The whole thread of "would you signal here" got me thinking of other situations in which we sometimes take things for granted or where the typical behavior of a group is not always exactly the way the rules are written. It is to that point that I submit the attached picture I took this morning. I hit this intersection every morning at 7:30am +/- 5 minutes. I ask you all this question: "which lanes are for going straight and which lanes are for turning?"
It looks like your lane has a turn arrow for a left turn, so your left lane is for straight or left turn. It appears the cross road is one way to the left, so your right lane is straight only. Tom
OK, sorry Tom. I should have been clearer in my original post. I didn't want to give out too much but I ended up not giving out much at all. I'm not so much worried about my lane. But there are three Eastbound lanes: 1, 2 and 3. The intersection is a state highway with two lanes in either direction and a turn lane in either direction. There are turn lights in all four directions. Here's a Google Map: [ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?client=firefox-a&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=42.167714,-87.921374&spn=0,0.008379&z=17&layer=c&cbll=42.167711,-87.92126&panoid=oIZB5L6B-cbGwko4sD3Sbw&cbp=12,271.06,,0,1.43"]Google Maps[/ame]
Based on the sign on the right, looks like a left turn lane, middle is straight, and right is right & straight.
By law: you are correct. Follow-up question: how do most drivers use the lanes. Keeping in mind that it's ~7:30am.
That's the way I read it. Sign is just below the traffic light. It would be nicer if it was hung overhead where all lanes could see it easily.
I can see the possibility of drivers in the center lane also making a left turn. It would be dangerous for them to make a right turn though.
Treatment of individual intersections really seems to depend on the intersection in question - it's almost something that is "just understood" by the people who use it regularly, and there's really no telling pulling up to it if your right or not. When i started driving, there was an intersection near my parents house that almost caused me to get into an accident: [ame=http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Worthington,+OH&sll=45.067035,-93.14975&sspn=0.00688,0.014334&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Worthington,+Franklin,+Ohio&ll=40.103811,-83.0634&spn=0.003726,0.007167&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.103814,-83.063524&panoid=oYl_sTCgyoSrLfYXWaz7FA&cbp=12,287.36,,0,17.37]Worthington, OH - Google Maps[/ame] There are, legally, two lanes here - straight and left turn. However, its "generally understood" that the shoulder serves as a right turn lane. I happened to be at the front of the line when the light turned red, and had my signal on to turn right. Came to a full stop, looked to see if there was any traffic coming and started to turn... almost hitting the person who came up past me on the shoulder to turn.
I hoped, in this thread, to start a general conversation - good or bad - about how rules and laws are put into place to lay down the general usage and then how people adapt them accordingly. In my situation, it's like this: 1) Left turn lane : turn left. 2) Center lane : go straight. 3) Right lane : go straight or turn right.* *EXCEPT during rush hour traffic when the right lane becomes the de facto right-turn only lane. When people do this, the back-up of traffic on this light is greatly reduced since many of the vehicles are turning right onto the state highway. Though the lane is designated to be for straight or turn, when someone sits at the light going straight holding up a dozen turners behind them, they are not viewed in a good light.
So, you're sitting at a red light, and people are honking at you to get out of their way? Sheesh. Maybe it's time for an actual right turn lane?
Many cities handle this by posting the hours that turning (or not turning) is in force - the same could be done here, if done in large letters and terse phraseology and, as noted earlier, putting the sign where it is more easily read and further upstream of the intersection. Boston would be excepted from this standard, of course, since in Boston road signage is prohibited by law from being readable, comprehensible or located in such a manner that a driver would see it in time to abide by it or follow it. But that's just Boston.
