Post by Bo/CCPU Founder on Oct 7, 2015 18:28:33 GMT -6
PLEASE pay attention to turn signals, withOUT assuming you know another driver's intentions!
Was traveling down a small-town city street earlier this afternoon. Stopped at a stop sign, and signaled left. Made my turn, and noted that a rather elderly lady (white hair) was sitting down at the bottom of the small hill I was moving onto, on my right, ['t' intersection] about 30-40' away. She looked very impatient as I came by her, and the street I was on (North St.) has angle parking on both sides, in front of a park. I wanted to angle park on the left, so I already had my left signal on as I passed her location at the 'T' intersection, directly across from the park I was going to. I moved over to the right (slightly) in my lane because I wanted to swing around to get the correct angle to make it inside the lines of the space, which angled away from my direction of travel, since they were on the opposite side of the road. As I did so, she made her right turn, (saw that in mirror) and [apparently] assumed I was confused (remember, the blinker was on the whole time I passed her, but I didn't activate it until I was almost to her location at the incoming street) and flew by me on the left, before I could swing into the parking space.
The silly thing is that she was heading for another 't' just ahead (about 150' farther down the road) that had a light that had just turned red. Fortunately I had my eye on her the whole time in my mirror(s) and didn't execute the swing until after she'd passed. Most drivers probably would have just whipped it on over without checking to their left; (or in center/side mirrors) & she would have t-boned my driver's side, had I done so. She would've have been 'at fault', since I was ahead of her and clearly signaling my intention to cross over to the left. I don't think she had any clue I was trying to park, and obviously you can't turn into a park by jumping a curb where there's no entranceway, so she wasn't paying much attention to me and the way the street was laid out, or she'd have just paused slightly like you do when someone crosses the center line ahead of you to go into a driveway on the left. NOPE...she had to zoom-zoom down to that next corner, where I noted she sat for at least 20-30 seconds before getting a green. She and I both went home in one piece, but only because I expected her NOT to understand my actions, and yielded to her silly decision to blow by a car on the left side, clearly signaling LEFT!
Was traveling down a small-town city street earlier this afternoon. Stopped at a stop sign, and signaled left. Made my turn, and noted that a rather elderly lady (white hair) was sitting down at the bottom of the small hill I was moving onto, on my right, ['t' intersection] about 30-40' away. She looked very impatient as I came by her, and the street I was on (North St.) has angle parking on both sides, in front of a park. I wanted to angle park on the left, so I already had my left signal on as I passed her location at the 'T' intersection, directly across from the park I was going to. I moved over to the right (slightly) in my lane because I wanted to swing around to get the correct angle to make it inside the lines of the space, which angled away from my direction of travel, since they were on the opposite side of the road. As I did so, she made her right turn, (saw that in mirror) and [apparently] assumed I was confused (remember, the blinker was on the whole time I passed her, but I didn't activate it until I was almost to her location at the incoming street) and flew by me on the left, before I could swing into the parking space.
The silly thing is that she was heading for another 't' just ahead (about 150' farther down the road) that had a light that had just turned red. Fortunately I had my eye on her the whole time in my mirror(s) and didn't execute the swing until after she'd passed. Most drivers probably would have just whipped it on over without checking to their left; (or in center/side mirrors) & she would have t-boned my driver's side, had I done so. She would've have been 'at fault', since I was ahead of her and clearly signaling my intention to cross over to the left. I don't think she had any clue I was trying to park, and obviously you can't turn into a park by jumping a curb where there's no entranceway, so she wasn't paying much attention to me and the way the street was laid out, or she'd have just paused slightly like you do when someone crosses the center line ahead of you to go into a driveway on the left. NOPE...she had to zoom-zoom down to that next corner, where I noted she sat for at least 20-30 seconds before getting a green. She and I both went home in one piece, but only because I expected her NOT to understand my actions, and yielded to her silly decision to blow by a car on the left side, clearly signaling LEFT!
Street looks just like this, minus the double lanes:
^ Click to ENlarge ^