Road Warrior

 

The in basket: Denis Kuwahara of Port Orchard asked in March about what is permissible in two-way turn lanes, specifically citing the one on Bethel Avenue between the roundabout and Lund Avenue. 

 ” The roadway is marked with ‘Two-Way Left Turn Lanes’ as identified in the Drivers Guide,” he said. “My question: Is it proper (traffic permitting) to make a left turn into the turn lane from a driveway and sit there until the right lane is clear?  

“Many times,” he said, ” while attempting to make the left turn the traffic coming from the left is clear but the traffic from the right is not and it would 

be beneficial to clear one lane and sit in the middle of the road 

(within the Two Way Left Turn Lane) and wait for a second lane opening.”

Then on June 5, Dave Dahlke of Port Orchard wrote to say he’d heard of someone getting a ticket for using the center turn lane on Bethel as an ingress from a side street. “I have never heard of this before,” he said, then cited an article in the Seattle Times’ equivalent to Road Warrior that said such a maneuver is quite legal.

The out basket: I have said the same thing in past columns, but because one Kitsap County Sheriff’s traffic officer said years ago that I was wrong, I decided to double-check with my current contacts in KCSO and the State Patrol when Denis asked. 

There followed several weeks of confusion.

The final answer is that the maneuver is legal, but that’s not the first answer Deputy Scott Wilson of KCSO got out of the county prosecutor’s office. A senior deputy read the obscure law and told Scott that using the two-way turn lane as a refuge lane mid-way through a left turn would be an infraction.

That, of course, was contrary to common practice, even by law enforcement officers, and came as quite a shock. To forbid the practice would encourage risky dashes into traffic at those moments there appears to be a break in both directions of through-traffic.

Mike Cassidy of Advantage Driving School said he teaches the use of the two-way turn lane as the safe way to enter a busy street, but adds that the driver should then stop and wait for traffic on the right to clear, rather than pacing it looking to merge at the speed of the passing traffic. 

“The reason being that the focus of attention is to the rear and not to traffic that may be approaching from the opposite direction in the center turn lane,” he explained.  

He also said many students pull into a left-turn lane going the wrong way. That IS an infraction and is easy to do since  most two-way turn lanes become left turn-only lanes at some point approaching intersections.

That senior prosecutor eventually said she had misunderstood the question, and the final ruling, as conveyed by Scott Wilson, is: 

“The two-way center turn lane is designed for vehicles turning into or

off of the roadway.  You can make a left turn into this lane and stop

while you wait for traffic to pass and allow a safe spot for you to

merge into the lane on your right.  You may not travel in this lane for a distance of no more than 300 feet.

 

“It is the responsibility of those using this lane to make sure it is safe before entering,” Scott continued.  “Those vehicles already on the main roadway will have the right of way.”

He added, “Without becoming involved in a public disagreement about this, the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office would like to add that the wording in this statute, RCW 46.61.290, needs to be revised by the state Legislature for clarification.  

“Should a driver be issued a traffic notice of infraction for an alleged violation of this rule of the road, in any jurisdiction, then it would be up to the sitting judge in traffic court, and that judge’s interpretation of the statute, on whether or not the driver should have the ticket dismissed.”

To which I would add that while Mike Cassidy’s advice about sitting still while waiting for traffic to provide an opening on the right is very sound, the 300-foot rule in the law would appear to not make moving forward for up to 300 feet illegal.

Tags: Add new tag, left turns, two-way turn

This entry was posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 10:16 am by travis baker and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.