can someone tell me if yielding when turning right is the law here??? (Kennesaw: live, safety)

[tomoveornot]

i have never seen anyone do this before until moving to georgia. i don't know if it's a southern polite thing to do or if it's actually the law. i noticed yield signs when turning right and i assumed they meant yield if there is someone in the crosswalk. but i often see people about to turn right and then stop and let the oncoming left turning car go in front of them! i think this is very hazardous. if i'm behind the right turning car i would never expect him to stop when we have what i assumed was the right away. is the right turning car supposed to wait until all the traffic clears in the lanes next to him so that the left turning car can go? this is crazy. can anyone help me understand this so i don't rear end someone or crash into the guy turning left in front of me when he thought i was yielding?! thanks

[ATLTJL]

Yeah, I kind of wondered the same thing.

My logic on it is I think they put the yield signs on those lanes that sort of veer off the road you were on and then join up with the road you are joining. So from the perspective of where the yield sign is situated, those cars are no longer turning left, they are going straight because they are already on the road.

I think they do this because as you know, people turning left always have to yield to people turning right. However, people turning left with a green arrow always have the right of way over someone who is turning right on red, which if you are doing, is difficult to see if the people turning left have an arrow and you have to yield to them, or if they just have plain green, in which case they would have to yield to you.

So I think they stick those yield signs up so you just never have the right of way over them. I don't know all the specifics, but I'm pretty sure those yield signs apply to oncoming traffic because it generally goes without saying that you always yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk.

You may think it sounds nutty, but yielding is better than having to stop. In Chicago, you have to actually stop before you can turn right on red. I know because I got a ticket for not doing it. I'd rather yield than stop.

[tomoveornot]

thanks for your input. i am talking about when i have the green light or even when there isn't a light at an intersection and i'm turning right. i feel like i have to watch the left turning car when i thought i had the right away! sorry about your ticket in chicago! i got one from a red light camera and never paid it.

[HeyEng]

This person is not being "considerate", they are abiding by the law. When at a yield sign you are required to YIELD to oncoming traffic, including oncoming LEFT turning traffic. Example...if the oncoming traffic has a PROTECTED green arrow and you blast through the intersection and they hit you, then it's your fault. This is one of the most misunderstood traffic laws out there. Here is the Georgia code about it:

The driver of a vehicle approaching a yield sign shall, in obedience to such sign, slow down to a speed reasonable for the existing conditions and, if required for safety to stop, shall stop at a clearly marked stop line or, if there is no stop line, before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection or, if there is no crosswalk, at the point nearest the intersecting roadway where the driver has a view of approaching traffic on the intersecting roadway before entering it. After slowing or stopping, the driver shall yield the right of way to any vehicle in the intersection or approaching on another roadway so closely as to constitute an immediate hazard during the time such driver is moving across or within the intersection or junction of roadways. If such a driver is involved in a collision with a vehicle in the intersection after driving past a yield sign without stopping, such collision shall be deemed prima-facie evidence of his failure to yield the right of way.

[tomoveornot]

i totally understand if the left turning car has a green arrow, that means right turning car has red and must stop and yield. this makes sense. but to completely stop on a green light or no light at all and let a left turning car proceed when you have no idea if there are oncoming cars that would prohibit them from turning is absurb to me. this would seem to cause confusion and an accident.

[livinginbuffalo]

Well, tomoveornot, how about this one? What do you do when you get off exit 13 coming front the south at the Avenues going toward McGinnis Ferry? There is a RED light at the exit. So, I sat there at the red light. It is not a right on red red light, it is a straight in front of you red light. The southerners behind me were very patient and not a horn was blared, however, when they started to pull up from behind me and go around me, I figured I guess I'm supposed to go through this red light! I don't get it either. In NY, you have to STOP at a red light when turning right just like a stop sign not blow throw it if no cars are coming. I still don't understand even with the Georgia code!!!

PS When's lunch?

[PKCorey]

LIB, stop and check then go!

It's a yield sign near my old crib which is weird. You have a turn lane to enter the other road but you have a yield sign for the people turning from the opposite side. Semi weird for me.

question: Barrett Parkway and interstate 75 Kennesaw, GA - Google Maps

Heading northbound on 75 to Barrett. You have to stay in the third lane to go straight to reach the turn lanes for Town Center. Usually, everyone waits but if I'm at the front of the line, if Barrett Pkwy is clear, I go. Someone told me, I'm suppose to wait until its green but I disagree. Thoughts?

[billl]

I've seen many light-controlled intersections around here that have a yield sign for people turning right and I think it is just nutty. It is completely the opposite of how I learned an intersection should work. I've almost had an accident at one such intersection because I didn't see the yield sign (who looks for a yield sign at an intersection that has a light???) and someone was turning left from the other way. And as someone else mentioned, how am I supposed to know if the person waiting to turn left has any conflicting oncoming traffic? Such traffic would be behind me over my shoulder!

I have no idea why they do that around here. I wish they would take those signs down.

[billl]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Yeah, I kind of wondered the same thing.

My logic on it is I think they put the yield signs on those lanes that sort of veer off the road you were on and then join up with the road you are joining. So from the perspective of where the yield sign is situated, those cars are no longer turning left, they are going straight because they are already on the road.

But I've seen these at intersections where the right turn lane isn't separated from the rest of the road....not even with a cement island.

I think they do this because as you know, people turning left always have to yield to people turning right. However, people turning left with a green arrow always have the right of way over someone who is turning right on red, which if you are doing, is difficult to see if the people turning left have an arrow and you have to yield to them, or if they just have plain green, in which case they would have to yield to you.

Every where else I've lived this is how it works and it has never been an issue.

You may think it sounds nutty, but yielding is better than having to stop. In Chicago, you have to actually stop before you can turn right on red. I know because I got a ticket for not doing it. I'd rather yield than stop.

But the way these are set up you have to yield turning right even if you have a green light! That is what seems so backwards to me.

[toll_booth]

To answer the OP, I defer to my old driver's ed teacher: Never assume you have the right-of-way. A yield sign means exactly that: you don't have the right-of-way. I know of no exceptions to this. So yeah, that would mean that a left-turning car has right-of-way over a right-turning car, if they are trying to wind up on the same road.

That being said, I've never run into a problem with this. Any time I'm about to make a right at a yield sign where there is a light and I see a car about to turn left, then if I don't think I can easily make it in time, I wait. Usually I lose a grand total of five seconds by doing that. And every time I've been the one turning left, the car has waited. I always have my foot over the brake, though, just in case.

Another thing. In the state of Georgia, unless otherwise specified, you have to make a complete stop behind the stop line (if there is one) before making a right on red. I haven't heard of any stories of this being strictly enforced, though. And if there's a yield sign there, I don't come to a complete stop unless I have to. I do the same at a regular right-on-red...no ticket yet for that!