Very close call in Michigan

[Genki]

Was headed home and there was a few cars waiting to make a left turn. There is legal passing lane on the right and I moved over there when suddenly one of the vehicle in the middle of left turn changed mine and moved right in front of me. I was very close to hitting that idiot driver who seems to not realize how mirrors worked or how to shoulder-check.

Taken with a 2-years old G1W camera

 

[Aero]

Whoa! That was close! Good save

 

[BMbler]

Close indeed, well driven (breaked, pulled over) avoided colission... And had cam running (Y)

 

[MiiHere]

Clearly they had no idea what they were doing, thank goodness for quick reactions and good brakes.

I've never seen a lane for passing like that. Are they frequently used?

 

[Gibson99]

Clearly they had no idea what they were doing, thank goodness for quick reactions and good brakes.

I've never seen a lane for passing like that. Are they frequently used?

yes, basically the truck was in a dedicated left turn lane, but then changed his mind and pulled into the right lane without looking.

 

[MiiHere]

the truck was in a dedicated left turn lane

A dedicated left hand turn lane to me would mean you could only turn left. It looks like a 2 lane highway with a little strip of road to go around folks turning left.

I watched it again and there appears to be a car turning left, in front of the truck, so he was doing like the OP - using the right passing strip, just not realizing the OP was in it already. My original thought of them being lost was in accurate, they were simply just stupid.

 

[Gibson99]

i didn't see what the truck was trying to go around - debris, another car, whatever... there's no doubt that the driver acted stupidly though.

 

[flank]

I've never seen a lane for passing like that. Are they frequently used?

I've never seen that either, but it looks like a good idea so other cars wouldn't get stuck behind the one turning.

 

[DT MI]

...I've never seen a lane for passing like that. Are they frequently used?

They are quite common in rural areas.

 

[MiiHere]

They are quite common in rural areas.

They are quite genius, though if the area is rural it seems like it wouldn't be needed. The rural that I'm use to doesn't get backed up.

 

[DT MI]

They are quite genius, though if the area is rural it seems like it wouldn't be needed. The rural that I'm use to doesn't get backed up.

Where I usually see them is in relatively 'high population' rural areas. Normally they are at a 'T' intersection on a 2 lane road where there's a higher rate of left turning traffic.

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.7726717,-85.464814,130m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

[Gibson99]

They are quite genius, though if the area is rural it seems like it wouldn't be needed. The rural that I'm use to doesn't get backed up.

In some rural areas, that probably is THE major intersection in town! Locals may give it an important sounding name like The Interchange or maybe Four Corners (if it's a four way). Course in the town I grew up in, it was just the two major highways' numbers: 90 and 603. And we had bumper stickers: "Pray for me... I drive 603"

 

[DT MI]

Here's another one in a not so rural, actually very suburban, area that gets a lot of left turn traffic at times:

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.5577076,-82.9704047,109m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

[Genki]

i didn't see what the truck was trying to go around - debris, another car, whatever... there's no doubt that the driver acted stupidly though.

There was another car in front of the truck also making left turn. At the time, 2 cars and a truck were all in a line to make a left turn when the truck decided to go around instead.

the passing lane is quite common in rural Michigan at busy "T" intersections. On M-15 for example, there are a few between Davison and Millington. The design was to allow car moving through to get around any car that are stuck waiting to make a left turn. If there is no left turn traffic, traffic can just go through rather than going to the side passing lane.