Hi there smart drivers, Rick with Smart
Drive Test talking to you today about
left-hand turns. We're going to give you the theory
behind left-hand turns;
in other words, we're going to give you
step-by-step instructions of how to do
left-hand turns. The steps for doing
left-hand turns can be somewhat
complicated and overwhelming, especially
for new drivers who find it a bit
intimidating because you're out there in
the intersection and there's lots of
traffic applying pressure for you to
clear that intersection and not hold up
other vehicles and road users. So when
you come up to the intersection, it is
imperative that you scan well, and scan
properly. And not only do you have to
scan forward through the intersection,
but you also have to scan the cross-
traffic, and look for pedestrians at the
cross traffic because if you misjudge
the pedestrians they could hold you up
in the intersection. You could find
yourself sitting in the middle of the
intersection. And for new drivers they
find that incredibly embarrassing. So
today we're going to give you some
information about how to do a left-hand
turn well, so that you don't end up in
that all too embarrassing situation or
worse yet, risk a crash. We'll be right back with
that information -
stick around.
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Hi there smart drivers - welcome back. Rick with
Smart Drive Test talking to you today
about left-hand turns, giving you
step-by-step instructions of how to
execute a left-hand turn.
First you need to locate the turn--where
you're going to turn--at the intersection
and determine if it is legal. Are there
any signs that prohibit you from turning
left at that intersection? Oftentimes the
signs prohibiting left-hand turns will
be over top of the intersection on an overhead
sign, and so locate those and determine
if you can turn left at that
intersection. Next thing you want to do,
approximately half a block from where
you're going to turn, you mirror, signal,
shoulder check, and as you're mirror, signal
shoulder checking, also check behind you
to make sure that there's nobody running
up the backend of you. And that you can
slow down without being rear-ended.
The next thing you need to do, is you need to
position the vehicle. And you want to
position the vehicle as far left in your
lane, but still stay right of the center
line. So you don't want to deviate out of
your lane, you just want to move the
vehicle over to the left. So that's my
left...that would be your left over there. So
left of your lane -
move your vehicle over, position your
vehicle. If it is a controlled
intersection, you need to stop at the
correct place. Determine whether it's a
yield or whether it's a stop and if it's
a stop,
you need to stop at the correct position
for a STOP signed intersection and I'll
put a card up here for you for the video
on STOP signs and stopping positions at
STOP signed intersections. If it's a yield,
I'll put a card up here for you as well for
the yield sign. And you can find those in
the cards in the upper right-hand corner.
Next thing you need to do if you're
coming up here and it is an uncontrolled
intersection--there isn't a traffic light,
there isn't a stop sign, or a yield sign--
and you're going to proceed left and the
way is clear,
you need to slow down to 20 to 30
kilometers an hour. In the United States that
would be 12 to 18 miles per hour. And
depending on how big the intersection is, this
will determine how fast you can proceed
through the intersection. If it's a busy
place or complicated or you have fixed
obstacles or other vehicles that are
blocking your view of the intersection
and the cross street you want to slow
down even more - sometimes you might even
want to slow down to eight to ten
kilometers an hour. In the United States 5 to 10
miles per hour.
So before you proceed into the
intersection, recheck the intersection,
recheck the cross traffic, especially
over on this side of the intersection. [POINTING TO THE LEFT SIDE OF THE INTERSECTION ON WHITE BOARD]
You want to make sure there aren't any
pedestrians who are going to step out
into the roadway or other road users--
people on scooters, and cyclist, and those
types of people because if you get into
the intersection and they step out there
they have the right-of-way and you're
going to be stuck in the intersection. So
before you proceed out into the
intersection, recheck the intersection -
looking for other road users. As well, any
traffic in the intersection--trucks, buses,
cars, cyclists, motorcycles--those types of
things. So thoroughly scan the
intersection before you commit to the
turn. Next step is to start turning the
vehicle. On a two-lane road--two lanes
that intersect with one another--when the
vehicle is at this juncture, [REFERING TO DRAWING ON WHITEBOARD] and you are
in line with the edge of the road here,
that's when you want to start turning
your vehicle, and on subsequent roads--
multi-lane roads that you're turning
onto--if there was another lane here--then
you would use this center line as you're
turning point or just before that centre point.
So if you have a multi-lane, you would
bring the vehicle out to here, until
you're just before this centre line here -
so just here, and then you would start
turning. And you need to turn into this
inside lane. Now when you start turning
and you commit to the turn and are
moving through the intersection--you've
judged your gap, you make sure that
there's no pedestrians on the
cross street, you look through the
intersection and look in the direction
that you want the vehicle to go. The
vehicle will go in the direction that
you are looking, so therefore if you're
on a multi-lane or your're on two lane, look in the
direction you want to go and steer into
that lane. So when you commit to the turn
and you've got the position where you're
through the intersection on a
straight line. You start to steer the
vehicle into the direction you want to
go, look in the direction you want to go,
come through here, recover the steering
wheel. So bring the steering wheel back--
simply open your fingers, and allow the
steering wheel to move you through your
hands. When it comes back to stop,
close your fingers. You may need to
recover a little bit to get
the vehicle going in the direction that
you want to go. Look up in the
direction you want to go and steer the vehicle in
the path of travel, and accelerate back
to road speed as quickly as possible.
Always get the vehicle back up to speed
as quickly as possible and I'll put a card up
here for you on roads speeds. And you
accelerate with your left foot in the
path of travel. Now if you're on a
multi-lane, like this [POINTING TO WHITEBOARD DRAWING] and you pull into
the left lane ,if you're NOT going to
turn left again for some time,
make sure you signal right and merge
back over to the right-hand lane. Because
for the purposes of a road test, you need
to be driving in the right-hand lane. So
those are the steps for making a
left-hand turn and the theory behind it
and the step-by-step instructions. So
quick review: when you come up to the
intersection, locate the intersection,
make sure it's legal.
Mirror, signal, shoulder check. Check the
traffic behind you to make sure you can
stop without being rear ended. Scan the intersection thoroughly
for other road users. Approach the
intersection - if it's an uncontrolled
intersection slow to 20 to 30 kilometers an
hour. In the Unted States that would be 10 to
15 miles per hour.
Scan the intersection again before you
commit - as you move up to the
intersection scan again - especially here on the
cross streets [REFERING TO THE WHITEBOARD DRAWING] Make sure there's no
pedestrians on the cross street. When
you get in line with here, if it's a
two-lane road--two two-lane roads that
are intersecting--if it's multi-lane, you
want to move up to the next one. When
you're in line with the edge of the road,
then you start turning. Look in the path
of travel - look where you want the
vehicle to go. Steer through the
intersection. When you get into this lane
here, open your fingers, let the steering
wheel come back. When the steering wheel
stops, close your fingers. You may need to
correct a little bit. Look up into the
path of travel that you want the vehicle
to go and accelerate with your left foot
back to road speed as quickly as
possible. If you're on a multi-lane
highway, here for example, [REFERING TO WHITEBOARD DRAWING] and you're in
the left lane and you're not going to
turn left again for some time, make sure
that you move back over to the right as
quickly as possible. Question for my
smart drivers: what techniques and tips
do you have for new drivers learning to
turn left? Leave a comment down in the
comment section there. All of that
helps us out. I'm Rick with Smart Drive
Test. Thanks very much for watching. If
you like what you see here
share,
subscribe ,leave a comment down in the
comment section. As well, hit that thumbs
up button. Check out the videos below,
check out the cards in the upper
right-hand corner - lots of great
information for those endeavoring to get
their license and pass a road test.
Thanks again 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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