Hi there smart drivers. Rick with Smart Drive Test talking to you today about left
center turning lanes and using these as an acceleration Lane to make a left-hand
turn at complex intersections. I don't recommend these for new drivers or
drivers that have some trepidation about busy traffic and what not. And I'll give
you the reasons why. Stick around we'll be right back with that information.
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hi there smart drivers welcome back Rick with smart drive test talking to you
today about left Center turning lanes and using these as acceleration lanes
and often this is going to happen when traffic is busy and you can't
successfully and safely move across one lane of traffic into another and it's
extremely busy and you use that to get across the first lane of traffic into
the left center turning lane use it as sort of a staging area and then merge
out into the right-hand Lane and continue on with your day now I do
caution you this is an extremely complex maneuver I am extremely uncomfortable
doing this it's very very unlikely that a driving examiner will get you to do
this on a road test I just I can't see him or her doing it because it's so
complex and drivers new drivers who are testing are nervous driving examiner's
know that and they're not going to put their risk their safety so a couple
alternatives to using the left Center turning lane as an acceleration Lane one
is to make a right-hand turn go down to a controlled intersection make your
left-hand turn and then have your GPS or your phone or whatever you're using for
navigation to reroute you to the destination that you want to go to the
other alternative is to simply wait for a gap in traffic and not use that left
center turning lane as an acceleration lane to merge out into that traffic I
know that if it's really busy that second alternative may not be an option
for you but I just I I don't recommend this maneuver because it's so complex
and there's so many little things that could potentially go wrong and you're so
busy observing we other traffic and whatnot that it is a
very complex maneuver and puts you at risk if you're new to smart drive test
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so let's hook up the cameras we'll show you how to do this using the left Center
turning lane as an acceleration Lane so we're in the car we're coming up to a
left center turn lane and we're going to use it or try to use it as a
acceleration lane I'm not sure what this guy is doing parking right at the
intersection okay we've got a crosswalk here and traffic is coming from our
right a lot of traffic we got traffic coming from the left it's gonna be
pretty tough to get out here and you're gonna be using a left center turning
lane as an acceleration lane when the traffic is busy so you can get across
one side and then you can get out into the left center turning lane no and then
of course the guy pulls right up behind me and I'm stuck in the intersection my
nose is in the intersection I can't roll back as the guy's right up against me
behind me but don't back up could you risk backing into the guy behind you
this is exactly what you want to do right there
and this is a difficult and complex maneuver because you're accelerating
you're watching the traffic and your lane merging and I do not recommend that
you do this on a road test and it's unlikely that an examiner is gonna get
you to do that on a road test simply because it is such a complex maneuver
and there's so many things going on that new drivers should not attempt that
because there's a lot of traffic there's a lot of stuff going on and as you saw
in the video clip there in the beginning when you do this one of the things that
can happen is is that other vehicles in front of you can move into the left
center turning lane and they can start using it at to make a left-hand turn and
they're stopped and you're trying to accelerate and you could risk
rear-ending them so that's one of the cautions that I have against using left
center turning lanes as acceleration lanes this is the second time that
somebody has come up and stopped right at the curb right at the intersection
what is that about that's funny oh my god that's funny so we stopped at
the stop line correct stop in position then we move up we try not to get our
nose out because before we we're trying to go and then we aborted the turn and
this isn't gonna be so bad but see I've got truck moving into the left center
turning lane right here so car and again this is what happens you're gonna you're
gonna go and then somebody moves into the left center turning lane right here
in front of us you saw that blue car come in there and now the traffic's
coming from the left and I got cars on the right but after this opening here no
and for safety reasons I just I didn't want to go I do not like using left
center turning lanes as acceleration lanes I know there is a reason that
sometimes yes you have to but I simply like don't like doing it because there's
simply too much going on if the way is not clear I'm just not gonna risk it
and then when you're in the left center turning lane signal to the right that
you're gonna part to the left rather tell it to the right my rake that you're
gonna move over to the right lane okay and then you want to get in the driving
lane not in an intersection like this or your signal shoulder check and I'll put
a video up in the corner for you on changing lanes and you can have a look
at that and as well I'll put a video up in the corner for you on the full left
turning lane left center turning lane videos and you can have a look at that
as well so we showed you how to use the left center turning lane as an
acceleration Lane it is a complex maneuver and even as a veteran driver
with as much experience that I have I am extremely uncomfortable doing this
maneuver because of other vehicles moving into the left center turning lane
and using it as a turning lane which is its purpose and stopping in front of me
as you saw there in the footage what happened to me in Chilliwack when I
pulled out and I was trying to get in front of the truck using the left Center
turning lanes and acceleration Lane the cart simply stopped in front of me
because that's the purpose of the left center turning lanes so there's a lot
going on it's dangerous and you potentially put yourself at risk thanks
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best answer not necessarily the right answer have a great day bye now