Help Prevent Road Rage: Make Precise Turns

In driver's ed, one of the basic lessons we are taught, trained, and tested on is turning. The basic rules are: Don't cut corners and don't swing wide. Unfortunately, it seems that we don't get to practice this in the very situations where it is most important. In this article, I will discuss some situations and suggestions for preventing road rage and improving traffic by making precise turns.

When waiting to make a right hand turn onto a road with more than one lane for a single direction of travel, drivers should turn into the nearest lane. The wait time is reduced for the drivers waiting in line to turn right. Drivers who are in the oncoming traffic should look out for other drivers waiting to make such a turn. Oncoming traffic traveling in the right-most lane could merge to the left to allow another driver to turn into that lane. Oncoming traffic traveling to the left of the right-most lane should watch out and not merge into the path of turning traffic.

When turning at a traffic light where there is more than one turn lane, drivers must take care to stay in their lane through completion of the turn. I observe drivers swinging wide from the inner to the outer turn lane all the time. This creates the danger of a collision with another vehicle in the outer turn lane as well as with a vehicle making a right turn from the opposite side of the intersection. Likewise, cutting such a turn creates the danger of a collision with another vehicle in the inner turn lane.

It is also important for drivers to avoid cutting a left hand turn onto a street with one lane in each direction. Doing so creates the risk of a collision with another driver approaching the intersection from the left.

Watch out for drivers making u-turns! When waiting to turn right at a red light, a good opportunity to make the turn is when the drivers to the right have a green left turn arrow because traffic from the left will have a red light. Drivers waiting to make the free right turn can prevent close calls, frustration, and road rage by looking at the left turn signal to see if u-turns are allowed. If they are, drivers should be very observant of whether other drivers turning left are going to make a u-turn. An easy way to tell is by the speed of the vehicle turning left. If they are going very slow approaching the intersection, chances are they are going to make a u-turn. Generally, they will also be looking right at you as well.

In summary, turns are a common source of delays, close calls, frustration, and road rage. Choose your path of travel and take care to stick to it precisely. You will help keep traffic moving and help prevent road rage.

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