I don't like the practice much either, and only do it myself when I've been stuck on the side street for a while.
Wait, so does it become safer after waiting a few minutes or something? I don't see why you wouldn't do it straight away.
He might be like me, and didn't know that what you describe is a legal maneuver, thus making the "illegal" maneuver only after getting frustrated.
TBH it still seems wrong to me to use the center lane for merging into traffic.
I know it's not allowed everywhere, though it's certainly ingrained into the driving culture here in the NW. Not doing it gets you honked at (if you hesitate too much); it does help that the law specifically spells it out as legal.
Funny how there are some things that are foreign in some states, but completely normal in others.
It's more of a personal preference than anything safety related.
I'd much rather find my gap in both directions of traffic traffic and do the turn in one motion, instead of finding a gap in traffic from the left, possibly sitting in the middle, and then merging into a gap in traffic from the right. Also, I've always experienced a bit of anxiety being the driver on the main street and not knowing if that car coming from the side street/driveway is actually turning into the TWLTL as I'd expect, or if they're erroneously turning into my lane... It's happened to me more than once.
So I don't like to put other drivers in that situation if I can avoid it. Thus, I only turn into the TWLTL when it's pretty obvious that the volume of cross traffic isn't going to allow a one-stage left turn.
FWIW, it's doesn't seem to be a super common maneuver in Nevada...
I can understand that theory, though being a glorified cab driver myself, I tend to drive in the most efficient manner at all times (instead of only when necessary). So in the case of TWLTLs, I
always merge using them even when no one else is around, mostly so when I need to do it in heavy traffic, it doesn't feel weird.
I have certainly seen more than a few drivers who become startled by the maneuver. Sometimes they change lanes to let the person in (even though the person turned left and then stopped to wait for a gap), or slow
way down to let them in, under the impression that
not slowing down would result in a merge collision (even though the person who turned left, turned into the center lane, not their lane). In either case, however, I've never seen an accident occur. In the hundreds of times I've done it, I've only had one driver honk at me...he gestured at me...I gestured back. Bit childish but whatever.
My favorite time to merge into the center lane is when traffic from the right is waiting to turn left into my road, but can't because of a line of cars turning right (from my left). Since they can't go, and the cars from my left are all turning into my road, there's technically no obstacles. Though you have to watch for blinkers if there's no dedicated right turn lane. Especially in this case, it's really important to turn into the center lane, since cars coming from the right that *aren't* turning, aren't necessarily visible behind the left-turning vehicles.