Ok, no making fun of my illustration here.

I was in my truck, (Blue) waiting to cross the street straight across. There was an older lady in a Buick Rendezvous (Pink) trying to turn into the parking lot I was leaving.

Traffic was backing up at the traffic light so a guy trying to be nice (Red) stopped so she could turn in front of him. So she did... but she didn't see the guy on the other side of him coming up at 35mph in an Impala (Green).

So she turned in front of him, he hit her in the passenger's front fender and pushed her towards me. Once they stopped they were about 2ft from the corner of my bumper. The Impala is toast, I didn't see how bad the Buick got it. All in all it worked out pretty well, both driver's were fine, my truck didn't get hit and there's a possibility that two GM products died.

Anyway, i'm getting used to driving a truck this long and I was thinking that maybe being that nice guy, stopping short of the backup to let someone turn in might do more harm than good. The nice guy in this case was in a crew cab with a topper and that's why the lady couldn't see the Impala coming up.

 

well at least you used a blue dot for ford

 

I see that stuff happen a lot, someone wants to re-write the rules and try to direct traffic.. I NEVER trust those moves, that's what traffic controls are for..

 

Hey, your illustration sucks!!!!!!





Kidding of course!!!!

 

Yes, you certainly have to use your best judgement on whether to "let somebody cross" or the like, as you have no control over any cars in the other lanes. I generally try to do this only when all lanes of traffic are already stopped and somebody wants to turn into a parking lot across them.

Just a couple of days ago, I was at an intersection making a left turn where I had to yield the right of way to oncoming trafffic (which I was doing), and this guy from the opposite direction comes to a complete stop so I could turn, thinking he was doing me a favor. I waved him through and he was ticked off at ME!??

If you have the right of way, and you come to a complete stop when you shouldn't be doing so, just trying to be nice, you're more than likely to be the CAUSE of an accident. Stupid . . .

Glad you missed being involved in the carnage (or truckage ); it's a real drag to get involved in accidents.

 

^^ This ^^ See it often enough, that if in a rare occasion I would "help" someone making this type of turn, the inside lane would have to be clear of any oncoming traffic. Usually it's not, so I don't. That defines the "rare"

 

I was the one let across once ... I took out a Saturn in the inside lane doing about 45. I ended up about 25 yards from where I started 3 feet from a gas pump when I came to a stop.

 

Done that myself before too, someone let someone make a left and I hit the jerk. Hit his chevy 1500 bumper pretty good and damaged the dodge cargo vans fender and bumper I was driving. Then he has the nerve to say Im wrong? I said F it and called the cops who let me go and gave him a ticket.

 

Actually red dot will be found at fault for all this

 

was it just one lane for red and green or was it two lane? tunring lanes?

 

It would if there are witnesses that make statements... Most don't or worse , lie

 

Red dot would not be at fault. When you are given an opportunity to turn across a lane(s), it is SOLEY your responsibility to make sure that other lanes/cars are complying as well. The right of way can be yielded only one lane a time in this case. If you choose to turn left, having been given the right-of-way in one lane, you still have to make sure the other lanes are clear. If you cannot, you should not turn.

I have also seen cars hit in exactly the same scenario.

 

It's not the red dot's fault at all, the pink dot made the decision to go. Anyway he left as soon as they hit each other, it was obvious that they were both ok. The funny part of the thing was that the backed up traffic got a green light and moved on, but the red dot decided to stay and continue to try and be nice. But since the traffic had cleared out the guy in the impala had no reason to be going slower than the 35mph limit.

It was two lanes for each direction plus a turning lane. Pink was in the turning lane and Red was in the lane closest to the turn lane. Green was in the lane next to me.

@Dizzy, you're right and the fact is that this sort of "helping" should only ever be attempted if you are in the closest lane to the curb or in the very rare case that both you and the person in the lane next to you both stop to let someone across at the same time.