Traffic courtesy

[Spitpatch]

The second sentence is not false because everybody is stopped. So anybody can yield. Nobody is moving, nobody crashes and nobody is moving because everybody yielded. And everybody yielded because everybody can and therefore must, apparently. Sounds like a bad law.

You may argue with yourself, having said "Any one at any time COULD yield the right of way." ("at any time" certainly includes while in motion at an intersection).

Perhaps you meant, "Any one stopped at the intersection..."

"Any one at any time" at an intersection may not be able to yield. The law works if everyone is familiar with it. Check the lack of such familiarity in the number of responses believing "first there has right of way." (It's a courtesy only.)

No extra charge for this extra service. Drive Safely.

 

[TTSX]

You may argue with yourself, having said "Any one at any time COULD yield the right of way." ("at any time" certainly includes while in motion at an intersection).

Perhaps you meant, "Any one stopped at the intersection..."

"Any one at any time" at an intersection may not be able to yield. The law works if everyone is familiar with it. Check the lack of such familiarity in the number of responses believing "first there has right of way." (It's a courtesy only.)

No extra charge for this extra service. Drive Safely.

Either you don't understand what I'm saying or I don't understand what you're saying. I think we're miscommunicating here, so I'll just thank you for your time and move along...

 

[gmerkt]

"At intersections with two-way stop signs across from each other, the driver turning left should yield the right of way to approaching or oncoming traffic going straight."

How long is the left turner supposed to wait if there is a succession of vehicles opposite who are all going straight?

It's almost impossible to pull this off every time, but the "UPS left" has gotten me around crappy intersections before

My dad used to advocate for this years ago. I do it sometimes because in congested areas, it's easier. But watch out for bicycles, electric scooters, and pedestrians. Left turns are inherently dangerous.

Ever notice the logarithmic increase of traffic signage when you cross the border from Oregon to Washington

In some places, there is such a profusion of signs that they are a distraction to safe driving. Meaning, there are too many for a driver to try to read and comprehend them in the space posted.

 

[Bobbygun]

How long is the left turner supposed to wait if there is a succession of vehicles opposite who are all going straight?

(nanoseconds)

You do realize I provided the answer to your question on page 1?

 

[CamoDeafie]

How long is the left turner supposed to wait if there is a succession of vehicles opposite who are all going straight?

If its at a stopped intersection (2 way, 4 way, even 3 way); way i see it, after the first person to go straight across from you if you're turning left, is your turn on a stop.

If you've the misfortune of being in a left turn lane without a stop sign for the oncoming parallel traffic, the first opening you can do, is yours, the stopped traffic on the perpendiculars have to yield to you or the oncoming traffic.

 

[Catfishmoon]

Well, I'll just have to agree with that.

I have come to realize that I sound smarter and wiser than I actually am if I keep my original thoughts unspoken and to myself and simply agree with and repost more rationally stated postings.

 

[MikeInOr]

You were definitely in the right and had the right of way.

BUT I encounter this often on my way home. I always make eye contact with the opposing driver and make my intention known by putting my hand above the steering wheel telling them to stop. IF they want to be a stupid ahole I just let them go. Many (often women) are so busy doing everything BUT driving they aren't paying attention to what is going on in which case I flash my head lights to establish contact.

Another situation I often come across is when both me and the opposing car are taking a left onto the highway. I turn my car to about 30 degrees to the left so it is obvious that we can BOTH take a left at the same time and miss each other with PLENTY of room. Most people get my obvious gesture.

When I was younger I gave a hoot about proper etiquette but have mellowed over the years. EXCEPT for the butts that speed up from 52 mph to 65 mph in the passing lane of single lane highways. Or the guys that see a lane closure and want to drive around all the waiting cars and want to cut in to the open lane in front of everyone else. I haven't mellowed enough to put up with those idiots!

For my contribution to making the roads a better place I have taught my daughter to be a safe and courteous driver, which I know she is. But her friends report that she unknowingly cusses like a sailor (at her steering wheel, not fellow motorists) when ever she is driving. I have no clue where she gets that from!

She has also been taught to NOT block the entire isle with her cart when shopping at the supermarket... AMAZING, isn't it!

 

[MTpockets]

 

[AMT]

Oregon Department of Transportation : Oregon Driver Manual - Turns & Intersections : Oregon Driver & Motor Vehicle Services : State of Oregon

www.oregon.gov

"At intersections with stop signs in all four directions, it is common courtesy to allow the driver who stops first to go first. When in doubt, yield to the driver on your right. Never assume another driver will yield the right of way to you."

"At intersections with two-way stop signs across from each other, the driver turning left should yield the right of way to approaching or oncoming traffic going straight."

What's this "common courtesy" thing to which they refer?

My wife's rule of thumb (that she was taught)....

If you have to cross traffic, you do not have the right of way.

That has pretty much been my mantra since she said it.

 

[MikeInOr]

Down here we have a plethora of passive/ aggressive drivers where at a 4 way stop will wave you to go first then move forward when you do causing you to stop then wave you forward, wash rinse and repeat.

At a 4 way stop if we are anywhere close to hitting the stop sign at the same time I will wave the other guy through. The guys understand and proceed. The women think I am complementing them on their hair dew and flirting with them so they pause to enjoy the moment as they subconsciously flip their hair over their shoulder!?!?!?!?

 

[Nosferatu]

When I'm on the motorcycle, I will always wave the opposing driver to proceed first. I don't need any kind of confusion in those moments that results in my body being pinned under Karens minivan.

 

[CLT65]

Learn something new all the time...

I always thought that first to the intersection had the right of way. That's how I've always driven, and how I've seen others drive. That said, I never quibble over it, and if another vehicle appears inclined to go first, I just let them go.

Even now, having been "educated" by this thread, if I were to pull up to an intersection to go straight, and the guy opposite me was turning left but had been waiting his turn before my arrival; I would let him go first without question. Law or not, it's only the decent thing to do.

The "other guy" in the original post, legally in the right or not, was a jerk. That's just my opinion though. The world is full of jerks, always has been, always will be. The best you can do is to try to not be one yourself. Personally I think flipping off or cussing out other drivers is jerk behavior, never done it myself, though many times I've thought it.

 

[Mikej]

What really makes me crazy is those that try to "Out-Courteous", me, is what I call it! Driving a little neighborhood street that is too narrow with cars parked to pass each other. I will spy a spot to pull over and wait for the oncoming car to pass by me. But NO, the other car will pull over AFTER I have. I'll sit there! And then of course there are the "brain-trusts" that don't have the brain power to know the basic rule of 4-way stops. Getting to the stop at the same time, person on right goes first. I'll wait there too. Depending on mood, I'll shut off the GD car, and step out and lean on the roof, staring at the idiot.

 

[64MercurysRule]

I'd pay good money to watch Mike outwit the uneducated .

 

[Alexx1401]

Funny how up here everyone singles out the vehicles with Oregon plates as aggressively bad drivers (especially young guys in a big black Ram or lifted white F-150). But having driven a lot throughout Oregon and Idaho, I don't think one can award Washington the honor of the PNW state with the worst drivers...

I think Gig Harbor was the city that started the roundabout frivolity up here, and in the last twenty-something years, the wealthy (and mostly older) denizens of that fine community still haven't learned how to property enter and exit any of its roundabouts. Woman entered the roundabout while I was in it, sideswiped my truck with her Mercedes, she immediately got out (after we'd both exited) of her car, dialed 911, told the responding officer that I was at fault, screamed at me that she was gonna miss her hair appointment. Why I am a believer in dashcams.

Decades back a couple we knew who were "interesting" to say the least. U place had put roundabouts in. They are visiting kids. Husband goes to store for something after dark. Manages do crash into the curb at roundabout. Comes home. His Wife tells him he "has to" call the Police or insurance will not fix their car. So he calls. LEO comes out and hands him a ticket for doing no damage to roundabout. Their insurance of course paid to damage and could have cared less that he called on himself.
I go through Gig Harbor a lot and those things scare me there. Have had a few really close calls with someone who was staring thought the wheel strait ahead and just drives into the damn thing like they are the only car on the road.

 

[Indy62]

Learn something new all the time...

I always thought that first to the intersection had the right of way. That's how I've always driven, and how I've seen others drive. That said, I never quibble over it, and if another vehicle appears inclined to go first, I just let them go.

Even now, having been "educated" by this thread, if I were to pull up to an intersection to go straight, and the guy opposite me was turning left but had been waiting his turn before my arrival; I would let him go first without question. Law or not, it's only the decent thing to do.

The "other guy" in the original post, legally in the right or not, was a jerk. That's just my opinion though. The world is full of jerks, always has been, always will be. The best you can do is to try to not be one yourself. Personally I think flipping off or cussing out other drivers is jerk behavior, never done it myself, though many times I've thought it.

Thanks @CLT65 my faith in humanity has been restored. I'm glad I'm not the only one that learned something new. Yep..lot of jerks out there. A few even poked their head in this thread.

 

[parallax]

That makes sense of why who arrived at the intersection first would not matter. If an accident were to occur, it could frequently result in both parties claiming to have been the first to arrive and how would a judge resolve it?

everyone really should get a dash cam,, they are cheap and easy to install.

 

[oremike]

So here is something that happened to me just this week. I was driving west to east on the old hwy 242. Coming down the Sisters side I catch up to a couple in a late model CJ type Jeep jacked up and big tires, you know the rugged outdoors package complete with Mt bikes on the bumper. We get out of the corners and down to the straights and they are doing 40 in a 55 so I pass them not even with extreme haste, just turn on my blinker and go around them. I got the horn and both driver and passenger fingers. I was courteous and didn't cross up my wifes car in the middle road and give them a melon thumping but for a second the thought was there. I can think anything I'd like but don't have to act on every thought.

 

[Knobgoblin]

Decades back a couple we knew who were "interesting" to say the least. U place had put roundabouts in. They are visiting kids. Husband goes to store for something after dark. Manages do crash into the curb at roundabout. Comes home. His Wife tells him he "has to" call the Police or insurance will not fix their car. So he calls. LEO comes out and hands him a ticket for doing no damage to roundabout. Their insurance of course paid to damage and could have cared less that he called on himself.
I go through Gig Harbor a lot and those things scare me there. Have had a few really close calls with someone who was staring thought the wheel strait ahead and just drives into the damn thing like they are the only car on the road.

Roundabouts are a product of the auto insurance industry.
Change my mind.

 

[Old Dog]

Roundabouts are a product of the auto insurance industry.
Change my mind.

Can't change it... for every new roundabout that goes up in the West Sound area, USAA hikes my monthly premium up another $40... I knew there was a reason for that.