DriveSmartBC

It's always dangerous when you turn left in an intersection. You have to cross over opposing lanes of traffic which leaves you vulnerable in a crash. It also exposes you to drivers who would never think that they might have to yield and let you turn left.

This column is dedicated to the middle aged male driver who turned left in the intersection and completed the turn half way into my lane as I approached him and half way into the lane that he was supposed to be using. Was he being inattentive, careless or did he not know any better?

This case involves a collision where one of the drivers involved was making a left turn at an intersection. That driver, Madame Moreno Munoz was charged for failing to yield on left turn. The trial examines the concept of "immediate hazard" and whether the left turning driver or the driver proceeding toward the left turn driver is required to yield to the other based on the immediate hazard involved.

This decision of the B.C. Supreme Court examines the situation where two opposing vehicles approach an uncontrolled intersection. One is turning left (Swartz) and the other is proceeding straight through (Najdychor). In this case, the drivers saw each other at the last instant and Mrs.

I never know what I am going to receive in my e-mail regarding this column. Recently it was a tongue in cheek request to save a marriage by settling the question of U-turns between husband and wife. Neither one of them realized that there are really very few places in British Columbia where a driver can make a U-turn legally.

Not many people adhere to the rule of going into the left lane after a left turn at an intersection - instead they tend to drift across to the curb lane. Should a driver approaching the intersection from the opposite direction and turning right at that place cede right of way to the left-turner? Who would be in the wrong?

If you have not commented on right turns at red lights you might want to consider it. I see so many people that fail to stop at a red light when turning right. They seem to feel that all they have to do is yield. Unless the rules have changed, it requires a full stop before turning.

You should do something about turning left on double solid lines, Port Alberni is terrible for it.

When I was relatively new to police work I was patrolling behind a car that had stopped at a red light with the left turn signal blinking. The next thing I knew, this car had turned left against the red light! Well, on went the lights and siren and I chased down this alleged red light runner. This would be an easy ticket, or so I thought.

Intersections are dangerous places. Yielding right of way is probably the main concern, but the path you travel through one is just as important. Some drivers are so sloppy with their technique that they activate the traffic signals by driving over the detection loops in the oncoming lane when they exit the intersection!