Turning through an intersection...do you turn into the closest lane?

[Leo99]

There is a very similar situation near me. The local rule is to allow the cars turning left to swing over 3 lanes to the right to enter the shopping center. From my perspective, the left turners have a green arrow to turn left and the competing right turners have a yield sign so the green arrow beats a yield sign.

Good luck with that new-fangled set up.

 

[ammolab]

If you watch On Patrol on TV…Cops pull cars over frequently for “improper turn” where folks turn and go directly to the far lane. They may not ticket the folks, but it gives them cause to check driver’s license, insurance, registration, look for open container, seatbelt, and smell for weed. A lot of arrests for outstanding warrants etc start out for those turns we see so often every day.

 

[brianl703]

Good luck with that new-fangled set up.

From the same people who have decreed that all new interchanges in Virginia shall be of the diverging diamond style.

 

[Pew]

From the same people who have decreed that all new interchanges in Virginia shall be of the diverging diamond style.
View attachment 156580

IL has changed out a couple major interchanges like that and they've worked out amazing in reducing the traffic.

 

[brianl703]

IL has changed out a couple major interchanges like that and they've worked out amazing in reducing the traffic.

They don't help through traffic on the minor road at all, for obvious reasons.

 

[Pew]

They don't help through traffic on the minor road at all, for obvious reasons.

Like if both were minor roads or an arterial road going over a highway? If it's the latter, it does help that as well. Road traffic has massively decreased where these have been constructed because of the huge amount of new houses and condos that have been built here.

 

[brianl703]

Like if both were minor roads or an arterial road going over a highway? If it's the latter, it does help that as well. Road traffic has massively decreased where these have been constructed because of the huge amount of new houses and condos that have been built here.

It does NOT help through traffic on the arterial road going over the highway because only one direction of traffic may cross the bridge at a time due to the crossover. As thru-traffic volumes increase on the roads where these have been built, this shortcoming (which is never mentioned in any of the glowing reviews and press about these) will become a problem.

 

[TiGeo]

It looks like the ONLY way to get into that shopping center is to make a left turn there and an immediate right.

If you go straight through the intersection, you can't make a left turn onto Brown's Way Rd, there's a median in the way.

I've never thought that Virginia's roads were designed with much thought or care.

You just aren't seeing it in my pic. You go straight and down a ways is a light and you make a left to get back into it.

 

[TiGeo]

There is a very similar situation near me. The local rule is to allow the cars turning left to swing over 3 lanes to the right to enter the shopping center. From my perspective, the left turners have a green arrow to turn left and the competing right turners have a yield sign so the green arrow beats a yield sign.

Good luck with that new-fangled set up.

That's basically how it's handled.

 

[TiGeo]

The available Google street images for that area show:

no yield sign on August 2012 or prior
yield sign on July 2015 through September 2019
no yield sign on September 2022. Not even the broken remains of one or even the stub of the post sticking out of the ground (EDIT: see below)

Is there actually a yield sign there today?

Oh wait, there it is:

(I guess the Google street view car just happened to drive by the same day it was broken off; because we'd know that the diligent, conscientious employees of VDOT would NEVER leave a Yield sign missing for days, because that's a safety hazard!)

Today - yeild sign in-place. Also note my signal is on It is interesting that it's a yield sign to it's own lane so by-design they figure you are making a right into the next lane over which continues straight past the shopping center OR that folks are coming through the intersection (either straight through OR form opposite side/making a left) and you need to watch for them dumping into that lane to turn.

 

[DwightFrye]

I was taught to stay in your own lane, i.e. the one you started from. But if you need to change lanes shortly after clearing the intersection for example to turn into a driveway, do so with extreme caution looking for vehicles in those lanes just as you would on any other lane change. Nothing new or revolutionary here, just common sense and good driving habits.

 

[skyactiv]

Usually, but not not always.

 

[MNgopher]

The available Google street images for that area show:

no yield sign on August 2012 or prior
yield sign on July 2015 through September 2019
no yield sign on September 2022. Not even the broken remains of one or even the stub of the post sticking out of the ground (EDIT: see below)

Is there actually a yield sign there today?

Oh wait, there it is:

(I guess the Google street view car just happened to drive by the same day it was broken off; because we'd know that the diligent, conscientious employees of VDOT would NEVER leave a Yield sign missing for days, because that's a safety hazard!)

View attachment 156574

Actually there was a yield sign there in both the 2012 and 2007 street view photos - but its on the driver side of the turn lane, in a location even more prone to be being hit. See below. Sorry that may not fit your narrative...

Also pretty clear looking at the previous streetview images the yield sign went with the traffic striping pre- September 2016. A project went through there between the July 2015 and September 2016 images (note the pavement, striping, and refreshed concrete). The purpose of the yield sign seems like it was lost with the restripe.

 

[brianl703]

The purpose of the yield sign seems like it was lost with the restripe.

You missed where it was there in the 2019 street view, and missing but with a broken post where it used to be in 2022?

I suppose VDOT intentionally removed it by hitting it with one of their trucks. That's got to be it.

 

[TiGeo]

You missed where it was there in the 2019 street view, and missing but with a broken post where it used to be in 2022?

I suppose VDOT intentionally removed it by hitting it with one of their trucks. That's got to be it.

Missing sign/taken out is no suprise...SO MANY ACCIDENTS here b/c of the topic we are discussion. I'm so careful here when I make that right/merge.

 

[brianl703]

Missing sign/taken out is no suprise...SO MANY ACCIDENTS here b/c of the topic we are discussion. I'm so careful here when I make that right/merge.

Here's Manassas City's solution to the same problem:

Another leg of the same intersection. You know someone's brain is working real well when they have stop signs right next to a traffic signal:

 

[brianl703]

Sorry that may not fit your narrative...

By the way, I have a lot more experience with VDOT than you do. I can't imagine why that might be...

Oh wait, there it is! That must be why.

Several years ago I reported a malfunctioning left turn lane detector to them. It was not detecting any vehicles in the left lane. I reported it to them at least 5 times over the course of a month, which is how long it took them to fix it.

So, if I have come to some unfavorable conclusions about VDOT, this and many other experiences dating back 2 decades has a lot to do with it.

 

[MNgopher]

You missed where it was there in the 2019 street view, and missing but with a broken post where it used to be in 2022?

I suppose VDOT intentionally removed it by hitting it with one of their trucks. That's got to be it.

To be clear, yes, I saw it was missing in your image you provided. When, exactly, was it hit? When, exactly, was it reported to DOT? And when, exactly, was it actually replaced (as noted by a later poster)? Do you believe VDOT knows immediately when any sign in its inventory is hit? (I'll give you a hint - they don't - and don't do a daily inventory of their signs in the field either...)

And the point of my post was this: In my opinion, the yield sign no longer serves a purpose post 2015 restriping, based solely on streetview review. That was my point.

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

Usually, but not not always.

Same. It really depends if there are any cars in/going into the other lane, and if I am going to be turning again soon, and which direction. I make lefts into the right lane all the time if there is nobody there.

 

[brianl703]

Do you believe VDOT knows immediately when any sign in its inventory is hit? (I'll give you a hint - they don't - and don't do a daily inventory of their signs in the field either...)

They don't do even a yearly inventory of signs in the field, based on the speed limit sign that was laying in the ditch in front of my house when I bought the property in 2017, and wasn't fixed until 2019..

(I have no idea how long the sign had been laying in the ditch prior to me seeing it there in 2017...)