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Avoiding left-hand turns when driving

#21
-Asdfgh- said:
We solve this issue in the UK by a combination of few turning lanes and lots of roundabouts, including the XTC-celebrated Magic Roundabout in Swindon. I presume the satnav on my phone looked at my music choices and decided I really wanted to try it out when I was coming up from Devon one year.
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US drivers continue to struggle with roundabouts. I go through three of them on my daily 7 minute commute....makes me wish I had a dash cam.
 
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#22
Depends on the area. Usually I just avoid busy areas, like trying to go across town in summer when traffic increases tenfold. Take the back way in whenever possible.

I still tend to go the most direct route. Try to to this here, and you end up doing more stops and starts, more waits, more distance, there's no time or fuel savings in that.

Especially if there is no light, it really doesn't work here. Make 3 rights, then still have to get across the busy street you tried to turn left from in the first place. So now you're trying to cross both streams of traffic instead of just one.

What I do is I know that I have to make a left somewhere to get to the other side. So I'll choose my left in the easiest place. Usually the easiest place is the street directly before the light. When the light stops the oncoming traffic, there's my clear shot to go. Or jump on some sidestreet if I see a clearing. Always faster to get across the oncoming traffic if you're already moving.
 
#25
I also avoid left turns if practical unless there is a left turn signal. Around here it can be quicker to turn right one block before your intersection and then turn left on a small side street and turn left again onto the street you want. There are also a number of streets that don't allow left turns so I have gotten used to planning my turns before hand.
It didn't take long to get used to the roundabouts when I was driving in Ireland. I liked them. Sometimes I had to go round more than once because I missed the outlet. I soon got passed that too.
 
#27
tlc1976 said:
.... Always faster to get across the oncoming traffic if you're already moving.
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As a delivery guy, I'm like a shark that always has to keep moving, too. If you needed to get to the hospital, you would want me to drive you. I make it a point to know most side street shortcuts, alleys, and cutout sidewalks in the city I'm currently living so i can avoid a lot of nonsense i see ahead of me. And i try not to be on the roads between 3-7pm if i can help it ... so that's my nap time :sleep:
 
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#29
catcauphonic said:
As a delivery guy, I'm like a shark that always has to keep moving, too. If you needed to get to the hospital, you would want me to drive you. I make it a point to know most side street shortcuts, alleys, and cutout sidewalks in the city I'm currently living so i can avoid a lot of nonsense i see ahead of me. And i try not to be on the roads between 3-7pm if i can help it ... so that's my nap time :sleep:
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I drove a cab in NYC nearly 35 years ago. Some habits don't go away.
 
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#30
guy n. cognito said:
Yup.....our government claims that while incidents went up, the "severity" of those incidents went down. I'm still trying to figure that one out.
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It makes perfect sense to me. In a roundabout nobody is going very fast, and the cars are all moving in the same direction, so most accidents are minor fender-benders. In an accident at a "regular" intersection, it's likely that at least one of the cars is traveling at full speed, and that they aren't both going in the same direction, so if an accident occurs it likely will be much more serious.
 
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#31
I am guilty of this but for good reason I was making a left in my early 20's in a compact car and was t-boned by a much large car which the old person slammed my car up against a tree the frame of my car was twisted that the driver side wheel was about 8 inches off the ground. That accident caused something in me that I have carried all my life. and unless there is a traffic light I will make right at a stop sign or out of parking lots. This drives my wife crazy.
 
#32
guy n. cognito said:
Yup.....our government claims that while incidents went up, the "severity" of those incidents went down. I'm still trying to figure that one out.
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It's entirely possible. For example, severity might be measured by total level of injury. For example, whilst measured as incident per mile travelled, suburban streets are relatively dangerous, any particular incident is less likely to be fatal than highway incidents. If you think of the difference in kinetic energy, then at 70 it is more than four times as much as at 30. Over time cars have got safer, but roads more crowded, so the number of incidents can rise, but deaths fall.
 
#33
Lobster11 said:
It makes perfect sense to me. In a roundabout nobody is going very fast, and the cars are all moving in the same direction, so most accidents are minor fender-benders. In an accident at a "regular" intersection, it's likely that at least one of the cars is traveling at full speed, and that they aren't both going in the same direction, so if an accident occurs it likely will be much more serious.
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4 times as many incidents....
 
#35
There's a roundabout in a neighboring city & I have avoided it since I discovered it's there, not because I don't know how to use it, but because no one else seems to know.
I sat outside at the McDonald's nearest so I could watch the show one day, which solidified my resolve not to go near that thing in my vehicle.
 
#36
Killed_by_Death said:
There's a roundabout in a neighboring city & I have avoided it since I discovered it's there, not because I don't know how to use it, but because no one else seems to know.
I sat outside at the McDonald's nearest so I could watch the show one day, which solidified my resolve not to go near that thing in my vehicle.
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It's odd. They work pretty well in the UK, although I think the number of mini roundabouts on roads too narrow to go around them in any meaningful way is overdone when to me they really need give way signs, plus a raised section instead.
 
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#37
The roundabouts I drive through, most of the drivers have it figured out. Occasionally there's one person who stops to let someone in :banghead:.

One intersection that I used to drive through, the main road (the one I was on) was 55mph. The side road crossing it had stop signs, and one direction would back up about 1/4 mile in the evenings. People would get impatient, and once they got to the stop sign, would take chances and pull out in front of you (sometimes not even looking first). Almost t-boned one car, hit the brakes and stopped short by a few inches. I don't think the driver even noticed, she was looking the other way through the whole thing. Almost rear-ended another which turned in front of me.

After the roundabout went in, no backup anymore, and no problems.

As far as left turns, if I have to turn onto a busy highway without a light, I'll go a little out of my way to find an intersection with a light. Otherwise, I don't try to avoid them.
 
#38
Wherever I travel, I plan my route to minimize left turns. The main reason is that making a left turn exposes me to more danger from an inattentive driver running a light. During peak traffic periods, taking a left also means I may have to sit through two or three lights before turning. In fact, I know which roads in town have dedicated left turn lanes and which don't, and I plan my lane travel to avoid the inner lane during peak traffic periods when a driver in front of me may stop in the traffic lane to make a left, holding up traffic behind them.

I try to always think a few blocks ahead while I drive, avoiding traffic pinch points and taking advantage of any quirks in the traffic system.

On the highway, I try to always look as far down the road as I can and scan back, so I end up seeing traffic issues in front of me as much as a mile ahead of other drivers. That gives me time to maneuver, speed up or change lanes to anticipate and avoid the problem I see forming up ahead. It's amazing how often the way to avoid a traffic slowdown is to speed up slightly and work through it before the traffic bunches up.

We have roundabouts; to me, they're practice for apexing and I can usually go through them above the speed limit if my technique is good. What bugs me is the drivers who get right up to them, never look at oncoming traffic to see whether it's coming around in front of them or not, and slam on their brakes when there's no need to.

Some people just CANNOT think 5 seconds ahead of themselves when they drive.
 
#39
-Asdfgh- said:
We solve this issue in the UK by a combination of few turning lanes and lots of roundabouts, including the XTC-celebrated Magic Roundabout in Swindon. I presume the satnav on my phone looked at my music choices and decided I really wanted to try it out when I was coming up from Devon one year.
Click to expand...

Love the roundabout system in the UK. That, along with really detailed Satnav, makes driving so much more enjoyable when I visit! That said, my success so far with the Magic Roundabout in Swindon is at about 50%!
 
#40
I don't think about it, really. I just try to take the quickest route. Chicago's a different animal than other places I've lived, though--lots of one-way streets, which changes the left-turn dynamic (sometimes for better, sometimes for worse). Side streets are a double-edged sword in general here: They can be quicker, but there are also usually more hazards to watch out for, such as cyclists, parallel parkers, and people getting out of their cars.
 

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