A two-way left-turn lane is very common.
The sign tells you that the entire lane allows you to set up to turn left.
Once you enter the lane you must turn left at the first exit.
It is a good place to set up a left turn because it moves you out of the traffic flow into an empty lane, a safe place to wait.
Think of it as an unusual waiting position for a left turn.
Entering too early can cause you to be in conflict with a head-on vehicle that is also entering to turn their left.
Occasionally you may see two opposing cars enter too early. Both just stop and wait for one to complete their left.
Once in this lane, you should not move back out of it.
However, I do not teach entering the left turn lane from the side street to use this space to stop & wait and to move right into the traffic flow. For me, moving out of this lane to the right seems to go against the restriction of a two-way left turn only lane. However, if coming out of a side entry in super busy traffic I may use this space to wait if needed before merging into the heavy flow.
These conflicting teaching methods are included here to help you realize that a big part of learning to drive, is to learn the confusion that exists. Confusion is a part of driving, as are conflicting teaching opinions.
If you read the right below image here, BC rules book, it states that the yellow lines marking this two-way turn lane “markings may be reversed (solid lines inside broken lines).” I find this line marking very confusing. I also call it Designed Confusion referring to the fact that part of learning to drive is to accept the confusion that exists as part of this Game of Driving.
1:00 Host says “You can use it to pull into before moving into your lane on your right.” I disagree with this. It goes against the lane restriction.
1:51 Host says “the other car needs to come onto my arrow to make their turn.” Listen carefully here. The lane is marked as a double left turn lane or a two-way left-turn lane. This makes the entire lane a two-way turn. It has nothing to do with where the arrows are painted. You do not need to place your car ON THE ARROW to complete the turn. You can be anywhere in the lane. This host states that the car needs to be on the arrow. I disagree with this.
I DISAGREE WITH THE ONE EXIT GREEN LINE EXAMPLE BELOW
I DISAGREE WITH THE ABOVE VERY COMMON TEACHINGS
Below I blocked off the green path line coming out from the side street heading into the two-way turn lane. I disagree because it’s a movement turning RIGHT out of the restricted lane, which I say is illegal, going against the marked left-turn arrows.
The correct path is to follow the two red arrows. And yes I would pause in the middle space to wait if I needed to in a very busy roadway but better not to be way out there in the middle of chaos.
The image below to the right showing the B move is the method I teach.
Comments are closed