So this has been annoying me lately; drivers leaving excessive spacing when stopped for a red light. I get it, you don’t want to be right on the next guys bumper, you should leave space to escape if the guy in front stalls or somebody tries to carjack you. But 2-3 car lengths? It really bugs me when they do it in a left turn lane causing a back up to the travel lane resulting in overall congestion. Or, if they’re first at the light, they don’t pull up far enough to reach the road sensors that trigger a light change. I haven’t been able to isolate to a specific demographic, seems to be young, old, black, white, you name it. Maybe they’re just stoned at the wheel. I’m tempted to roll down my window and ask ‘wtf’? I’m in the Northeast US. Has anybody else witnessed this?

    • orclev@lemmy.worldEnglish
      125·
      11 hours ago

      No it isn’t, you’re not required by law to use a turn signal in a turn only lane. If I was giving a driving test I’d fail you for using a turn signal in the turn only lane as it demonstrates you don’t know the law.

      • miss_demeanour@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        151·
        11 hours ago

        I was a Driver Examiner in the Province of Ontario.
        You wouldn’t fail for this, but it is an infraction.
        You must ALWAYS SIGNAL YOUR INTENTION.

        Also, cite this ‘law’ you pulled from your ass.

      • BassTurd@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        10 hours ago

        There isn’t a federal law on turn signal use that I can find and it’s left up to the individual states. Every law I looked at said you have to have a continuous signal before the turn and when turning into a different lane. I did not see any exceptions listed anywhere, including turn lanes.

        When turning from a turn lane, to a different lane, that is a change of lane and therefore falls under the law. If you have any other evidence to the contrary or happen to live in a state that I didn’t check where that is an exception, I and the others here would love if you’d source that. If you can’t, then you’re just making shit up and should just take the “L”.

        • orclev@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11·
          4 hours ago

          The only law in my state that requires usage of turn signals states this:

          No person may turn a vehicle from a direct course or move right or left upon a highway unless and until such movement can be made with reasonable safety, and then only after giving an appropriate signal in the manner hereinafter provided, in the event any other vehicle may be affected by the movement.

          The key there is “direct course”. The direct course in a dedicated turn lane is the turn, so no signal is required. If it’s a turn or straight lane it is required as in that case the direct course is straight.

        • orclev@lemmy.worldEnglish
          110·
          11 hours ago

          What law, that’s the point, no law requires usage of a turn signal in a turn only lane. There is no law that requires that and a driving test is testing that you’re following the laws. It’s the same as if you turned on your turn signal in a straight lane and then didn’t change lanes.