The in basket: I found myself in afternoon rush hour traffic
leaving Bremerton on Highway 304 the other day and saw a maneuver I
was quite sure is illegal.
The driver of a pickup truck coming out of Charleston Beach
Road and wanting to use the HOV lane made the right turn directly
from the side road into the HOV lane, crossing the flow of left
turners coming out of the shipyard. The driver used a temporary gap
in that flow, so there was no close call.
Surely, I asked State Trooper Russ Winger, spokesmen for the
State Patrol here, the presence of the HOV lane doesn’t nullify the
rule of the road saying drivers turning onto a street or highway
must enter the closest available lane of the thoroughfare being
entered, does it?
That usually means left turners must enter the inside lane and
right turners must enter the outside lane.
The legal way to get to the HOV lane from Charleston Beach
Road, it seemed to me, is to turn into the outside lane and move
left in two movements, while signaling.
The out basket: Yes, said Russ, the pickup truck driver
violated two laws, the one requiring use of the closest lane and
the one requiring a signal for at least 100 feet before changing
lanes.
“The act of turning, say, right at an intersection and
immediately changing lanes – just completing the turn to the left
lane – would be violating signal law as you could not possibly
have signaled for 100 feet,” Russ said. When there are two
adjoining turn lanes, though, the turning driver must head for the
corresponding lane on the street being entered, not necessarily the
closest one.
In traffic enforcement, Russ added, “I try to use good
judgment when I see that and ask was it unsafe. You could plant
yourself at such an intersection and see this movement hundreds or
more times on any given day.”
OK. Let’s say you are alone turning right onto a highway where the HOV lane is the right lane, such as SR 305 through Poulsbo. Let’s just say traffic is also heavy at the time. If you turn right into the HOV lane you are using the lane illegally. If you turn into the inside lane, you violate the “turn into the nearest lane” rule. Will the WSP give you some slack here, or will they cite you for not moving over immediately?