Twice yesterday on my bike ride, I got into a left turn lane, signaled left (as required by law) and waited for a gap in traffic to make my turn–exactly as I would in my car, the only difference being an outstretched left arm serving as a turn signal inst

[briantroutman]

Twice yesterday on my bike ride, I got into a left turn lane, signaled left (as required by law) and waited for a gap in traffic to make my turn–exactly as I would in my car, the only difference being an outstretched left arm serving as a turn signal instead of a blinking amber bulb. And on both occasions, a motorist slowed to a crawl and gestured for me to make my turn.

Unfortunately, the vocabulary of motoring hand gestures is pretty much limited to "Go ahead" , "You moron" , and "F**k you"  –maybe a few others. There is no gesture that adequately expresses: "Thanks for your kindness, even if misguided, but because you have no control over the adjacent lanes, if I make my turn under the false sense of security that your wave provides, I could easily be killed in a head-on collision with another vehicle and further would have no legal standing if that occurred."

And so I stayed stopped (as other opposing cars whizzed by), shook my head "no" , and the kindly motorist eventually roared off with a "goddam ungrateful kids today"  look on his face. In similar situations in the past, I've gotten screamed at and flipped off by other "kindly"  motorists.

In drivers' ed., I was taught that, while you should always be courteous and respect other drivers' rights, you should never "wave someone out" . The rationale being: You're not a police officer and have no authority to direct traffic, you cannot account for all other drivers' actions and other rights of way which may jeopardize the safety of the party you're trying to assist, and you may open yourself up to liability if a collision occurs as a result of your actions.

But this may vary according to various states' laws. What's your position–and what's your understanding of the law? Not just in reference to bicycles, but also in car-car situations. Have you been in a position of declining someone else's misguided courtesy, and if so, how did you handle it?

[Brian556]

For the safety of the other motorist, I only do it if there is only one lane that they could pull into. This means if they are making a right turn and there is only one lane going in my direction, or if there are multiple lanes, and I am in the right lane, and the other lanes are occupied by stopped vehicles, so I can be sure they wouldn't be able to pull in front of anybody else.

It should never be done if there is another lane that they would have to cross that you do not have control over.

[corco]

The worst is the left turn across opposing lanes on a four lane road, where one lane is clear and the car on the inside lane does the wave, and you have no idea if somebody is flying down the outside lane that will hit you.

I never wave. It's potentially dangerous and slows down the system- if people act as they legally are supposed to, everybody knows what is going on and the system will function more efficiently.

[Rothman]

Happens all the time around here on four-lane arterials and every time it does, it makes me livid.  Moreover, more than half the time, the person stops to let someone turn left in front of multiple lanes when the upcoming traffic signal is green!   

I've been that car in the outside lane more than once and have almost been hit by these fools.  The only scenario I can think of where it may be acceptable is if traffic is really jammed up through signals and the upcoming light has turned red, so you stop so someone doesn't get stranded. 

[GaryV]

A few years back I saw a couple girls, about 12-14 years old, crossing a 4-lane suburban main road mid block.  One old guy slowed down for them and waived them across.  Fortunately I saw what was happening and slowed down myself.  But they almost got wiped out as they ran across into traffic coming from the opposing direction.

[Sam]

It happened to me again today. The driver in the inside lane stopped and waved me on to make my left across two lanes. I could see behind him so I acknowledged him and waited for the car in the outside lane. As I started to make my turn, the inside lane driver started across the intersection.

The other thing that happens a lot here for some reason is drivers with no stop sign stopping to wave me out from mine. I don't get that.

[jeffandnicole]

I've seen many times at a particular roundabout the person within the roundabout is waving me or the car in front of me to enter.

Or, I'll be waiting for a line of cars to pass, then the very last car will stop to let me in.

[jakeroot]

For the OP:

In that situation, I will pull into the #1 lane and wait for the #2 lane to clear, usually by placing the nose of my car in view of the drivers in the #2 lane, which will then usually stop. Sometimes, this results in me blocking the #1 lane, but hey, he waived for me to go, so he gets to wait.
In your situation, there is no reason you have to complete the entire turn in one fell swoop. Take advantage of his courtesy by blocking his path while you wait for the second lane to clear .

[corco]

For the OP:

In that situation, I will pull into the #1 lane and wait for the #2 lane to clear, usually by placing the nose of my car in view of the drivers in the #2 lane, which will then usually stop. Sometimes, this results in me blocking the #1 lane, but hey, he waived for me to go, so he gets to wait.
In your situation, there is no reason you have to complete the entire turn in one fell swoop. Take advantage of his courtesy by blocking his path while you wait for the second lane to clear .

Tell that to the cop that's approaching in the #1 lane

[Rothman]

For the OP:

In that situation, I will pull into the #1 lane and wait for the #2 lane to clear, usually by placing the nose of my car in view of the drivers in the #2 lane, which will then usually stop. Sometimes, this results in me blocking the #1 lane, but hey, he waived for me to go, so he gets to wait.
In your situation, there is no reason you have to complete the entire turn in one fell swoop. Take advantage of his courtesy by blocking his path while you wait for the second lane to clear .

Tell that to the cop that's approaching in the #1 lane

^This.

[jakeroot]

For the OP:

In that situation, I will pull into the #1 lane and wait for the #2 lane to clear, usually by placing the nose of my car in view of the drivers in the #2 lane, which will then usually stop. Sometimes, this results in me blocking the #1 lane, but hey, he waived for me to go, so he gets to wait.

In your situation, there is no reason you have to complete the entire turn in one fell swoop. Take advantage of his courtesy by blocking his path while you wait for the second lane to clear.

Tell that to the cop that's approaching in the #1 lane

I'm not here to discuss the legality of the maneuver, it's just what I do. I obviously wouldn't do it in front of a cop.

[Alex4897]

My neighborhood dumps out onto a road that gets routinely backed up during the evening rush, and most of the morons stuck in that jam disregard the signs emblazoned with "DO NOT BLOCK INTERSECTION."  If by some chance someone happens to pause to let you through, very often they'll wave you out, even if the other direction is full of speeding traffic and you're obviously trying to turn that direction.  There's been fatal accidents at that intersection before for other reasons, but I'm dreading the day that a kind but half-thought-out gesture turns into a deadly pileup there.

[Pete from Boston]

I don't pay much attention to the misguided wavers when I'm on a bike.  I can't make it my problem that they can't see why I still can't go.  I occasionally shrug and point to the still-moving cars, but mostly just wait.

As a driver I stop when a pedestrian is about to enter (or has entered) the road.  I figure this is also a good attention-getter for other drivers who were not otherwise planning to stop.

I generally only wave others on when it will not impact traffic that has the right of way (like in nearly-stopped traffic when someone is trying to cross, or has visibly waited through a seemingly intractable period of no opportunity to pull in).

As a pedestrian I will walk in front of the stopped car and wait for someone to stop in the other lane, often because this is necessary to induce a serious consideration of stopping.

[corco]

For the OP:

In that situation, I will pull into the #1 lane and wait for the #2 lane to clear, usually by placing the nose of my car in view of the drivers in the #2 lane, which will then usually stop. Sometimes, this results in me blocking the #1 lane, but hey, he waived for me to go, so he gets to wait.

In your situation, there is no reason you have to complete the entire turn in one fell swoop. Take advantage of his courtesy by blocking his path while you wait for the second lane to clear.

Tell that to the cop that's approaching in the #1 lane

I'm not here to discuss the legality of the maneuver, it's just what I do. I obviously wouldn't do it in front of a cop.

The problem is, if the other lane is still moving you won't know if a cop will show up or not

[jakeroot]

FWIW, the example I gave above was turning from the center lane of a five-lane roadway onto a side street.

Have you been in a position of declining someone else's misguided courtesy, and if so, how did you handle it?

Were you turning onto the main road from a side street, or a side street onto a main road?

[jakeroot]

For the OP:

In that situation, I will pull into the #1 lane and wait for the #2 lane to clear, usually by placing the nose of my car in view of the drivers in the #2 lane, which will then usually stop. Sometimes, this results in me blocking the #1 lane, but hey, he waived for me to go, so he gets to wait.

In your situation, there is no reason you have to complete the entire turn in one fell swoop. Take advantage of his courtesy by blocking his path while you wait for the second lane to clear.

Tell that to the cop that's approaching in the #1 lane

I'm not here to discuss the legality of the maneuver, it's just what I do. I obviously wouldn't do it in front of a cop.

The problem is, if the other lane is still moving you won't know if a cop will show up or not

If it takes that long, I'm trading paint.

[jeffandnicole]

For the OP:

In that situation, I will pull into the #1 lane and wait for the #2 lane to clear, usually by placing the nose of my car in view of the drivers in the #2 lane, which will then usually stop. Sometimes, this results in me blocking the #1 lane, but hey, he waived for me to go, so he gets to wait.

In your situation, there is no reason you have to complete the entire turn in one fell swoop. Take advantage of his courtesy by blocking his path while you wait for the second lane to clear.

Tell that to the cop that's approaching in the #1 lane

I'm not here to discuss the legality of the maneuver, it's just what I do. I obviously wouldn't do it in front of a cop.

The problem is, if the other lane is still moving you won't know if a cop will show up or not

If it takes that long, I'm trading paint.

It doesn't have to take that long.  The cop could pull out from a driveway or the next block over, in either direction.  Or, he can come up behind you.

Either way, you're now not blocking one vehicle; you're blocking an entire lane of traffic. You have the stop sign; they don't.  The traffic waver is just going to leave if you cause an accident, which means you're going to be held liable.  Even if the waver stayed, you'll still be held liable in an accident.

[SectorZ]

In many states, if you wave someone out and an accident occurs, you can bear some liability in the accident.

Massachusetts has a specific court case placing liability on the driver of a phone (whatever the company was called at the time) truck stopping to let a pedestrian cross where there was no crosswalk on a 4 lane road. The truck shielded the pedestrian from seeing the car coming down the lane beside it, pretty much leading a lamb to slaughter.

(Before anyone questions how I know all this, I'm not a lawyer but an auto claims adjuster).

As a cyclist, I get really infuriated with people who do the same to me, it is literally attempting to kill someone with kindness.

[vdeane]

I don't usually wave people out.  That said, on my morning commute there's a section of roadway where I'm routinely waiting for a long light.  It's three lanes wide in my direction, and if the queue ends at the edge of a driveway when I get there, I'll often stop at the other end.  There's usually a few people that turn left into the driveway from the other direction, so if I see that nobody's approaching on the other two lanes, I'll wave them through.

[jakeroot]

It doesn't have to take that long.  The cop could pull out from a driveway or the next block over, in either direction.  Or, he can come up behind you.

Either way, you're now not blocking one vehicle; you're blocking an entire lane of traffic. You have the stop sign; they don't.  The traffic waver is just going to leave if you cause an accident, which means you're going to be held liable.  Even if the waver stayed, you'll still be held liable in an accident.

I misunderstood the OP, which is why I said, yesterday...

the example I gave above was turning from the center lane of a five-lane roadway onto a side street.

They have the right-of-way, but they are not legally permitted to block my movement. If I begin my maneuver, I should have some degree of right-of-way (though I'm not entirely certain).

[jeffandnicole]

They have the right-of-way, but they are not legally permitted to block my movement. If I begin my maneuver, I should have some degree of right-of-way (though I'm not entirely certain).

Correct.  They can't 'Block the Box' (although in some areas there are so many driveways, business entrances, etc., that's nearly impossible).

[Pete from Boston]

I wonder how these signs in Walpole, Mass., muddy the legalities:

[UCFKnights]

Where I'm living, right in the entry, there is no stop sign for the main road, but people seem to constantly stop at the first 4 way intersection and wave for the side street traffic to go. I hate it as it generally takes more time to communicate with them then it would have for them to just proceed going so their "courtesy" is just slowing down the side road traffic, the people behind them, and everyone else. I really don't get it. Its not that complicated, don't block a driveway/intersection, so if you need to stop because you won't clear it, you should let someone (or a few people) out from the driveway, but don't stop all the traffic behind you to let someone out. You're slowing down many more people

[Duke87]

I can't offhand think of a single time I've ever waved a bicyclist in front of me. Of course, I live in New York City. No one waves anyone out here. We just cut each other off.

I have in my time waved plenty of pedestrians across the street in front of me (the right of way is usually legally theirs), but I'd never do this on a road with more than two lanes for the aforementioned reason of being unable to ensure the other lane in my direction is safe to cross.

Another situation where waving someone out works is if there's congestion and someone is trying to make a right turn out of a driveway. One can ensure their safety since they conflict only with the lane you're in.

[silverback1065]

Wow I didn't know that was illegal, maybe it's legal in Indiana I don't know. I only do it at 4 way stops because no one knows who got there first a lot of times. Occasionally I'll do it on traffic to allow people to go in front of me.