intersection – The Wise Drive

November 17, 2022November 21, 2022

The Proper Way to Turn Left

Q: I was recently told by a friend that the proper way to make a left hand turn at a stop light was to proceed into the intersection when the light turns green, then wait until oncoming traffic has cleared and make your left turn, even if the light has turned red. (He kept saying “Read your Driver Manual” but I could not find the answer.) I was taught to wait until you are certain you will be able to turn left before it turns red. Have I been doing it wrong all these years?

A: If your friend took his own advice (to read the driver guide), he might be inclined to retract his statement. I’ve checked with reliable sources, including the Revised Code of Washington, the Washington Driver Guide, driving instructors, and police officers. None of them support your friend’s position. If you squint, you could conclude that it might not be illegal, but that’s certainly not the same as “the proper way.”

May 5, 2022May 4, 2022

Yielding at Stop Signs and Getting Stuck at Intersections

Q: Can you explain the new safety stop law for bikes? Also, what are bike riders supposed to do if they’re at a traffic signal and the sensor in the pavement doesn’t ever notice that the bike is there?

A: Based on email I’ve received and conversations I’ve had, it seems there’s some confusion about a relatively new law. A year and a half ago, Washington’s law permitting cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs took effect. It’s commonly called the Idaho stop (Idaho was the first state to pass the law, in 1982), the Delaware yield (the second state, in 2017), or the safety stop. If you’re a cyclist and you think this law gives you permission to blow through stop signs, that’s ridiculous, it doesn’t. If you’re a driver and you’re mad that the law let’s cyclists blow through stop signs, relax, it doesn’t.

December 23, 2021February 3, 2022

The Two-Way Turn Lane Is Not For Passing

Q: Imagine it’s another slow drive home and, as usual, you’re backed up in traffic, waiting for your chance to swing into the left turn lane and (hopefully) leave the congestion behind. Other drivers are obviously thinking the same thing, except they’re whizzing past you, using that long two-way left turn lane as a passing lane to get up to the light. Should you swing over there, too? And how soon is too soon?

A: It’s hard to resist the lure of open pavement, isn’t it? You’re stuck waiting two minutes at a time for the light to change, moving forward ten cars, and then waiting again, all while watching the scofflaws using the center turn lane to get ahead. Yes, those people whizzing past you using the two-way left turn lane as a passing lane are violating the law.

December 16, 2021December 15, 2021

Two Left Turns – The Dance of the Intersection

Q: Scenario: I’m making a left turn at an intersection (across oncoming traffic). There is an oncoming vehicle doing the same. (We’re now pointing at each other in the intersection.) Do we pass each other and then turn? Or turn before we pass? Sorry this is hard to describe — it’s also hard to deal with in real life, too!

A: If you’re going ballroom dancing, it helps if both you and your partner know the same steps. My own knowledge of the topic is limited to an introductory class taken in an attempt to not make a fool of myself at a wedding where I knew we’d be ballroom dancing. That was enough to know that getting out of step can result in some clumsy results.

September 16, 2021September 22, 2021

Short-Stopping: Where’s The Line?

Q: I sometimes see drivers at four-way stop intersections short-stopping (coming to a stop well before the stop line). It seems to me like a jerk move; they do it so that they stop before the rest of the drivers because whoever stops first is the next to go through the intersection. Is that legal?

A: I wasn’t familiar with the term “short-stopping” prior to this question, so of course, I Googled it. I learned that along with your definition, it refers to a kind of telecom fraud as well as when a drug dealer infringes on another dealer’s territory. Who knew? I also discovered that lots of people (at least on the internet) are as irritated by it as you are. I’m speaking of short-stopping at an intersection, not the other two kinds.

June 17, 2021June 21, 2021

The Dance: Opposing Turns In An Intersection

Q: I’m new to Washington State and I’m curious about left turns at lights with no protected signal. When turning right onto a multi-lane road, I know that I must enter the lane closest to me. When turning left on a green light, I must also pull into the lane nearest me. So when two cars are turning onto the same multi-lane street from opposite directions, we both have the right of way into our own lane, correct?

A: Welcome to Washington! I might be biased, but I think it’s pretty amazing here. Lots of other people, possibly including you, agree with me, which sometimes leads to folks who have recently moved here questioning traffic rules they thought they knew. This is just a guess: Either you come from a state where the rules are as you described in your question and when you encountered this scenario here it didn’t play out as expected, or you came from a state where the rules were different and now you’re trying to figure out how to apply the new rules.

February 4, 2021February 8, 2021

Right-Of-Way And The Right Thing To Do

Q: At an intersection, where the flow of traffic in question does not have a stop sign, and there are several cars flowing through it, does a pedestrian have the right to step off the curb to cross as long as it does not cause an “immediate” hazard? Who has the right-of-way?

A: I’ll get to the actual answer in a moment, but I want to lead with this: Don’t hit the pedestrian. Yep, you already knew that, I know. My point here is that there is the right-of-way, and then there’s the right thing to do.

We often talk about who has the right-of-way, but that’s really a distortion of the language in our laws. The law doesn’t define who has the right-of-way; it states who must yield the right-of-way. Maybe that sounds like two different ways of saying the same thing, but there is a difference. Think of right-of-way as something floating out there in the universe that you can never take for yourself, but you’re free to give to someone else. Okay, now it sounds like I’m writing a new age self-help book. But the point still stands.

June 11, 2020June 11, 2020

In Trouble for the Wrong Thing

Q: I was given a citation for failing to stop at a traffic signal. What happened was I was making a left turn at a four-way intersection; I entered the intersection on green and waited for a safe time to turn. The light turned yellow and I turned while the light was yellow. The officer says I ran the stop light claiming it was red. Can I fight this in court and how is this likely to turn out?

A: In the 2016 short film Alibi, Dalton Stone is accused of committing a murder. He’s innocent of that crime, but here’s the problem: His alibi would include confessing that he was having an affair with his brother’s wife. Basically, he got in trouble for the wrong thing. He’s not guilty of what he’s arrested for, but that doesn’t make him innocent.

May 19, 2019May 17, 2019

The Rudest Insult in Traffic

Q: What exactly is jaywalking? Is it just crossing the street where there isn’t a sidewalk?

A: A little over one hundred years ago, the New York Times decried the use of term jaywalker as, “highly opprobrious” and “a truly shocking name.” I had to look up opprobrious, and if your vocabulary doesn’t include that word either, here are some synonyms: derogatory, insulting and scandalous. Who knew calling someone a jaywalker could be so offensive? Back in 1910, calling someone a jay was essentially saying they were a hillbilly that didn’t belong in the city. It was a semi-vulgar classist insult. But how did it become associated with traffic?

April 28, 2019April 25, 2019

Mixed Signals – Who Should Yield?

Q: I have a question regarding the traffic rules of a particular intersection in Bellingham. The intersection of Alabama and Woburn has a right turn lane with a yield sign (for drivers traveling south on Woburn towards Alabama). My question is, if the light is green for Woburn traffic going both directions, does the northbound Woburn traffic making a left-hand turn onto Alabama yield to the southbound traffic making a right-hand turn on Alabama or is it the other way around? A wager of one coffee is riding on the outcome of your answer, so we’re eager to learn the actual rule here.

A: I don’t often tackle a question that applies to a single location, but in this case the intersection at Alabama and Woburn makes a great stand-in for the problem of apparently conflicting traffic control devices. Plus, I always like to weigh in on a wager. In the case of this intersection (and a few others I’ve driven through in the region) we have the bulk of the intersection controlled by traffic lights, and one small right turn lane controlled by a yield sign.