabout, and then speed right back up. It's a pretty tight roundabout and there always seems to be tire marks into the grass where someone wasn't expecting a roundabout to be placed randomly out in a rural area.
 
The point is that they are safer. You specifically asked in the opening post what the DoT is doing about dangerous left hand turns. Funny thing is, the FHA has a page about this very subject, and depending on which state you're in, your DoT might also.
 
EdFred said:
Same drivers that think when cars merge onto an expressway, people on the expressway are supposed to slam on their brakes to let said car in.
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I about wiped one out years ago, I'm hauling a load in a very underpowered truck, trying to take advantage of the downhill and accelerate. Then we have a car -stopped- @ the bottom in the acceleration lane waiting for someone to let them in... kinda hairy for a bit....:eek:
 
SoonerAviator said:
There's a roundabout just South of Garnett, KS which really has no reason for existing, lol. It connects US59/US169 where there's not really any significant volume of traffic getting onto US59. So, all of the truck traffic in the middle of Nowhere, KS on US169 gets to shut down from running 65-70mph, to go through a tight roundabout, and then speed right back up. It's a pretty tight roundabout and there always seems to be tire marks into the grass where someone wasn't expecting a roundabout to be placed randomly out in a rural area.
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Same thing on 166 east of Arkansas City KS. Why?
 
SoonerAviator said:
There's a roundabout just South of Garnett, KS which really has no reason for existing, lol. It connects US59/US169 where there's not really any significant volume of traffic getting onto US59. So, all of the truck traffic in the middle of Nowhere, KS on US169 gets to shut down from running 65-70mph, to go through a tight roundabout, and then speed right back up. It's a pretty tight roundabout and there always seems to be tire marks into the grass where someone wasn't expecting a roundabout to be placed randomly out in a rural area.
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Here, I did a Google search and found this in a document that details each of the roundabouts that were installed in KS in the last couple of decades. The one you mention, 59 and 169, is in this document.
And @Mxfarm, the one on 166 is in it too.
Edit: here's the link to the document:
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/vie...&httpsredir=1&article=4029&context=roadschool
 

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eman1200 said:
in 2019 there were over 10,000 accidents after making a left turn in north carolina alone (categorized as ‘improper turn’). even if you put your blinker on, do you feel safe making left turns? what is the DOT doing to prevent this? some people turn faster than others, I think something should be done about this. I’ve had my drivers license for 8 days now.
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Trolling troll is obvious troll.
 
Bob Noel said:
good grief. "roundabouts" in massachusetts are a complete disaster - waaaaay too many drivers don't understand who has the right-of-way..
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For us older Massholes, we remember when rotaries (no one called them roundabouts in the 60's, we revolted from England that uses that term) changed the right of way. It used to be that entering traffic had the right of way. Once it became clear that the rotary filled up with that scheme, it was changed to the current traffic in the Rotary has the right of way. Life was fun at the Hingham rotary on Route 3A when the rules changed :)
 
Hang 4 said:
For us older Massholes, we remember when rotaries (no one called them roundabouts in the 60's, we revolted from England that uses that term) changed the right of way. It used to be that entering traffic had the right of way. Once it became clear that the rotary filled up with that scheme, it was changed to the current traffic in the Rotary has the right of way. Life was fun at the Hingham rotary on Route 3A when the rules changed :)
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btw - I've lived in massachusetts all my life... all *mumble* years. There is a reason why I used quotation marks...

decades later, several generation of drivers later, and people still can't figure out who has the right of way.

ok, in massachusetts it's: the wreck has the right of way... or if you make eye contact with the other driver, then you've yielded...

These rules apply more and more as you get closer to boston.
 
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