My Driving Pet Peeve

I've heard lots of people complain about Utah drivers. Apparently we are the worst in the United States, in North America, and probably in the entire world! Maybe. I don't know, since I've lived in Utah most of my life (although I saw some really bad driving in Tennessee when we were there). And then these Anti-Utah-Drivers (who, by the way, mostly live in Utah themselves) will cite things like people running red lights—which, I will say, have increased in horrific numbers over the past five years or so. It is ridiculous!

I don't like people to run red lights. It is stupid and it is scary, but, to be truthful, I've come to expect really stupid things to happen at major intersections—like people running red lights, or turning into the wrong lanes, etc.—so I watch out for that. Those things are not my big pet peeve.

Yesterday as I arrived at the train station I heard a young lady (I use the term "lady" loosely, after what I heard of her language) on her cell phone complaining. She was upset because, I'm assuming, the woman who drove her to the train station made her late for her train. I feel her pain! I hate that. Here's what I heard her say (expletives deleted): "I know it's against the rules, but everyone does it . . ."  I heard a tiny bit more—just enough to know that she was talking about My Driving Pet Peeve. Something I hate even more than just barely missing my train.

Now I know you are dying to know what it is that I hate so much, so here it is: What I really hate is when people use the left turn lane as their personal driveway and holding lane. And everyone does this—even the police, who should know better. (Well everyone except for, possibly, the train-girl's driver.)

I will explain my frustration in pictures:

Let's say I want to turn from here . . .

(You can tell this is my van because of the rust on top.)

to here.

I can make this maneuver without stopping any traffic that may be behind me because of this little convenience called the LEFT TURN LANE:

I move into the left turn lane, and Ta-da! Everyone gets to go!

Now let's say there's another guy on a side-street who also wants to turn left.

Well, that's OK. All is clear and he can turn left onto the road. But what if there's lots of traffic?

Uh-oh. Not so simple. He may have to wait a bit.

But he doesn't want to wait. He is in a big, giant hurry. So, instead of waiting, as soon as the traffic nearest him clears up a little he makes his turn into the LEFT TURN LANE, where he will wait for the traffic in his lane to clear up.

But what if this happens?

He is in the left turn lane, exactly where I need to be so I can turn left. (That's why it's called the "LEFT TURN LANE.")

Well, I can slow way down and hope I can get around him (if he is smart—or decent—enough to pull forward and get out of my way, or I may even have to come to a stop. Then this is what happens:

Oh dear! I am in the way now; in fact, I am stopping traffic.

Let's say he wants to turn from here . . .

to here:

Well that won't work!

He has nowhere to go, and he's in a hurry, so he does this:

I know my big, noisy van is hard to miss, but I can't see what he sees, and I can't read his mind. Did he really see me, or is he going to cut me off or crash into me?

Now let's return to the first left-turner. 

He still has to wait; that should be OK. But what if he doesn't want to wait, and what if, for some reason, I don't see him coming?

BAM!!

This is really, really bad news.

I will say that sometimes you may really need to turn out into the left turn lane, instead of directly into the lane you are heading for. Once in a while I may misjudge how fast the traffic is coming when I make my turn, or I think a car is in the far lane, but really it is in the lane I'm headed for. Since I've already pulled out  to make the turn, I turn into the left turn lane and feel really stupid about it. But those are pretty rare occasions. They can't possibly lead to the dozens of times I see people parked in the left turn lane every day.

When I took driver's ed., I was taught that the only time you should get into the left turn lane is when you want to turn left. At least I thought  that's what I learned. But maybe my memory is faulty, so I had Lindsey ask her teacher when she took driver's ed. last year. He told her, "You are not supposed to do it, but everyone does, and you probably won't get a ticket for it." Wonderful.

There are other options—like waiting for the traffic to clear. There are even other options if our left-turner doesn't want to wait for the traffic to clear. For example, he could try this . . .

 . . . followed by this:

He could take another path that will lead him to an intersection with a traffic light (but watch out for the red-light-runners); he could drive around the block, he could just give up, go back home and take a nap . . .

The main thing is that he just plain, old, should not use the LEFT TURN LANE as a holding lane for him to wait in while the traffic clears up. It is annoying, it could be dangerous, and it is illegal.

But . . . Utah drivers. What do you expect?