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- Hi there smart drivers, Rick with Smart Drive Test
talking to you today about center left turn lanes.
These are left turning lanes
that are often on main thoroughfares
in the center of the road,
that lets you turn from a major road on to a minor road.
So that's what we're gonna go over today,
and give you a bit more information.
Stick around, we'll be right back with that information.
(energetic music)
Hi there, smart drivers.
Welcome back.
Today, talking about center left turn lanes.
I had a comment from dontusehername,
one of the smart drivers here on the channel,
who contributes regularly,
and TheWhoFan4 showed me a clip from the DOT in Nebraska,
which explained what they were, center left turn lanes,
and you can see that here,
and I'll put a link down in the description for you
as well on that, center left turn lanes,
so you know exactly what they are,
but that's what we're gonna go over today,
and give you a bit more clarification.
As well, I did in the community tab there,
put up a poll on that
and 40% of people are confused by this,
so it wasn't just dontusehername that was confused by this,
and me as well.
So that's what were gonna go over today.
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So a center left turn lane.
This well help you.
We just move over into the center of the lane here,
and we position our vehicle so it's straight.
There aren't any vehicles coming,
and we simply turn the corner
into the services along the roadway here.
(mumbles)
because you can't go around in a circle.
You gotta go back out.
Left center turn lane.
It's right here.
So you figure out where you wanna go,
shoulder check,
move into the center left turn lane here.
You can see that it's left turning both ways,
but the arrow's up there, and the other arrow's back here.
Traffic is clear, and we proceed.
All right, so moving into the center left turning lane,
to get in to one of the services,
we simply move in between the two lines
and wait for traffic to clear.
We got lots of traffic coming here,
and we're centered in the lane,
between the four lanes of traffic.
So there's actually kind of a fifth lane here
that alternates between a center left turning lane
and a left turning lane at the intersections
with the other roadways.
The shared left turning center lane simply allows you
to get into the services along this main thoroughfare
and I suspect for most places that have these,
that's the purpose of them,
is to allow you access into the services
along the thoroughfare.
Now, you don't need to be too confused or worried about it
because if there's a left turning vehicle
coming from the other direction,
they're gonna be back a fair distance.
Wait until traffic clears from the other direction,
and then proceed.
So we can see here, this is a shared left turning lane,
we move right in here so we clear the lanes
to facilitate traffic flow.
Wait for the pedestrians to move out of the way,
and the truck, and then we make sure that our way is clear,
and we proceed into the service industry,
which is what these left center turning lanes,
these center left turning lanes,
call them the right thing here.
All right, and there's some center left turning lanes
up here as well to facilitate flow of traffics
for turning vehicles.
You can see that the SUV here
didn't completely get into the turning lane correctly.
They're at an angle,
therefore they're blocking the traffic behind them.
You need to do a little jig jog
so that you get your vehicle straight into
that center left turning lane.
So you're completely out of the other lanes of traffic
and you're not blocking the other lanes of traffic
and holding them up.
You saw the traffic there behind that vehicle
that was trying to get around them,
because the back corner of that vehicle was sticking out.
So here we know where we're goin',
we get right into the center left turning lane here,
completely in the lane,
that way we're not blocking other traffic.
Shoulder check, oncoming traffic has come to a stop,
and we simply turn left to get into the industry,
the service industry here, which is Kal Tire
and the headquarters for Kal Tire is here
in Vernon, British Columbia,
and every night the Kal Tire jet
flies over with the executives, doing their work.
Okay, so you see the pickup truck
is completely in the center left turning lane.
Therefore allowing other traffic to get by it
and reducing congestion along this roadway,
as cars make the left hand turn into the service industries.
And can I get in here?
Yup, there's nobody.
You wanna shoulder check,
nope, nope, nope, nope.
(laughs)
I screwed up.
I'm gonna be careful getting back outta here,
'cause the other traffic is not going to stop,
so if that happens to you, or you get stuck out,
make sure you shoulder check and you look,
'cause there's lots of traffic coming up here behind me,
and you might be able to see that in the GoPro.
Center left turning lane.
Oh this one actually turns into a turning lane,
so know that it's gonna alternate
between center left turning lane and just a turning lane
at a major thoroughfare, an intersection.
(laughs)
She thought I let her out, when actually what happened was,
there wasn't enough gap for me to turn.
Are you goin'?
No, I'm goin'.
(laughs)
That's the other interesting thing,
you have to be careful at those intersections,
where people aren't really sure what they're doing,
and whether they're goin' or not,
because they may think you're letting 'em in,
when you're just not comfortable
with the gap that's available, so.
That's okay.
Especially if you're a new driver,
or you're just not comfortable, don't go.
Just let them go.
Wait until you feel comfortable with the gap,
and that's one of the most important things
when you're driving.
If you're not comfortable with the gap, don't go.
Just that simple,
because if you get pressured by other people
and other drivers
then that's probably when you're gonna have a crash,
and you don't wanna have a crash.
You wanna work within your own abilities and your own skills
and your own comfort level.
Yeah, sometimes you have to be
pushed outside your comfort level,
but that's often done best
when you're working with a driving instructor
or you're working with a veteran driver or your mentor.
But their job is to also help you
in case you do get into trouble,
then they can intervene and help you out.
All right, I'm waiting for that big truck to get by me
and make sure that he or she is in their lane,
and then I get completely into the left turning lane,
no traffic, shoulder check,
and turn into the service industry here,
which is this restaurant.
And we just drift right into the lane completely,
wait for traffic to clear.
When we stop, other traffic can go by us.
They're not slowed down.
Shoulder check, and then turn left.
And that's all there is to it.
Quick review of center left turning lanes.
Often times it's an extra lane,
that is reserved for turning vehicles
that are turning left into the services
along a main thoroughfare, and as well,
the center left turning lane is going to alternate
between a center left turning lane
for vehicles coming in both directions,
to just a single left turning lane
on one side or the other of the road.
If there's an intersection,
or main service industries there
that you need access into.
So that's the purpose of it,
and its purpose is to facilitate traffic flow
and to reduce congestion within urban areas.
That's essentially what these center left turning lanes
are designed to do, and as we said,
some people had some confusion about it,
because they did put up a survey in the community tab there.
If you didn't see that survey,
then head over to the community tab
and put your answer in there
and all of that information helps us out for sure,
and again, thanks to the smart drivers
that helped me out with this information,
so I could give some clarification for this
and give you some information about
center left turning lanes.
Question for my smart drivers,
were you confused by center left turning lanes,
and do you know what they are?
Leave a comment down in the comment section there.
All of that helps out the new drivers
and the veteran drivers who are working to be crash-free.
If you like what you see here, share, subscribe,
leave a comment down in the comment section.
As well, hit that thumbs up button.
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I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test.
Thanks very much for watching.
Good luck on your road test, and remember,
pick the best answer, not necessarily the right answer.
Have a great day!
Bye now.
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Yup, there's nobody you wanna shoulder check,
nope, nope, nope, nope.
(laughs)
I screwed up.
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