I need to make a left turn and arrive on the right side of the street where the blue star is. Should I be in the lane highlighted with purple? Sorry I’m very new to biking.
by Vegetable-Arugula567
I need to make a left turn and arrive on the right side of the street where the blue star is. Should I be in the lane highlighted with purple? Sorry I’m very new to biking.
by Vegetable-Arugula567
36 Comments
The left turn lane. Specifically, the right side of the left turn lane
Ideally yes, I’d take the full purple turn lane, swing wide into the bike lane, then maybe give a little wave to the driver behind me to let them know I’m staying in the bike lane and they can pass.
Use your best judgement regarding car traffic on the road. It might be safer for you to use the pedestrian crossings instead.
Yes, you should be in the purple highlighted lane if you want to make a left turn. But, given the design of this intersection, getting into that lane won’t always be safe/possible depending on levels of traffic and driver hostility so always be prepared to stop and use the crosswalks as an alternative.
For a large, complex intersection like this, the safest way to turn left is to use the crosswalks like this:
https://preview.redd.it/zw77mvm7j3xf1.png?width=554&format=png&auto=webp&s=429835f945da2db94ec005e92ff36d695f41a6a4
Purple lane to turn left if you think it’s safe to get there.
If you’re worried about it, take a little more time and use the crosswalks
Depends on how heavy the traffic is and hard it is to cross lanes. Doing a jug-handle turn might be a great way to reduce stress of trying to get into that turn lane. Hard to tell from this diagram how busy these roads are.
If you’re confident enough, you can go to the left turn lane and make the turn on green. If you’d rather not do that, you can stay in the right lane, cross the intersection, go to the bike lane on the right side of the intersection, and then cross the intersection again to get to the blue spot.
The purple is the only left-turn option for vehicles for what you need.
However, I would go through the light (straight) and use that far crosswalk to complete the left, it’s sometimes called a double-left or a Copenhagen left.
You would also use the near crosswalk but crossing to the far one is usually the better alternative.
edit changing multiple lanes coming up to a light is not a fun maneuver in any vehicle, much less so on a bike
I dunno this street, but I might end up doing this: https://i.imgur.com/5h8UfEe.png
Yes. The rightish tire track of the left turn lane is best.
If the traffic is really heavy and you just aren’t feeling up to it, a backup plan is to stay in the rightmost through lane, stop just before the island and do a 90 degree turn there and wait for the green in the other direction.
Is this Middlefield and Willow?
Left turn lane is good. Or, if there is a lot of traffic or it’s going really fast, you might go straight through in the bike lane, stop by the little traffic island in the upper right corner of the intersection, and then wait there for the light to change.
In the purple with supreme confidence
Depends on where you live and what the traffic rules are.
If there’s a lot of traffic I would do a box turn. You don’t need a painted box to do it.
If there isn’t much traffic then I would use the left turn lane.
If possible, get to the turn lane but be prepared for lots of resistance. I have a turn like this on my commute and I give up and use the crosswalk in heavy traffic or if I can’t get over in time. Just yesterday a car tried to plow into me thinking I was going straight after I signaled my turn multiple times. Cars don’t see bikes. I tend to do the signal (left arm straight out) then follow up with a gesture using my right arm pointing out the way I’m going, once I’m closer to the front. It’s not always enough. Sometimes I stay over right, cross, stop, cross again. It’s slower but safer.
Car and bike laws are mostly the same, although it’s not safe on a bike with traffic, I would use the crosswalks. Car drivers are horrible when it comes to bikes.
Follow whichever option you’re most comfortable with, all are correct.
I use the left turn lane, but it took a year of riding on busy city streets to gain the confidence to do that. After twenty years of the same daily commute with such a left turn, it’s still 50-50 whether I use the left turn lane or the crosswalk, depending on the traffic.
Everyone telling you to use the purple pane but I would 100% use the right straight lane with sharrows and pull off and stop in the left/right bike lane by the island and wait for the signal that way to then proceed in the bike lane to the destination.
I may also just not ride this horrendous intersection and use the crosswalk.
Wherever there’s no cars
Copenhagen Turn.
I would probably just go through then get on the bike lane going to the left, or if I was feeling ambitious I’d go to the right of the cars in the left turn lane
I usually just go straight across, turn the bike 90 degrees and wait for the green to go across
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KzvvntHyik](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KzvvntHyik)
This intersection is a prime one for this type of turn. Cars have a slip lane so you won’t block anyone by going over and waiting. Just ride into the crosswalk by the island and align yourself with the bike lane to go to the blue.
the best advice I got when started bike commuting was: never turn left. In this case, use the crosswalks.
Yes.
But if you not feel safe doing that way an “indirect left” is also acceptable. Like a pedestrian would in two steps.
In which country?
In mine, you must stay to the far right, go straight ahead, stop, wait for green light, and go to the left.
Yes, if you want to make a vehicular left turn, you should be in the rightmost lane that a vehicle should turn left from. I do this if the street I’m on doesn’t have traffic heavy enough for me to feel uncomfortable.
The main alternative I use if the street I am on is too busy is a box turn. To do a box turn, just continue through the intersection as you would to go straight. On the other side of the intersection, you’ll pull to the right and position yourself as if you arrived in the bike lane from the right. There you simply wait to cross the intersection going straight from that side.
The third alternative I sometimes use if the cross street is not busy is make a right turn onto the cross street, then perform a U-turn when it is safe to do so.
Either merge to the purple mark if it is safe and you are comfortable doing so or do a two-stage left, which is probably more suitable for the majority of riders.
Just in case it’s not obvious what a two-stage left is: ride through the intersection in the outer lane (where the sharrow is), pull over and stop near the pork chop island to wait, and then continue in your intended direction when the side street gets a green light.
If it’s easy to get over, you can use the purple. It’s also perfectly acceptable to go straight 90% of the way through the intersection and wait until the perpendicular direction has a green and then turn. In my city, many intersections have a green (bike lane) waiting area between the crosswalk and the intersection where you’d wait.
For me, depends on traffic. If there’s barely any traffic, I’d turn from the turn lane on the street. Otheriwse
(a) go straight in the right lane and then pull into the bike lane on the right side going your direction and wait for the light to change.
(b) use the cross walks in a similar fashion
Is there a left turn arrow? If so, right side of the left turn lane, either first or last in line. If traffic’s heavy or too fast, box turn, or hop off and cross as a pedestrian.
Theoretically you would be in that lane, but with a road this wide I’d actually consider switching to the sidewalk and taking two crosswalks rather than having to weave through multiple lanes of traffic.
Left turn lane (purple), turn into leftmost lane, switch to bike lane when there is space (if you don’t get an opportunity just stay in leftmost lane)
Technically the correct legal answer is the purple highlighted lane. From a safety perspective, I’d recommend dismounting and becoming a pedestrian so you can use the crosswalks to get the opposite corner of the intersection. Getting into the left lane on a street like this can be very dangerous and it’s better to be alive than correct.
https://preview.redd.it/cqphgfc1y3xf1.jpeg?width=1178&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ebe1ffb32782681abf83880884b2fee8a9e4bb26
Your best bet is to cross the first street in the right/bike lane, then wait to go across in the bike lane of the cross-street.