Left Behind on a Left Turn

By Phil Ponce | Published May 17, 2010

I just had a one-week ”staycation” in Chicago in which I ran a lot of errands and did a lot of driving.  And there’s one traffic trend that seems to be getting worse:  drivers who make a left turn in such a way that they are the only ones who make it through the green light.

Driving Etiquette 101 dictates that you should pull far enough into the intersection so that at least the car behind you can also make the left turn on the same green light.

This week I found myself behind several drivers who would barely pull into the intersection, turn their wheels leftward from that position–as opposed to closer to the center of the intersection–and then be the only one able to turn during the traffic sequence.  Not good.

Granted, none of us should be in such a hurry that sitting through another traffic light sequence should be a big deal, but it’s a courtesy to those of us who are right behind you.  Practice the buddy system–it’s no fun being left behind!

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  • Geo.

    Thank the experienced city drivers who may have saved you from getting your picture taken as the light turned! Driving in Chicago is like driving an obstacle course. Take it easy.

  • http://www.neiu.edu/~rkastig1 Robert Kastigar

    If you rose a bicycle you wouldn’t face these problems.

  • http://willyvon1-willyswill.blogspot.com/ William von Rentzell

    As Robert “tried” to say( I should talk with my keyboard dyslexia) you should try it. Now there’s a point to point rental system to make it so with the July 30 launch of B-cycle Chicago, see http://chicago.bcycle.com/ for details since nobody covered it much. Oh, wait, at only 6 stations and under 100 bikes, none of which are within miles of WTTW studios it won’t work for you or most other potential customers. Anyone else curious as to why the start-up was so small at less than 10% of their very new Denver system?