The fault, dear drivers, is not in our turns

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I was driving with some buddies when I pulled into the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Bonanza Road to make a left turn, and the shouting began.

To pull into the intersection when turning left or not, that was the question. (It’s not Hamlet confronting the meaning of existence, but I’m the asphalt guy, not Shakespeare.)

By entering the intersection I had driven us into a sea of trouble, my buddy lamented. As he spoke, traffic buzzed by in both directions, shaking the frame of my car.

My buddy bemoaned that we would cease to be because of my fatal decision; some misfortune would befall us, he said, like being broad-sided by a tractor trailer.

I retorted it was nobler in the eyes of the law to pull into the intersection before a left turn than to timidly wait behind the stop line. If we had not pulled into the intersection we would, in effect, cease to be because the onslaught of automobiles would never allow us to turn.

My buddy made several arguments against waiting in the intersection: A driver has a shorter view of oncoming traffic. Also, if drivers are coming from the stop line, they will be traveling faster when turning than if they start from in the intersection.

But his main point was that being stuck in the middle of an intersection can be stressful, simply because the driver is relying on other motorists to obey the traffic signal.

Often, drivers making a left turn must wait until the traffic signal turns red before following through. And too often in the valley, oncoming traffic runs those red lights.

As if orchestrated by fate, his point was proven. As we argued, the light turned yellow, and I waited for the oncoming vehicles to stop.

They didn’t.

The light turned red and I still waited for my chance to turn left.

The vehicles kept passing, along with my chance to get out of the middle of the intersection.

The traffic light turned green for the vehicles heading east and west on Bonanza. And we were trapped in the middle of the road. Trucks, pickups and SUVs were bearing down on us.

A new question — actually a variation on a very old question — emerged. Would we be or were we about to not be?

Finally, the oncoming vehicles stopped for the red light.

I pressed the accelerator and was confronted by vehicles heading east and west, which now had a green light. I wiggled out of a fender bender using some sharp maneuvering while my passenger gulped in terror.

Even after that episode, I refused to allow that I was wrong.

So, I went to an expert.

John Phillips, who has operated the Drive Friendly Driving School in Henderson for eight years, said he teaches his teenage students to wait at the stop line for left turns.

The reason is simple: They are inexperienced and stand a greater chance of being in a wreck because of a poor decision or no decision.

“Being immature drivers, it can be pretty frightening. If they stay back at the stop line, they don’t have to worry,” Phillips said.

The law in Clark County does allow folks to wait in the intersection before turning left, he said.

But some municipalities have enacted laws preventing motorists from waiting in the intersection to make a left turn.

That changed during this past legislative session. State Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, wrote legislation that not only made it legal statewide to enter the intersection before turning left, but also prevented any municipality from passing a law making it illegal to do so.

The bill passed unanimously, Coffin said.

He said he backed the law because there was confusion on which traffic rule should be followed.

Coffin concluded that not allowing vehicles to enter the intersection before turning left does two things: It slows traffic by backing up vehicles looking to turn left, and it causes more cars to idle, leading to more air pollution.

If motorists weren’t allowed to perform this action, Coffin believed it would further cripple the already crawling commute of so many Southern Nevadans.

Coffin said he has waited behind folks who don’t enter the intersection and it can be maddening.

“We have to do everything we can to get people through these intersections,” Coffin said.

While I have the law on my side in the argument, the flaw is that it relies on other motorists following the law.

As long as they continue to run red lights with reckless abandon, waiting in the intersection to turn left is a dangerous proposition.

There is a solution, and Coffin is a proponent: putting red-light cameras on traffic lights.

While we wait for the Legislature to pass tougher driving safety measures and for our fellow motorists to heed those red lights, some good advice was offered by Michael Geeser, a spokesman and lobbyist for AAA Nevada, the driver advocacy group.

Those folks who enter the intersection before turning left should keep their tires pointed straight until they are ready to turn. The reason: If they get bumped from behind they merely go forward, instead of into oncoming traffic.

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call the Road Warrior at 387-2904, or e-mail him at roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com or fmccabe@reviewjournal.com. Please include your phone number.