Slow Vehicles Must Use Turn-Out

[talllguy]

I'm seeking pictures of 2011 MUTCD R4-12, 13, or 14 in the wild. I've never even heard of such a thing, probably because they're not allowed on SHA roads (see pic below). Do any of my fellow road enthusiasts have any pictures of these being used?

Section 2B.35 defines a Turn-Out:
On two-lane highways in areas where traffic volumes and/or vertical or horizontal curvature make passing difficult, turn-out areas are sometimes provided for the purpose of giving a group of faster vehicles an opportunity to pass a slow-moving vehicle.


^{2011 MD MUTCD 2011}

[bassoon1986]

I feel like I've seen the rectangular one, maybe not with exact words, on scenic AR 7 north of I-40

[corco]

They are very frequent in Idaho, and you are legally required (and this is fairly strictly enforced- I know more than one person who wasn't paying attention and got a ticket for this) to use them if you are delaying more than three cars. Idaho drivers rarely start acting aggressive, but if you have three cars behind you and don't use it, you're going to get lights flashed at you/run off the road pretty quickly.  I've seen people pull some pretty dangerous passing maneuvers after a car doesn't use the turnout. I'll see if I have any pictures of them. If not I can probably at least point you to a street view link.

Idaho's statute even indicates that you need to pull over if it's not a designated turnout if it is a safe place to pull over, and specifies speed of traffic, not speed limit. Drivers and cops typically won't hassle you too much if you don't turn out at a random safe place, only if you fail to pull over if it's marked.

49-639. TURNING OUT OF SLOW MOVING VEHICLES. On a two-lane highway outside an urban area where passing is unsafe due to oncoming traffic or other conditions, the driver of a vehicle traveling slower than the normal speed of traffic and behind which three (3) or more vehicles are formed in line, shall turn off the roadway at the nearest place designated as a turnout or wherever sufficient area for a safe turnout exists, in order to permit the following vehicles to pass.

Washington requires you to use them if you're delaying more than five vehicles, but they're pretty rare in the Evergreen State .

[hbelkins]

West Virginia uses these quite a bit, most usually marked for trucks.

[Ned Weasel]

They are very frequent in Idaho, and you are legally required (and this is fairly strictly enforced- I know more than one person who wasn't paying attention and got a ticket for this) to use them if you are delaying more than three cars. Idaho drivers rarely start acting aggressive, but if you have three cars behind you and don't use it, you're going to get lights flashed at you/run off the road pretty quickly.  I've seen people pull some pretty dangerous passing maneuvers after a car doesn't use the turnout. I'll see if I have any pictures of them. If not I can probably at least point you to a street view link.

Idaho's statute even indicates that you need to pull over if it's not a designated turnout if it is a safe place to pull over, and specifies speed of traffic, not speed limit. Drivers and cops typically won't hassle you too much if you don't turn out at a random safe place, only if you fail to pull over if it's marked.

49-639. TURNING OUT OF SLOW MOVING VEHICLES. On a two-lane highway outside an urban area where passing is unsafe due to oncoming traffic or other conditions, the driver of a vehicle traveling slower than the normal speed of traffic and behind which three (3) or more vehicles are formed in line, shall turn off the roadway at the nearest place designated as a turnout or wherever sufficient area for a safe turnout exists, in order to permit the following vehicles to pass.

Washington requires you to use them if you're delaying more than five vehicles, but they're pretty rare in the Evergreen State .

How is the "normal speed of traffic" calculated under Idaho's definition, if it is different from the speed limit?

[corco]

They are very frequent in Idaho, and you are legally required (and this is fairly strictly enforced- I know more than one person who wasn't paying attention and got a ticket for this) to use them if you are delaying more than three cars. Idaho drivers rarely start acting aggressive, but if you have three cars behind you and don't use it, you're going to get lights flashed at you/run off the road pretty quickly.  I've seen people pull some pretty dangerous passing maneuvers after a car doesn't use the turnout. I'll see if I have any pictures of them. If not I can probably at least point you to a street view link.

Idaho's statute even indicates that you need to pull over if it's not a designated turnout if it is a safe place to pull over, and specifies speed of traffic, not speed limit. Drivers and cops typically won't hassle you too much if you don't turn out at a random safe place, only if you fail to pull over if it's marked.

49-639. TURNING OUT OF SLOW MOVING VEHICLES. On a two-lane highway outside an urban area where passing is unsafe due to oncoming traffic or other conditions, the driver of a vehicle traveling slower than the normal speed of traffic and behind which three (3) or more vehicles are formed in line, shall turn off the roadway at the nearest place designated as a turnout or wherever sufficient area for a safe turnout exists, in order to permit the following vehicles to pass.

Washington requires you to use them if you're delaying more than five vehicles, but they're pretty rare in the Evergreen State .

How is the "normal speed of traffic" calculated under Idaho's definition, if it is different from the speed limit?

"Normal speed of traffic" is mentioned twice in Idaho statutes, once in the Keep Right Except to Pass statute, and once in the turnout statute. It isn't defined anywhere, nor is it stated anywhere that the normal speed of traffic cannot exceed the posted speed limit.

That said! All of the places where posted turnouts exist are on mountainous roads, where speed limit isn't much of a factor anyway- it has more to do with cars driving quickly around corners vs. slowly, and those going slow around corners end up delaying traffic. The turnouts tend to be on straightaways, so a car going slowly around corners, delaying three cars, that then accelerates to the speed limit on a straightaway would still need to pull over in the turnout or they would get a ticket. I don't think they'd give a ticket for somebody that averages the speed limit, but it's enforced on a more macro scale than right by the turnout, and I think that's where the "normal speed of traffic" provision applies.

[roadfro]

Nevada DOT has used these in a few areas.

Most notably, turnouts were constructed along US 95 between SR 163 (Laughlin turnoff) and US 93 near Boulder City. This was in the wake of 9/11, when US 95 became part of the Hoover Dam truck detour–US 95 was still a two-lane highway at that time. This has since been upgraded to four-lane divided and turnouts removed.

There are some turnouts using similar signage along US 95 northbound as it rounds Walker Lake north of Hawthorne. These were pre-existing turnouts more for scenic reasons making use of the rock cuts...the turnout signs were only added recently.

[talllguy]

What would a turn out look like? Just a paved area off the shoulder? Pavement markings? I'm curious. Any GSV links?

[roadfro]

What would a turn out look like? Just a paved area off the shoulder? Pavement markings? I'm curious. Any GSV links?

Here's one of the first ones on US 95 northbound north of Hawthorne near Walker Lake (Street View, prior to installation of turnout signs). It's mainly a paved area outside of the travel lanes for a vehicle to pull over and let faster cars pass. I think a "properly designed" turnout would typically be longer and slightly wider than what is seen here.

[corco]

The ones in Idaho are typically a bit more fully signed, though turnouts like the ones in Nevada are frequent too and you are supposed to use them.

http://goo.gl/maps/8OTpA

[roadfro]

^ That almost seems more like a passing lane than a turn out...

[signalman]

^ That almost seems more like a passing lane than a turn out...

I was just thinking the same thing.  Only difference is the solid white line instead of a broken line.

[corco]

The difference is in behavior- in a passing lane, you don't slow down much and let the cars that can get by you get by you. In a slow vehicle turnout, you decelerate so that everybody else can get by, but you may slow from 55 to 30 instead of having to come to a complete stop like you would in the paved patches off the shoulder.

In a passing lane, the burden is on the passing car to get by you. In a slow vehicle turnout, the burden is on the slow moving car to make sure everybody is able to pass you.

They're fairly short for passing lanes, usually, and ITD has restriped some of the shorter passing lanes as slow vehicle turnouts, so passing lanes are usually at least a mile long. In this case, the passing lane is about 1000 feet long, so if the offending car maintained, say 52 MPH, it's long enough for one, maybe two cars going 55 to safely get around, but not long enough for three cars to get safely around.

[signalman]

I understand how it's supposed to work, now that I see one.  It just wasn't what I envisioned in my head.  I had a mental picture of something along the lines of what roadfro posted, just with a longer stretch of pavement.  However, not quite as long as the GSV link you shared.  I assumed the slow vehicle would hae to stop in order to allow all traffic to pass.

[getemngo]

These examples are starting to make me wonder if this pathetic lane was MDOT's attempt at one. The lane was built in the 90s, long before the highway became divided just a mile to north. It was originally signed as a passing lane (yes, really) but with "SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT" instead of Michigan's usual "KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS" - and normally Michigan, like Colorado, has obscenely long passing lanes.

Now they've given up, repainted it, and it's just a lane to go around any trucks that are turning left into the gravel pit.

[corco]

These examples are starting to make me wonder if this pathetic lane was MDOT's attempt at one. The lane was built in the 90s, long before the highway became divided just a mile to north. It was originally signed as a passing lane (yes, really) but with "SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT" instead of Michigan's usual "KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS" - and normally Michigan, like Colorado, has obscenely long passing lanes.

Now they've given up, repainted it, and it's just a lane to go around any trucks that are turning left into the gravel pit.

Funny story, I saw something like that on M-66 somewhere on the northern part of the route, but without an intersection. I, being from Idaho, assumed it was just an unmarked slow vehicle turnout. There was a car behind me that had approached me, and there hadn't been any passing opportunities for a few miles, so I got in that lane and hit my brakes with force so they could get by. The car behind me had no idea what to do and slowed itself down about 30 MPH before realizing I was trying to let it pass.

Hopefully they saw my Montana plates and just thought I was a crazy out of stater. I actually felt kind of bad.

[Mapmikey]

I remember this one from my childhood in the 1970s...this is on US 17 NB north of Maysville, NC:
https://www.google.com/maps?q=Jacksonville,+NC&ll=34.929008,-77.236977&spn=0.25924,0.528374&t=m&hnear=Jacksonville,+Onslow+County,+North+Carolina&z=12&layer=c&cbll=34.929226,-77.236831&panoid=AQ8P0ncHnx0hdW_yZiDSwA&cbp=12,0,,0,0

when you get there only a small paved space is actually available...you'd have to stop
https://www.google.com/maps?q=Jacksonville,+NC&ll=34.931722,-77.237013&spn=0.259231,0.528374&t=m&hnear=Jacksonville,+Onslow+County,+North+Carolina&z=12&layer=c&cbll=34.931722,-77.237013&panoid=PPf1ECGNWmqRRPQNzmibiQ&cbp=12,0.58,,0,10.12

Mapmikey

[cpzilliacus]

West Virginia uses these quite a bit, most usually marked for trucks.

I think I may have seen something like this in northern West Virginia along U.S. 50 between Gormania, W.Va. (which is where U.S. 50 crosses the Potomac River from Garrett County, Md.) and Gore, Va.

There are plenty of steep grades along this section of U.S. 50, and most of it is one lane each way, or three lanes (a climbing lane in the uphill direction - and the climbing lane does not always run the entire length of the grade).

There is also a mandatory stop for trucks on southbound U.S. 219 in Tucker County, between Thomas and Parsons, but that's for downhill movement, and Maryland has a series of similar mandated stops on Md. 135 eastbound, also in Garrett County.

[Truvelo]

Many roads in the remote parts of Scotland are just one lane wide and they often contain signs like this.

[Bitmapped]

West Virginia uses these quite a bit, most usually marked for trucks.

I think WVDOH's language is "Slower Trucks Use Turnout" on the signs approaching the turnout.  At the turnout itself, there is just a sign that says "Turnout".  West Virginia normally stripes the turnouts like a very short passing lane - edge line is to the right of the turnout, with a dashed line separating the turnout from the travel lane.

Here's Google Street View for US 250/WV 92 on Cheat Mountain near Huttonsville: http://goo.gl/maps/FCIyD .  There is a truck turnout heading uphill.  Downhill is a mandatory truck stop to check brakes.

Here's another turnout on US 33/WV 55 at Shavers Mountain east of Elkins: http://goo.gl/maps/ob4cQ .  Westbound still has a turnout.  Eastbound used to have one it got subsumed into a climbing lane built about 2010.

[Jardine]

Even without specific turnouts, I've pulled onto the shoulder or driveways (even when driving the speed limit) to let tailgaters by, regardless of how many there are.

Maybe not every time, though.

Sometimes I might run over some gravel on the edge of the road hoping to flip some up and break a windshield, sometimes I might deploy the finger, sometimes I might flick a booger out the window, and once, I saw a large wooden pallet laying in my lane, and I delayed dodging it until the last second to guaranty the tailgating idjit behind me would run over it.

And he did.

[Jim]

I remember seeing these kinds of signs somewhere in the Pacific NW, I think, probably 10+ years ago, but I don't have pictures.  The only similar sign I do have is from the road up Haleakala in Maui:

[hotdogPi]

I remember seeing these kinds of signs somewhere in the Pacific NW, I think, probably 10+ years ago, but I don't have pictures.  The only similar sign I do have is from the road up Haleakala in Maui:

Why is the word "must" on a yellow sign?

[J N Winkler]

California example:

SR 49 south of Auburn--1 (advance sign), 2 (not the actual turnout), 3 (the actual turnout)

Colorado example:

US 34 in Big Thompson Canyon east of Estes Park--1 (advance sign), 2 (no sign provided)

I have used these turnouts, as well as a number along US 95 and SR 55 in Idaho and US 101 in Washington state (if memory serves, US 101 on the Olympic Peninsula has several).  My experience has been that in order for turnouts to be effective, signing needs to do several things:

*  Give adequate advance notice of the turnout

*  Stress that it is obligatory to turn out if one is being followed by slower vehicles, whether or not one is already driving the speed limit

*  Indicate the start of the turnout

Turnouts are essentially a cost-saving alternative to full passing lanes in mountainous areas.  As such, they tend to be used on roads whose alignment is subject to extreme topographical constraint.  In some cases, such as some of the Idaho turnouts, this can mean that the road is reasonably straight and flat but just too close to an upslope on one side and a dropoff on the other to allow a passing lane of adequate length to be built at reasonable cost.  More commonly, in the California and Colorado cases, the road both is twisty and has steep grades, which means that in order for a turnout to be usable to drivers, there has to be plenty of advance notice and the turnout has to be on the same level and of the same pavement type as the through lanes in order for drivers to be sure of their ability to pull out and slow down (or stop if necessary) in a smooth and controlled fashion.  The California example is successful (aside from the little gravel pocket that is easy to mistake for the turnout) because it has an advance sign, a sign marking the start of the turnout, and the turnout itself is a smooth lateral extension of the pavement cross-section for the through lanes.  The Colorado example is a failure because the notice given is far too short (500 feet instead of one-quarter mile), the turnout itself is not marked, and the striping and surfacing misleads motorists into thinking it is for emergency stopping only when in fact it is meant for ordinary traffic use.  (I haven't located signs indicating legal obligation to use turnouts for either of these examples, but I remember Colorado doesn't use them on US 34, while the sign California has used in the past but has now abolished says "MUST USE TURNOUTS" or similar.  While California drivers may have the turnout rules "baked" into them as part of their driver training, Colorado has a lot of flat-state tourists that lack previous experience of turnouts and thus need special help not to be antisocial on mountain roads.)

WSDOT's turnout signs were part of its Sign Fabrication Manual long before turnouts were added to the MUTCD in the 2009 revision.  The number of delayed vehicles on the "DELAY OF X VEHICLES ILLEGAL" sign is variable (example shown is 5, if memory serves) and is specified when ordering.

Internationally, turnouts in the American sense are also used in New Zealand.  The "passing places" Truvelo mentions for single-lane roads in Scotland (some of which, if memory serves, are classified as primary routes and may have been built in the 1930's with 100% central government grant under the Crofter Counties programme) are a different kettle of fish altogether, first because the road width is much narrower, and secondly because there is no expectation or legal obligation for US drivers (the way there is in the UK) to back up to the last turnout passed to make room for someone coming from the other direction.

[talllguy]

Thanks all for the links and photos! I found an example on the web in Alaska where they're using a few of the MUTCD turn-out signs: http://www.sterlinghwysvt.com/turnouts.htm

Interesting commentary above. I would expect that similar to passing lanes, turnouts would need to be on a straightaway so that once traffic passes, the slower vehicle would have sufficient sight lines in order to safely reenter traffic.