Problems with Center Turn Lanes and Merge Lanes

[kphoger]

If you refuse to use a TWLTL as a waiting area when turning left onto the main road, then good luck driving around Branson, MO.  The Strip is a two-lane road with a continuous TWLTL.  Traffic is non-stop, and this is the only reasonable way to turn left, or else you'll be waiting till kingdom come.

This makes me think that many of these laws were written for the days when more "suicide" passing lanes existed. Especially the way Pennsylvania and Nevada worded it regarding passing if the center lane is clear for a safe distance.

At least for Nevada, this assumption seems to be corroborated by the fact that the very next paragraph in the same statute specifically mentions the rules for TWLTLs:

NRS 484B.223  Driving on highway having multiple marked lanes for traffic; additional penalty for violation committed in work zone.
...
2.  Upon a highway which has been divided into three clearly marked lanes, a vehicle must not be driven in the extreme left lane at any time. A vehicle on such a highway must not be driven in the center lane except:
      (a) When overtaking and passing another vehicle where the highway is clearly visible and the center lane is clear of traffic for a safe distance;
      (b) In preparation for a left turn; or
      (c) When the center lane is allocated exclusively to traffic moving in the direction in which the vehicle is proceeding and a sign is posted to give notice of such allocation.

3.  If a highway has been designed to provide a single center lane to be used only for turning by traffic moving in both directions, the following rules apply:
      (a) A vehicle may be driven in the center turn lane only for the purpose of making a left-hand turn onto or from the highway.
      (b) A vehicle must not travel more than 200 feet in a center turn lane before making a left-hand turn from the highway.
      (c) A vehicle must not travel more than 50 feet in a center turn lane after making a left-hand turn onto the highway before merging with traffic.

I was thinking the same thing but didn't put enough brain power into it.  Thank you for confirming what I was already thinking.  This, then, leaves Florida with no law at all that specifically deals with TWLTLs.

[kphoger]

IMO, center turn lanes are obsolete on roads with high counts, and should be just eliminated. On not so busy four lane roadways, they are Okay.

You'd rather have people block the lane to turn left and block the driveway to turn onto the road because there's never a gap with no traffic?  Or make it impossible to access the business (a business only accessible from one side of the road is a business accessible to very few customers because they can't go home from there or can't get there from home).

The latter would be preferable to the former, but I agree that neither one is ideal.  What I would actually prefer is that hard medians be used more at intersection approaches, preventing left-turning vehicles close to the intersection but permitting them farther downstream; if traffic is sufficiently heavy, then I would like to see existing hard medians lengthened.

[vdeane]

There are places around here where you have to rely on the kindness of drivers simply to turn RIGHT.

[roadman65]

The two people that annoy me: Those that pull in at the last second, often still sticking out into the main travel lane, and those that will travel an eternity in the lane before they turn.

In other words, about 99% of the people using those lanes annoy me.

Also it happens in right turn pockets as well.  I hate when somebody signals first, approaches the turn pocket, and then turns from almost the main right lane and slows to almost a stop and leaves their vehicle half in the turn lane and their other half in the travel lanes.   Then you have some that accelerate in the pocket to pass people that are irrelevant to pass anyway as they then have to brake to make the turn.

I honestly think that they have no clue to what they are actually doing.  Speed blinds all, and turning right scares just as many.

[roadfro]

This discussion makes me think about my own practice using TWLTLs. I rarely use the TWLTL as a merge area, preferring to wait for an adequate gap on both sides of travel. I may have learned this way, even though the Nevada Driver's Handbook does mention both. I think this is how most people operate (at least around here), as I don't see the merge maneuver often.

What do you do if it's very rare for there to be a gap on both sides of travel?  It's very common around here for one to need to wait 5+ minutes if they were to try that (on some roads, it's flat out impossible).

I often find that if the traffic is busy in both directions, then traffic turning in off the roadway is also somewhat such that it makes it incredibly difficult to pull out to the TWLTL anyway. The gap likely comes from a break caused by signals...

That said, I will pull out to the TWLTL and wait to merge if necessary. I just don't do it often, because it's not viable in many circumstances.

[8.Lug]

In NY, the TWLT lane was strictly for turning OFF of the road, but at some point starting about 10 years ago, out-of-towners started using it as a merging lane. And even though it's been causing a ridiculous amount of head-on crashes on our very busy streets, our state has now adopted the more universal usage as a merging lane and has put up medians on the roads where the accidents have just become far to frequent and severe - much to the detriment to local business.

People just refuse to turn right and then turn around, or even exit a parking lot where there's a traffic light. It really amazes me. Eventually we're gonna be corralled like dairy cows because people just refuse to use some common sense.

[Rothman]

There are places around here where you have to rely on the kindness of drivers simply to turn RIGHT.

Coming out of NYSDOT's parking lot during the holidays?

[8.Lug]

There are places around here where you have to rely on the kindness of drivers simply to turn RIGHT.

Take a drive in RI, MA or CT, no one lets you out until you edge your car so far into the road that cars can't get past and they're forced to let you in. One of the more strange driving norms that I've experienced.

[Rothman]

There are places around here where you have to rely on the kindness of drivers simply to turn RIGHT.

Take a drive in RI, MA or CT, no one lets you out until you edge your car so far into the road that cars can't get past and they're forced to let you in. One of the more strange driving norms that I've experienced.

More idiotic is what I experience on my commute on a four-lane at grade road with a suicide lane down the middle:  Someone oncoming is trying to turn left across the two lanes of traffic.  Some dummy in the left lane stops to let them turn in front of them, without consideration that someone may be flying down the right lane.  I'm surprised I don't see more accidents to do this misplaced sense of courtesy.

[cl94]

There are places around here where you have to rely on the kindness of drivers simply to turn RIGHT.

Take a drive in RI, MA or CT, no one lets you out until you edge your car so far into the road that cars can't get past and they're forced to let you in. One of the more strange driving norms that I've experienced.

More idiotic is what I experience on my commute on a four-lane at grade road with a suicide lane down the middle:  Someone oncoming is trying to turn left across the two lanes of traffic.  Some dummy in the left lane stops to let them turn in front of them, without consideration that someone may be flying down the right lane.  I'm surprised I don't see more accidents to do this misplaced sense of courtesy.

I saw that on Wednesday at Exit 6. Someone in the right lane let someone in from the overpriced Mobil station without thinking about the left lane. Dumbass doing the turn into the EB-NB LT lane blocked traffic for an entire cycle.

[kalvado]

There are places around here where you have to rely on the kindness of drivers simply to turn RIGHT.

Coming out of NYSDOT's parking lot during the holidays?

Probably people realize nobody works there on holidays and think that ghost of a  car is caused by overshopping...

[Super Mateo]

More idiotic is what I experience on my commute on a four-lane at grade road with a suicide lane down the middle:  Someone oncoming is trying to turn left across the two lanes of traffic.  Some dummy in the left lane stops to let them turn in front of them, without consideration that someone may be flying down the right lane.  I'm surprised I don't see more accidents to do this misplaced sense of courtesy.

That's quite common here in the Chicago suburbs, and it's usually a large vehicle that I can't see around. I even try to wave them forward because they're blocking the view of the other lane and they still won't move. I only attempt to make the turn if I know both lanes are stopped.

[cl94]

There are places around here where you have to rely on the kindness of drivers simply to turn RIGHT.

Coming out of NYSDOT's parking lot during the holidays?

I never try and make a left across Wolf Road. It would take less time to watch paint dry.

[roadman65]

There are places around here where you have to rely on the kindness of drivers simply to turn RIGHT.

Take a drive in RI, MA or CT, no one lets you out until you edge your car so far into the road that cars can't get past and they're forced to let you in. One of the more strange driving norms that I've experienced.

More idiotic is what I experience on my commute on a four-lane at grade road with a suicide lane down the middle:  Someone oncoming is trying to turn left across the two lanes of traffic.  Some dummy in the left lane stops to let them turn in front of them, without consideration that someone may be flying down the right lane.  I'm surprised I don't see more accidents to do this misplaced sense of courtesy.

I had one who thought he was doing me a favor, by pausing to let me cross a busy road, but the problem was the lane next to him was wide open and cars were traveling at cruising speed in that particular lane.  He got mad at me cause I did not accept his invitation to cross, but he failed to realize the lane next to him had no stopped traffic.

[hbelkins]

Someone upstream mentioned raised medians -- there are several cases in Kentucky where "mountable medians" are used to divide four-lane roads, and they are not officially designated as TWLTLs, but are used as such.

[Brandon]

Someone upstream mentioned raised medians -- there are several cases in Kentucky where "mountable medians" are used to divide four-lane roads, and they are not officially designated as TWLTLs, but are used as such.

Illinois has a lot of these, and while not striped as such, they are always used, and intended to be used as TWLTLs.

[8.Lug]

Remnants of NY's old rule of these being used solely for turning left off the road. Photo taken a couple miles west of Rochester city limit on Rte 31.

[1995hoo]

The TWLTL nearest my house sees a fair amount of driver misbehavior because it's so busy. Going eastbound, it serves a McDonald's and then three gas stations. Going westbound, it serves two banks and, most importantly, a road leading to a high school entrance. People going to the high school tend to get over into the TWLTL too early, almost a block in advance of the turn. I've pulled into the lane to turn left into the first gas station and then seen someone heading to the high school enter the TWLTL and go around me to my right–that is, drive on the wrong side of the road in order to reach the street leading to the school. Somewhere I think I have a dashcam video of that happening.

Of course, this isn't necessarily a problem with TWLTLs generally so much as it is with driver misbehavior coupled with, perhaps, this sort of lane not necessarily being the ideal setup when a large number of turning vehicles head to one particular street.

Street View linked below. I was waiting to turn where the Accord is waiting (same direction) and the guy heading to the high school had gotten into the TWLTL roughly where the large truck is down by the Shell station.

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.7840734,-77.131373,3a,75y,106.3h,72.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s3GF6rwietAUco1rT2Ef_FQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[vdeane]

There are places around here where you have to rely on the kindness of drivers simply to turn RIGHT.

Coming out of NYSDOT's parking lot during the holidays?

Probably people realize nobody works there on holidays and think that ghost of a  car is caused by overshopping...

Or anywhere on Wolf Road in the entire month of December.  Central and Western do it all year long, and Troy-Schenectady Road comes close.

In NY, the TWLT lane was strictly for turning OFF of the road, but at some point starting about 10 years ago, out-of-towners started using it as a merging lane. And even though it's been causing a ridiculous amount of head-on crashes on our very busy streets, our state has now adopted the more universal usage as a merging lane and has put up medians on the roads where the accidents have just become far to frequent and severe - much to the detriment to local business.

People just refuse to turn right and then turn around, or even exit a parking lot where there's a traffic light. It really amazes me. Eventually we're gonna be corralled like dairy cows because people just refuse to use some common sense.

When you use the left turn lane to turn left into traffic, you're supposed to wait for the near direction of vehicles to clear, enter the lane, STOP, and then wait for the other direction to clear, not use it as an acceleration lane.  If you're doing it right, and especially if you make sure nobody's entering the turn lane from the other direction, I'm not sure how a crash would result.  It's taught in Driver's Ed.

[jakeroot]

When you use the left turn lane to turn left into traffic, you're supposed to wait for the near direction of vehicles to clear, enter the lane, STOP, and then wait for the other direction to clear, not use it as an acceleration lane.  If you're doing it right, and especially if you make sure nobody's entering the turn lane from the other direction, I'm not sure how a crash would result.  It's taught in Driver's Ed.

For the most part, I think that's the best way to use the center lane. But, technically (at least in Washington), you can use the lane to merge; state law permits driving in the center lane for up to three hundred feet at a time, which is roughly the length of the white line in the image below.

The law in question:

(c) Upon a roadway where a center lane has been provided by distinctive pavement markings for the use of vehicles turning left from either direction, no vehicles may turn left from any other lane. A vehicle shall not be driven in this center lane for the purpose of overtaking or passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction. No vehicle may travel further than three hundred feet within the lane. A signal, either electric or manual, for indicating a left turn movement, shall be made at least one hundred feet before the actual left turn movement is made.

[8.Lug]

When you use the left turn lane to turn left into traffic, you're supposed to wait for the near direction of vehicles to clear, enter the lane, STOP, and then wait for the other direction to clear, not use it as an acceleration lane.  If you're doing it right and especially if you make sure nobody's entering the turn lane from the other direction, I'm not sure how a crash would result.  It's taught in Driver's Ed.

You just clarified your own puzzlement.