I’ve noticed a new way to do left turns onto a busy four-lane highway near my home.
You stop at the stop sign on the side road, look both ways, then turn left, head on into the left-turn lane on the highway. Once there, you check behind and move right into the fast lane if there is room. If not, you stop and wait until there is room to proceed.
This does make life exciting if there is oncoming traffic wanting to use their left-turn lane, but it helps avoid the highway traffic that rarely slows to the posted 60 km/h limit.
I’ve often thought that selfish drivers on the highway can’t see a reason to slow from 90 until they are trying to enter the highway from a side road here. The trouble is, they don’t seem to remember that difficulty when the duty is to slow for other drivers.
When the driver on the side road stops and yields to traffic on the highway close enough to be a hazard, the rules then allow them to proceed with caution. Traffic on the highway must now yield and let the driver enter. Never rely on right-of-way in this situation, as it is unlikely that traffic on the highway will yield.
Don’t make a practice of this new method of turning left. It’s illegal! One must always make the turn to arrive in the first available lane to the right of the centre line before you leave the intersection.
For more information on this topic, visit www.drivesmartbc.ca. Questions or comments are welcome by e-mail to comments@drivesmartbc.ca.
Tim Schewe is a retired RCMP constable with many years of traffic law enforcement experience. His column appears Friday.
