Texas Motor Law: Double Turn Lanes (Austin: gated, legally, moving to)

[ATX Wahine]

I know - the last thing needed here is another thread on driving, right??

There is a double-left-turn lane from Barton Skyway that turns left onto the southbound Mopac service road. The intersection is marked with a sign showing two arrows turning left and one arrow going straight. Because the far left turn lane often gets quite congested, I frequently use the right-side turn lane to turn left. At LEAST twice a week, someone in the far left turn lane turns wide, right into the right-side turn lane and practically into my car, and the offending driver often has the gall to honk, tailgate, and make gestures afterward as though I'M making an error.

Is it just *another* rude Austin driving habit to turn wide into another vehicle's lane, or am I just having bad luck and encountering a disproportionate share of morons in this intersection? Does anyone know the specific Texas Motor Law on this? I was trained that when turning at an intersection you always stay in your lane until your turn is complete, THEN change lanes if desired and if its a double turn lane, you MUST stay in your lane.

Anyone have any experience on this, and can we *please* not turn this into another 15 page 'everyone not from Texas sucks' thread?

Thanks in advance.

[ATX Homeboy]

You are in the Right. Two lanes turning left, each car supposed to maintain their lanes.

I have had that happen alot.

What alot of people dont know moving to texas: when making a left turn (one lane left turn) on green, that car can legally take the inside OR outside lane. This always causes problems with those people making a right turn on red. They supposed to yield the right of way, cuz lights red.

[Komeht]

Originally Posted by Nor Cal Wahine

I know - the last thing needed here is another thread on driving, right??

There is a double-left-turn lane from Barton Skyway that turns left onto the southbound Mopac service road. The intersection is marked with a sign showing two arrows turning left and one arrow going straight. Because the far left turn lane often gets quite congested, I frequently use the right-side turn lane to turn left. At LEAST twice a week, someone in the far left turn lane turns wide, right into the right-side turn lane and practically into my car, and the offending driver often has the gall to honk, tailgate, and make gestures afterward as though I'M making an error.

Is it just *another* rude Austin driving habit to turn wide into another vehicle's lane, or am I just having bad luck and encountering a disproportionate share of morons in this intersection? Does anyone know the specific Texas Motor Law on this? I was trained that when turning at an intersection you always stay in your lane until your turn is complete, THEN change lanes if desired and if its a double turn lane, you MUST stay in your lane.

Anyone have any experience on this, and can we *please* not turn this into another 15 page 'everyone not from Texas sucks' thread?

Thanks in advance.

It's just another bad driver. Most drivers are bad drivers unfortunately.

[ATX Wahine]

Tonight it was a middle-aged woman in a black Lexus. She honked several times, flipped me off, tailgated me onto Mopac, stayed on my rear bumper for about 2 miles, pulled next to me the first chance she got, and flipped me off again. WTF is wrong with people? That response would be inappropriate even if I WAS in error. Are people just losing their minds, or what?

[veloman777]

Originally Posted by Nor Cal Wahine

Tonight it was a middle-aged woman in a black Lexus. She honked several times, flipped me off, tailgated me onto Mopac, stayed on my rear bumper for about 2 miles, pulled next to me the first chance she got, and flipped me off again. WTF is wrong with people? That response would be inappropriate even if I WAS in error. Are people just losing their minds, or what?

Life on roadways sucks. The steering wheel brings out the worst in people.

[10scoachrick]

If I'm picturing this correctly, I usually observe the opposite problem...the vehicle in the right left-turn lane will cut the turn much too short, forcing the folks in the left left-turn lane to cross the painted 'median' to avoid a sideswipe . It's partly a lack of lane markings, mostly a lack of attention. Of course, there are plenty of folks who consciously occupy the 'wrong' turning lane and want to change lanes immediately after the turn is complete. All you need in a McDonalds near the intersection and just watch the fire drill.

I've actually seen(plenty of times) that vehicle in the right left-turn lane clip the median stripes when making their turn. I reckon they skipped physics class when the lesson was about two objects NOT being able to share the same space at the same time.

I did experience the OP scenario during the rain last week...I was difficult to see the proper 'route' to take; but the offending driver was oblivious to the traffic in front, behind, beside them! Fortunately, 'we' were able to avoid the crazy and let them have all of both lanes! Yikes!

[ATX Wahine]

The turn is onto a one-way road; there is no median, only a railing. There's just no excuse at this intersection for this level of obliviousness and subsequent indignation. I just keep wondering if there is some mutually-agreed-upon driving standard that I'm unaware of.

[austinnerd]

I had a lady in a big ole silver SUV do a similar stunt, I ended up slamming on my brakes to avoid her and was of course rear ended, she continued on his blissfully ignorant way while myself and the driver behind me cursed her driving. Luckily it was relatively low speed and no visible damage to either vehicle so we both declared "no harm no foul" and went on our merry way.

Another similar example is turning from southbound 183 access road onto northbound 360. On the access road, the left lane is turn only and the right lane is turn left or go straight. On 360 though, the first two leftmost lanes are actually turn lanes themselves and the right two lanes are the through lanes. So, if your in the left lane on 183, you actually turn onto the 3rd lane from the left (the leftmost through lane) and the right lanes turns onto the rightmost lane (the 4th lane from the left). One will pretty frequently see folks in the right turn lane cut over into lane 3. Luckily this is more of an inconvenience as there is plenty of room, but annoying none the less.

[owlman]

There are three lanes on the Mopac access road there. When this happens to you, are you turning into the center lane or the right lane? If you turn from the outer turn lane into the center lane, I'd say you're doing it wrong.

[austinnerd]

Originally Posted by owlman

There are three lanes on the Mopac access road there. When this happens to you, are you turning into the center lane or the right lane? If you turn from the outer turn lane into the center lane, I'd say you're doing it wrong.

Off the top of my head, I can't remember how the lines are there, but in this case it didn't matter, she swung out all the way to the rightmost lane

-- edit --

Interesting, after re-reading _my_ comment, I didn't mention where the lady swung out, but it was indeed turning on Mopac, hence my response above (hmm, you wouldn't have been the passenger in that ladies car that day would you????) . But the second part of my post said the intersection of 183 and 360, not Mopac. 360 North has two left turn lanes (to turn onto 183 North) and two thru lanes.