when i was 16 and hadn't had my driver's license very long, i was involved in a traffic accident
that was my fault. i hurridly pulled across two lanes of oncoming traffic at an intersection,
i timed it wrong, and caused another car to hit my car in the rear end. but
fortunately neither one of us was hurt. i want to make sure that something like that
doesn't happen to you. let's look first at making left turns at a controlled intersection,
meaning an intersection where traffic is controlled by traffic lights or stop signs.
when you approach any intersection you need to look ahead and notice certain things.
check out the lanes. how many are there and what is each one used for. there are three lanes here.
one is for left turns only and the other two are for driving straight ahead or turning right.
but notice that this intersection only has two lanes left and right, so all left turns
would have to be made from the left lane. as you approach take note of the traffic lights
that control the intersection. where are they and what are they currently showing.
these lights are red so only cross traffic is allowed to go right now and i have to stop.
and finally keep in mind the laws that govern intersections and look for any posted signs that
state specific traffic laws or instructions. such as this one that says left turn yield on green,
or any number of other signs that might be posted. now with all that in mind let's go through how to
safely make a left turn at this next intersection. i'm in the right lane and i need to get over into
the left lane so i'll be able to make a left turn up ahead at the intersection. but before i change
lanes i need to put on my left turn signal. and then check for any traffic around me that i could
potentially interfere with by moving out of my lane. i do that by first checking my rear view
mirror. check to see if there are any vehicles close behind you that are already changing lanes
and that you need to wait on to pass you. then i check my left side mirror. check to see if there
is another vehicle already in the lane beside you or approaching quickly. and finally i do a
shoulder check by turning my head approximately 90 degrees to the left until my chin lines up
with my shoulder so that i can look back into the blind spot area that my mirrors can't show me.
if all is clear then i go ahead and change lanes. and you should do these checks for other vehicles
quickly so that your eyes can stay on the road and the traffic up ahead of you as much as possible.
be sure you do these checks for other vehicles before you make any lane change. let's look at
that one more time. before you make a lane change first check your rear view mirror, then your side
mirror, and then check your vehicle's blind spot area. if all is clear then, i go ahead and change
lanes. i'm approaching the intersection up ahead. as i get closer i can see that there are two lanes
going straight and a dedicated lane for making left turns only, which is where i need to go.
i put on my left turn signal and then pull into the dedicated left turn lane as soon as possible.
you can start to pull into that lane at the point where the road markings show that the turn lane
starts. i'm in the dedicated left turn lane and i'm slowing down. as i approach the intersection
the traffic light is red so i'm going to come to a complete stop at the white line that's painted on
the road just before the intersection. and my left turn signal is still on. but if there's no white
line you would stop just before the crosswalk, and if there's no white line or crosswalk, which
would be unusual, stop at a point just before the edge of the intersection where you can clearly
see the traffic coming from all directions. when you're stopped while waiting to make a left turn
make sure you stop with your front tires pointed straight ahead and not turned toward the left.
if your tires are turned to the left, and another vehicle would happen to hit you from behind while
you're sitting there, you could possibly be pushed into oncoming traffic and maybe get t-boned to
make things even worse. if your tires are pointed straight and you were hit, you'd be pushed forward
and less likely to be involved in a more serious accident. the light changed to green with a
green left turn arrow. when you get a green left turn arrow that's called a protected left turn,
because that means no other vehicles will be allowed to cross your path while that
arrow is showing therefore protecting you as you turn. i'm going to make my left turn and
since i'm turning onto a road that has two lanes i pull into the lane nearest to me the left lane.
then i put on my right turn signal, check my rear view and right side mirrors, shoulder check,
and when it's safe to do so i pull into the right lane and continue on. when you're pulling past the
white stop line to begin your left turn keep going straight ahead until the front of your vehicle
reaches about the middle of the intersection, and then start turning the steering wheel to
the left. and as you're turning make sure you're looking directly at the lane you want to turn
into. that's because normally you tend to steer towards what you're looking at. so if you keep
looking at the lane you're wanting to be turning into that'll keep you more on the correct path
to it. by waiting to turn your steering wheel until roughly the center of the intersection,
you'll end up making a turn that's more curved and that'll cause you to enter the lane you're turning
into more nearly straight on. normally right after you turn left into the left lane you would
move into the right lane as soon as possible. but there are times when you would have good
reasons for not doing that. for example i've just made a left turn again at the same intersection,
and as i pull into the left lane, i see there's a pickup truck pulling a trailer in the right lane
where i want to go. and the truck is slowing down and even though the driver doesn't have a
turn signal on it looks like he's probably going to turn right. in this case it's better not to
pull in behind the trailer immediately and then have to slow down abruptly and maybe even stop,
so i just stay in the left lane a little longer and then change lanes when it's safe to do so.
another situation where you wouldn't pull into the right lane would be when you make a left turn
and then you plan on making another left turn very soon after that. it's safer overall to simply stay
in the left lane and not to be switching to the right lane and back over to the left lane over
such a short distance. whenever you're approaching an intersection or you're about to make a turn
or are near a crosswalk, scan the area for pedestrians or anyone on a bicycle scooter
skateboard etc. always yield to pedestrians no matter where or how they are crossing the road.
if a pedestrian is in your line of travel you cannot proceed even if you have a green light.
i have a green light here and there is oncoming traffic so i stop at the stop line. i can see
that there's a break in traffic coming up ahead so i'm going to pull ahead slightly over the stop
line and into the edge of the intersection. in illinois where i live and in most states,
it is illegal to pull into the intersection after first stopping to get into a better position to
make a left turn. specifically the traffic law states, "yield right away when making
a left-hand turn into oncoming traffic. if you enter an intersection while the light is green
you may finish the turn even though the light turns red." so i'm going to pull forward slightly
into the intersection to get in position to make my turn before the light changes to red.
i'm yielding to oncoming traffic on a green light. there's my gap. as that last car is about to pass
i begin to move forward and i go ahead and make my turn before the light changes to red.
along those same lines, you may be turning on a green arrow and then it turns yellow or flashes.
since you're already turning don't worry just complete your turn. but if you're approaching
and haven't entered the intersection yet and the green left turn arrow turns to yellow, stop at
the line and don't proceed. it's safer to wait and then make your left turn after you yield on green.
if you're in the left turn lane and there's already another vehicle in the intersection,
don't pull out behind them. stop at the line and stay there until that vehicle has cleared
the intersection. if i pulled out and the light turned red, we'd probably end up blocking traffic
coming across from the other direction when their light turned green. when you're turning across
a moving line of vehicles you need to learn the judge the speed of the traffic and how big a gap
in the traffic you need to make the turn without endangering yourself or others. being able to know
when it's safe to turn takes practice. and how big a gap you need depends on what type of driver you
are. are you cautious or more aggressive. what you're driving. does it accelerate slowly or
quickly. and the speed of the traffic. because the faster the traffic is moving the larger the
distance in feet you need between vehicles to make your turn. to be safe and so you won't be rushed,
a six to eight second gap in traffic works well. we're going to look at some gaps here
in the oncoming traffic. the vehicles on this road are moving at about 40 miles an hour,
which is about 58.7 feet per second. so a six second gap would equal about 352 feet,
and that's just short of the 360 foot length of a professional football field including the end
zones. eight seconds would equal about 470 feet so a little bit more of a safety cushion there. as i
approach the intersection and stop i look ahead for a gap in the oncoming traffic. i see a gap
coming up. so when the rear of that first vehicle goes by me i'm going to see how many seconds it is
before the front of that next vehicle passes that same point. that time will be the duration of the
gap. that first gap was 4.41 seconds. the next gap was only 3.68 seconds. but here's a big one coming
up. that gap was 11.25 seconds. that was the one worth waiting for. always wait to turn until you
see a gap that you're comfortable with. if there are other drivers behind you also waiting to turn
don't let the thought of that pressure you into turning sooner than you feel it's safe to go.
if you don't feel safe about it then it's not safe for you to go. we've looked at some intersections
with a single left turn lane but here's one that has two of them. lane one is strictly for
left turns and lane two is for left turns or for going straight ahead. it also has the third lane
for right turns only. i'm in lane two and being here will have me end up in the right lane of the
road i'm turning onto. we have a green light and a green left turn arrow so we can start our turn
when traffic begins moving. with two lanes turning left at the same time, you have to be careful to
stay in your designated lane as you turn. to help you there's usually markings on the pavement that
show you the curve of your lane, so in my case i want to stay to the right of those markings.
if there are no lane guides on the road give the drivers in the other lane as much room as
safely possible as you make your turn. i hope this helps somebody and maybe even will help prevent
you from having an accident like i did. thanks for watching have a great day and drive safe.