This week's traffic talk deals with a topic I get A LOT of questions about.

When I say a lot, I mean that at last count I had no less than 20 emails and comments from readers asking me to clarify the rules for using the center left turn lane for merging with traffic.

Like this one, from reader Mark:

And this one, from reader Navin:

My co-worker, Jeff Haywood, first asked me about this six months ago AND he even sent me a Google Earth road sceenshot to illustrate his point.

Check it out over on the right ---->

Of course I went to Michigan State Police traffic law expert Sgt. Mike Church for clarification.

This was one those questions where Church said he immediately knew the answer.

"It is not legal to use a turn lane in that way," Church said.

"The hard part is explaining why it is not legal," he said. "Trust me, if this is a difficult question for me then it will be difficult for the general public."

Church said his predecessor, Sgt. Lance Cook, sent him an e-mail in January that gives a succinct explanation:

That e-mail said, "[W]hen I developed that course and taught it for MSU, I clearly advised that the left turn lane was not available as a merge or acceleration lane, and is only available for use by vehicles for a reasonable distance in preparation for a left-hand turn from an adjacent lane... The tricky part of all of this is that this is not specified in the Michigan Vehicle Code but is found in the Michigan Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MMUTCD) and applied to the Michigan Vehicle Code through (this section to this section)."

MORE TRAFFIC TALK:

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What are the rules for funeral processions? Do drivers have to pull over?



When turning, do drivers have to stay in the closest available lane?

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The Michigan Vehicle Code does not say whether driving in the turn lane is allowed. But, Church said, the vehicle code does say the MMUTCD determines what signs, lane markings, etc. mean. And, under the MMUTCD, driving in a turn lane is not allowed.

To make matters worse, he said, the MMUTCD is 836 pages long, and written for traffic engineers.

"In other words, it is a technical manual that is not easily accessible to the public," Church said.

"I can e-mail you a PDF of the MMUTCD, but it certainly is not enjoyable reading," he added.

Yeeeeeah. I really don't think I'll be reading that anytime soon. I'm just going to choose to believe Cook and Church know best.

So, to recap. It is illegal to use the center turn lane to merge with traffic.

Please don't ask me to explain why (see above complicated answer).

As always, please let us know what other traffic laws you'd like us to tackle. You can leave those questions below or send an email to localnews@grpress.com

And finally, just so you readers know, this is the last time I will be posting traffic talk.

Don't worry!

You'll still be able to get your traffic talk fix, as the plan is for this MLive feature to continue. It's just that my replacement is yet to be named.

In the meantime, this is me signing off.

I have enjoyed answering your questions and learning new things right along with the rest of you. Thank you so much for reading.

E-mail Kyla King: kking@grpress.com and follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/KYLking