Safe Left Turns
Like many novice cyclists, making left turns in traffic scared the hell out of me for years. The idea of hovering in the middle of the lane with cars behind me waiting to turn, cars across from me turning left, cars to the right of me turning right on red, cars to the left of me turning right on red, cars screeching around me to go straight...it was just too much.
Gradually, I became less terrified of this situation—I learned to become hyper-aware of my surroundings by pricking up my ears and listening for the sounds of cars in my peripheral vision. I stuck my whole arm out to signal. I tried to make eye contact with drivers behind me at a light, and if they were on their phone or didn't see me for some reason, I'd put on my politician/granny act, waving and smiling at them with exaggerated sweeps. The hardest part was maintaining a slow enough speed to do all this gesticulating without falling off my bicycle.
So, now that I'm riding with a young one on the rear deck, I am back to being frightened of left turns, especially at very busy intersections. There's one in Newton that I avoided entirely for a few weeks, going a mile or so out of my way to get around it. It's at the corner of Lexington and River. You would think that negotiating intersections in the suburbs would not be scary, and on the map this one looks pretty tame. But you would be wrong.
There's a light, but no turn signals. People are zipping around on their way to work, cutting each other off, inching into the crosswalk to see around the parked cars, making rights on red, turning quickly in front of cars going straight, and generally being the stupendous drivers Boston is famous for. It's also a walkable area, so there are pedestrians to add to the mix, some with strollers and dogs attached.
But I've decided to stop worrying and love the crossing.
My strategy for turning left is now to go straight on Lexington through the intersection on the green light and stop at the opposite side. I'm now facing the way I want to be going, and I have to wait at the red light. The cars that have been sitting there see me clearly crossing in front of them. I have to wiggle my bike into the right position to cross, so drivers can't miss me. The light then turns green, and I go straight with the traffic onto River Street.
This process might sound annoying to you—as it did to me at first. I just wanted to quickly be on my way. But with a three-year-old riding with me, I needed to bike safer. I had to be extremely visible. I couldn't cut across oncoming traffic and hope that the drivers would see me and brake.
It turns out that the Dutch are now designing intersections with this method of crossing as their principle. There are green bike lanes inside the crosswalks clearly marking where bikes should go.
As I began using this technique, I noticed two things: (1) it was actually quicker than waiting for the cars going straight to turn; (2) if I used this method at night I felt much, much safer. I didn't have to go super slow, braking and waving wildly at the same time, and I didn't have to get off my bike and walk.
It's now my preferred way to make left turns. I suggest you try it.
Gradually, I became less terrified of this situation—I learned to become hyper-aware of my surroundings by pricking up my ears and listening for the sounds of cars in my peripheral vision. I stuck my whole arm out to signal. I tried to make eye contact with drivers behind me at a light, and if they were on their phone or didn't see me for some reason, I'd put on my politician/granny act, waving and smiling at them with exaggerated sweeps. The hardest part was maintaining a slow enough speed to do all this gesticulating without falling off my bicycle.
So, now that I'm riding with a young one on the rear deck, I am back to being frightened of left turns, especially at very busy intersections. There's one in Newton that I avoided entirely for a few weeks, going a mile or so out of my way to get around it. It's at the corner of Lexington and River. You would think that negotiating intersections in the suburbs would not be scary, and on the map this one looks pretty tame. But you would be wrong.
There's a light, but no turn signals. People are zipping around on their way to work, cutting each other off, inching into the crosswalk to see around the parked cars, making rights on red, turning quickly in front of cars going straight, and generally being the stupendous drivers Boston is famous for. It's also a walkable area, so there are pedestrians to add to the mix, some with strollers and dogs attached.
My strategy for turning left is now to go straight on Lexington through the intersection on the green light and stop at the opposite side. I'm now facing the way I want to be going, and I have to wait at the red light. The cars that have been sitting there see me clearly crossing in front of them. I have to wiggle my bike into the right position to cross, so drivers can't miss me. The light then turns green, and I go straight with the traffic onto River Street.
This process might sound annoying to you—as it did to me at first. I just wanted to quickly be on my way. But with a three-year-old riding with me, I needed to bike safer. I had to be extremely visible. I couldn't cut across oncoming traffic and hope that the drivers would see me and brake.
 |
Dutch intersection design, explained by
Momentum Mag in this video. |
As I began using this technique, I noticed two things: (1) it was actually quicker than waiting for the cars going straight to turn; (2) if I used this method at night I felt much, much safer. I didn't have to go super slow, braking and waving wildly at the same time, and I didn't have to get off my bike and walk.
It's now my preferred way to make left turns. I suggest you try it.
That's a Copenhagen left turn! We learned it there and use it all the time at busy SF intersections.
ReplyDeleteI love that..."Copenhagen left turn." I'm going to have to start using that phrase!
DeleteI do this all the time in Cambridge, at the intersection of Vassar Street and Beacon Street.
ReplyDeleteYes a Copenhagen left or box turn or two-stage left... It is now one of the three recommended left turn options for the City of Cambridge and I am currently working on getting it to be more common up here in Salem (where I currently work). I will see if the Newton BAC has officially recommended it, I am a newish member so I am not sure if they have discussed it yet.
ReplyDeleteThat said there are many intersections that I will use this on, I am quite skilled on my bike and reasonably comfortable in mixed traffic but there are intersections that this makes the crossing very very safe. An extension of the Dutch work, they have been doing this for years but at their intersections where you might have to make a left you get an all green light just for bikes which allows you to make the left quickly and all in one movement (around the outside, it is also why they love roundabouts and commonly give bikes priority on all legs so cars must stops if a bike is going through). Some larger intersections you do have to take in two stages but their light cycles are shorter in general so by the time you get yourself into position in the cycletrack the light has sometimes already changed.
I am not typically at that intersection or if I am it is just going straight to the recycling center but I would be making a two-stage turn here for sure!
Yep -- the Copenhagen Left for bikes is a lot like the Michigan Left for cars (and bikes) -- which works pretty well throughout the Great Lakes State: http://www.michiganhighways.org/indepth/michigan_left.html
ReplyDeletei'm going to try this. at some major intersections I get on the sidewalk and use the all walk signal and then use that to go from curb to roadway. my bike is quite fat and it feels slightly more comfortable this way. I'm going to try your way too.
ReplyDelete