Current Events > Question about driving at an intersection.

(+) Yeah! (+)

When you're driving and waiting in the middle of an intersection and there is a big truck in front you trying to go in the same direction, what do you do? Do you wait until you can clearly see that there are no incoming cars, or do you presume that it's okay to cross the intersection right after the truck?

My uber driver decided to go in the middle of an intersection when there was a big truck in front of us. We clearly couldn't see if there were no incoming cars, but he just presumed that since the truck went, there would be enough space for us to cross the intersection as well. As it turned out, right after the truck passed, there was an incoming car right in front of us. If I didn't say anything to the driver, I think the car would have crashed into us. Was I in the wrong to tell my uber driver that he was being reckless or is this type of driving behavior expected at an intersection?

I can't tell if this is sarcastic/rhetorical or not. Obviously you wait.

KainWind posted...

I can't tell if this is sarcastic/rhetorical or not. Obviously you wait.

I forgot to mention that I don't know how to drive. I'm just basing my assessment on the standard of care that a reasonable person would oblige to, based on the rules of negligence and strict liability. I wasn't sure if that same assessment applied to the rules of the road.

Well, if you're waiting in the middle of an intersection, you're already in the wrong.

You should always be checking to see if it's safe to turn first before you actually move, regardless of any deductive leaps you might have arrived to based on the presence of a large truck turning in front of you.

There was this damn intersection that I used to drive through everyday after work. If you were in the left turn lane, and the oncoming traffic had somebody in the left turn lane, it was almost impossible to see if there was any traffic coming due to the incline and curvature of the road. I was so tired getting honked at for refusing to turn, but when I couldn't tell if somebody was barreling forward at 45mph, I wasn't going to risk it. One of the best days of my life is when they added a red left turn arrow.

They were trying to piggyback behind the truck at a left hand turn? That's definitely in the wrong and dangerous as a lot of truckers in traffic will turn without having enough time and just expect the cross traffic to stop to let them finish their turn, which gives anyone behind them zero time at all.

KainWind posted...

I can't tell if this is sarcastic/rhetorical or not. Obviously you wait.

Wait. Thats just flipping a coin.

Your view of that lane is restricted for way down the road.

TodorokiHayato posted...

I forgot to mention that I don't know how to drive.

If the other car is going straight with a green light then everyone turning is supposed to yield to them.