Q: Here’s the situation: I’m at an intersection intending to turn left. The road I’m turning on to has two lanes in each direction. Across from me there’s a car that’s turning right (their right), so we’re both turning onto the same road. Since there’s two lanes, can I proceed to turn into the nearest (left) lane, expecting the other driver to turn into their nearest (right) lane? If there is a bump, who is at fault?
A: Sometimes a question about traffic law is really a surface-level question masking a much deeper concern. Maybe you didn’t intend it that way, but I read it as a search for existential meaning, as in, “How much trust should I have in humanity to consistently do the right thing?”
Okay, maybe I’m going too deep too soon. Let’s start with the rules. In driver’s ed you probably learned to turn as you described in your question. That’s consistent with the Washington Driver Guide, which states, “Turn from the lane that is closest to the direction you want to go and turn into the lane closest to the one you came from.” That’s a reasonable translation from the legalese in the Revised Code of Washington. If you’re making a right turn, you should start in the furthest right lane and turn into the furthest right lane. For left turns, replace “right” with “left” in the previous sentence and follow the same guidance.
The driver guide goes on to say that you should wait until you’ve completed your turn to change lanes, if you need to. The law doesn’t specifically state how soon you can change lanes after a turn, but it prohibits lane changes until the driver “has first ascertained that such movement can be made with safety.” On roads with more than one turn lane, your best bet is to stay in your lane.
Based on the law and the driver guide, you’d think you could expect another driver to turn into their nearest lane, but the fact that you’ve asked the question suggests you don’t. That gets us back to our existential dilemma – should we trust other humans? Every time you drive a car, cross the street, or ride your bike on the road, you’re placing some level of trust in other drivers to do the right thing. You likely don’t give it a thought, because nearly every time we use the road, driver act as we expect. Our behavior indicates that we regularly trust each other on the road, usually with good reason. But we also know that humans, even the best ones, can be lazy, selfish, or distracted sometimes, so it’s wise to maintain a level of caution given how high the stakes are.
Applied to this situation, you can anticipate that an attentive and responsible driver will most likely stay in their lane, and you’ll be fine as long as you stay in yours too. An experienced driver will also consider that “most likely” is not a guarantee, and will build in a cushion of space and time so they have an opportunity to safely respond to the unexpected.
If the other driver doesn’t follow the rules and your extra space wasn’t extra enough, when the two of you end up in the same lane at the same time the officer investigating the collision will likely place the burden of responsibility on the driver who didn’t stay in their lane. Even if you’re proven in the right, that’s little solace when you still have to take your car to the repair shop, or worse, get some repairs yourself.
When a driver at a traffic light in the left turn lane gets a green arrow facing left, this is a protected turn, and the driver has the right of way to turn left. A driver from the opposite direction in the right turn lane will have a red light in that situation. If he decides to turn right on red, he must make sure it is safe to do so. When riding with students who are the one attempting the right turn on red, I have noticed that they look left and right, but don’t always check across the intersection for the left turners having a protected turn. If both go through with their turn, and the left turner crosses over into our lane and a collision occurs, I tell my student that while the other driver erred by not turning into the nearest lane, the student made a worse error by deciding to turn right on red when the intersection was not clear.
That’s the law in WA, turn to the nearest lane. Unfortunately, a lot of WA drivers (and out of state drivers) are not aware of this. Err on the side of caution. There is one example I know of, where turning to the nearest lane is not practical, but it probably comes up in other locales. My town has two lanes one direction and next block over is two lanes the other direction. (main arterials) Accessing one of the arterials out of town (East Bay Dr in Olympia) from the West involves a left turn onto two lanes. Legally one should use the left lane. However, in the very NEXT block after, Only one lane continues: the RIGHT lane. The left lane is a left turn only, and it’s only a half-block from the corner. Thus, to be legal, one would have to take the inside lane, but then immediately transfer to the right lane in order to be in the correct lane for East Bay Drive. It wasn’t always that way, but they cut two lanes to one to make a left turn-only lane for the big LUMBER TRUCKS that use this route. I think it is more dangerous, in this situation, to use the legally-appropriate lane. It’s kind of bad city planning, too.