5 Solutions to Left Turn Accidents, And Why They're All Rubbish.

Introduction

Alternative intersection design is a hot topic with people who, quite frankly, don’t know how to drive. Seriously. It seems that the inability to be able to make a safe left hand turn (for those who drive on the left) has become such a hazard that it’s a matter of public safety. UPS and FedEx have instituted no-left-turn policies for their drivers, a move which they believe has saved them millions of dollars.

However, it seems that the cure might be worse than the left-turn sickness. Here’s a list of “solutions” that seem to do more harm than good.

The Jughandle/New Jersey Left

Aptly named due to its appearance from above, the main purpose of the jughandle is to get left-turning traffic away from the main flow of through traffic by diverting all turning traffic to the right of the thoroughfare. This turning lane is what characterizes the jughandle. This significantly reduces the backlog of left-turning traffic, and also keeps traffic from having to turn directly against traffic.

Why it sucks: In practice, like many other alternative intersection designs, it’s kind of confusing to the uninitiated. Signage might be able to get around this problem, but there’s still ample opportunity for a jackwagon to make a left from the left-hand through traffic lane, creating a migraine for everyone else. In addition, while they might eliminate the left-turn hazard, it’s clear to see that they create their own new problems, as well. What’s more, because jughandle intersections require a lot of space, they’re often impractical in many cases.

Left Turn Signals

This seems to be the most common and cost-effective solution to getting t-boned. The premise is pretty simple—make it illegal for people in the dedicated left-turn lane to turn left unless a traffic signal tells them they can do so. That signal is only activated when all other cross-traffic has been signalled to stop. Pretty quick and easy solution, right?

Why it sucks: There’s one pretty big inconvenience with left-turn signals—they create huge queues of left-turning traffic in peak hours. On streets with equal amounts of parallel traffic flow, this would happen anyway. But on streets with a disproportionate amount of traffic flow (a highway leaving the city with a turnoff into a suburb, for example), you can wait upwards of 3 minutes for a left signal when nobody is coming for miles. In rush hour, these lines can be so long that they actually backlog into through traffic, creating a fatal hazard in the texting-and-driving era.

The Michigan Left

Another “solution” to left turns is the so-called “Michigan left”. The idea behind this is pretty simple—make left turning traffic drive past the intersection, and then give them a dedicated U-turn lane so they can approach the intersection from the opposite side, which allows them to ultimately make a right instead of a left. In addition, perpendicular traffic can also turn right into the U-turn lane so they don’t have to make a left, either.

Why it sucks: I fail to see how this makes the actual left turn any safer. OK, so you can make a quick U-ball if the road is designed so that you have your own dedicated lane. But to make the right, you’ll have to make a pretty quick lane change across 2 or 3 lanes of traffic, which is an absolute nightmare in practice. On streets where there’s enough traffic to warrant a left-turn redesign, I’d almost be inclined to say that the Michigan left actually makes things worse.

The Roundabout

To all the drivers of the world that don’t live in North America, this solution seems pretty smart. Have all traffic go in the same circle, yield going in, signal when you go out. As a North American motorist through and through, I think the idea of a roundabout is brilliant. For the most part, anyway…

Why it sucks: Aside from the fact that roundabouts require large tracts of real estate which make them impractical in a lot of situations, the biggest issue with roundabouts is that many of my peers just can’t seem to figure them out. And it’s the clueless few who cause all the other drivers to rage-quit. In my hometown, we once had a roundabout at the intersection of our major peripheral freeway and one of our primary east-west business corridors. It was such a fustercluck that the city quashed it in favour of an interchange.

The Good Ol' Interchange

A measure of last resort, albeit a pretty damn effective one. The interchange eliminates the at-grade intersection altogether, controlling access to the roadway. By and large, interchanges are hugely effective.

Why it sucks: There’s a reason why interchanges aren’t everywhere. They are expensive, vast, complex, and impractical in the majority of situations. In addition, they often cause traffic purgatory in the construction phase. They also require careful engineering and constant maintenance and scrutiny, lest we see a repeat of the Laval bridge collapse of 2004…

Final Verdict

It’s a tough pill to swallow, but we’re likely not going to engineer ourselves out of the left-turn debauchery. It’s simply not possible in the majority of cases. Unless self-driving cars and public transportation take over, our best hope is seriously going to be to just get better at making left turns and not driving like maniacs through intersections. Isn’t it ironic how the simplest solutions are also the most impossible?