On city streets, slower traffic absolutely should stay right
Q The rule of the road on freeways is that slower traffic must keep right, allowing faster drivers to proceed at a pace comfortable for them. Should that rule apply to city streets also?
It is very frustrating to be driving on a multi-lane highway like Paseo Padre Parkway in Fremont and be stuck behind a rolling roadblock of road boulders driving 5 mph below the posted speed limit. I realize that slower drivers would need to move into the left lane when preparing for a left turn. But until then shouldn’t they stay right? — Jim Sepeda, Union City
A Yes, says Bruce-the-Roadshow- TrafficCop. A vehicle proceeding upon a highway or any road less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction must be driven in the right-hand lane or as close as practicable to the right-hand edge or curb except when overtaking and passing another vehicle or for making a left turn. This also applies to city streets.
Added Bruce: “A lot of folks think that the word highway refers to a freeway. It doesn’t. Highway includes streets.”
Q You poked a hornet’s nest with your articles on a right turn on red with traffic waiting behind you, because the first driver wanted to go straight to get into a leftturn lane a short distance away. I’m up in the air on this one. While I see both points, I usually acquiesce to whatever solution best serves the flow of traffic. Additionally, I understand human nature, and I know the impact a stubborn driver can make on traffic. — Retired CHP Officer David Barnett
A A hornet’s nest indeed. The reaction was off the Roadshow meter. Most agreed the first driver should have turned right and not held up traffic behind him.
Q Here’s my explanation of why I think you are right in your advice on the right-then-left turn: My son living near Detroit schooled me about the “Michigan Left” turn. Instead of protected left turns at busy intersections, traffic engineers route the driver to a Uturn lane some distance past the cross street. After making the U-turn, the driver can then get in the right lane and make a right onto the cross street.
After being taken through a couple of those intersections and considering the alternatives, I decided that the Michiganders are onto something we could benefit from in California.
Traffic flowed well without having to be interrupted for left-turn drivers, and it didn’t take much time to perform the Michigan Left; certainly no more than waiting for a left-turn light. — Matt Matthew, San Jose
A Maybe. I prefer intersections with leftturn arrows. They feel safer to me.
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