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WIDE TURNS

There was a time when I thought I’d be safe turning left or right onto a three- or four-lane road as long as I did the usual things, such as looking for pedestrians and oncoming traffic. For example, if I make a right turn into the lane I’m supposed to — the curb lane — and someone turning left from the opposite direction turns into the lane they’re supposed to — the leftmost lane — then there should still be at least a one-lane buffer between us, right? Alas, my naive reliance on people either knowing or caring about the rules is long gone. Must have been that time I’d barely rounded a corner and some guy in a gargantuan Ram pickup made a left turn so wide he crossed a few time zones and nearly took off the front end of my VW. “If you’re making a right turn, you need to be in the curb lane. You can’t turn from the curb lane to the centre lane,” Stacey says. Vehicles turning onto the same road from opposite directions can proceed at the same time — as long as the way is clear and they’re not competing for a single lane, adds Stacey: If there’s only one lane to turn into, the right-turning vehicle has the right of way.

THE CRAWLING LANE CHANGE

These are the boors who slow to a crawl or stop until someone lets them in. Think of eastbound Memorial at Deerfoot Trail during evening rush hour: the right hand lane exits straight onto southbound Deerfoot Trail and usually keeps moving; the next lane over is for traffic going onto northbound Deerfoot, which inevitably backs up for several blocks because the on-ramp is on the other side of the lights. That’s when a bunch of self-important jerks decide to zip past in the lane to the left and try to force their way in at the front. As they get closer to the exit and more desperate when people don’t let them in, they hit the brakes and wait. What used to be a free-flowing lane of traffic now has an obstruction — one that might force the people behind to take evasive action to prevent a collision, or at the very least, avoid getting stuck. “Most of the (infractions) we’re talking about are a matter of people not having patience. So many collisions can be avoided if people just had patience,” Stacey says.

jvanrassel@calgaryherald.com

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