Two turn lanes and many questions, plus a little T.H. chat
Posted on October 6th, 2008 – 10:02 AMBy Roadguy
Below is my column from the Sunday paper. It was also published here, where readers have posted more than two dozen comments.
TO TURN OR NOT TO TURN?
Alert readers M.J. and Steve both have a question that Roadguy has heard before:
When there are two right-turn lanes, can drivers in both lanes make a turn when the light is red?
I’ve had several conversations about this with law enforcement officials in the past couple of years, and I never published an answer because there was some disagreement on the matter.
Try to read the statutes, and you’ll understand why. (The issue is covered in the section with “signals” in the title, not the one with “turning” in the title.)
For right turns at a red light, it says “the driver of a vehicle stopped as close as practicable at the entrance to the crosswalk” may make a right turn if there’s no sign saying otherwise. There’s no mention of a second lane.
Meanwhile, the part about making a left turn on red (from a one-way street to another one-way) makes no reference to being near the entrance to the crosswalk. It also makes no reference to what to do if there are two possible turn lanes.
Turning from the second lane on red “is legal, but it’s not recommended,” says Debbie Prudhomme, co-owner of the Training Wheels driving school. Roadguy reached her on her cell phone while she was in Washington to take part in a federal task force on driver-education standards.
The second-from-the-curb lane needs to be clearly marked as allowing such turns, Prudhomme said, and drivers should be sure not to turn into the curb lane on the other street — that’s for the people turning from the curb lane on your street.
The safer plan: If you’re in a big hurry and are planning to turn on red, get yourself into the curb lane if you can and do it from there.
WHAT TH’ HECK?
Alert reader Marc found himself with an abbreviation question as he drove on France Avenue in Edina:
There is a sign which reads as follows: “To westbound T.H. 62 via Valley View Rd.” The sign has white lettering with a green background and also includes an arrow.
I understand that the sign is directing me as to how to access westbound Crosstown 62. What I don’t understand is what exactly “T.H. 62″ stands for. I presume the “H” stands for highway, but I can’t think of what the “T” stands for.
It stands for “trunk,” as in “trunk highway” — something that no ordinary driver would ever call Hwy. 62. If Roadguy ever becomes emperor, all signs will be in the vernacular, and all our traffic laws will be in plain, unambiguous English. But don’t hold your breath.
4 Responses to "Two turn lanes and many questions, plus a little T.H. chat"
France Avenue … isn’t that CSAH 17?
South of Excelsior, yes…
I say whatever the first turn lane can do on a red light, the second turn lane can do also.
A lot of the road rules, that we currently have on the books, apply to when we only had two lane streets.
As we get more and more lanes, drivers need to use their common sense when driving.
I see a lot of drivers turn “right on their red light” and do not allow the left hand turners across the street execute their turns on their “green left hand turn signal”. Why they cannot wait an extra minute to let all the left hand turn drivers through on their light before taking their “turn on red light” turn has always baffled me. I’ve had a right hand turner turn right into the lane that I’m turning left into. Almost as if they don’t see me at all turning left.
I’ve also seen drivers that seem to have no idea where they are going. It seems like they left their brain at home; and just took the keys when they left the house.
I turn right on red, in the left hand right turn lane, all the time. If there is NO traffic coming and no one else is there, why not. I do have an issue with people who do not pay attention when turning left in the 2 turn lanes. Some of them, while turning, turn into the wrong lane when making a left turn onto a 2 lane road. Is is not supposed to be turn left into the closest lane. I got points taken off my driving test for turning left into the right lane on a 2 lane road.
