What is she talking about?

First of all, the diagrams are awful because it is unclear who has what light.

But in essence, don’t move into an intersection when the light is yellow.

Moving in when it is green, and clearing out when traffic clears because it turns red is one thing, and generally accepted as ok.

But if the light turns yellow, and you are idling behind the limit line, don’t cross into the intersection thinking you can sneak in at the back of waiting cars.

I think that she has coined a new word – “assholery”. Good for her.

Advancing to the center on a yellow is legal if you’re planning to turn left immediately at the end of the yellow, just at the start of the red.

I think that her theory is that you shouldn’t even enter the intersection if you can’t clear it. But that would you mean you couldn’t ever turn left, especially at rush hour,

I think she means that people pull into the intersection when they know there is no way to clear the intersection and they effectively block other oncoming cars from their turn at their green light.

Wait…maybe she isn’t even talking about turning. Maybe she’s talking about how sometimes a line will back up so that even though the light is green there are cars stopped in front of you clear up to the next stop light. If that’s the case then, yeah. Stop behind the line and wait it out. If you pull into the intersection you may be there a long time, screwing up traffic.

@elbanditoroso ”...Advancing to the center on a yellow is legal if you’re planning to turn left immediately at the end of the yellow, just at the start of the red.

That is not legal, and in many places will get you a hefty ticket. It’s called running a red light. In California, one must be through the interstection before the light turns red.

Happens to me every single day and I’m guilty of it myself. If you are in very heavy bumper to bumper and a light turns yellow, you are supposed to stop at the light/ line and wait for the next green light.

Myself and many others sometimes miss the yellow because we are focused on traffic, stopping cars/break lights, etc…and sometimes end up being caught in the middle of the intersection as the cars in front of me are at a dead stop at their light. So all traffic is stopped because of lack of attention on our part. It’s not cool and I’m being more careful.

Yeah, it doesn’t happen here much, but if I see a line backed up so that I can’t clear the intersection when I pull ahead I just sit behind the light and wait.

@zenvelo I’ve done that all my driving life.

@zenvelo – i’ll check with my son-in-law (the policeman) to see if it is illegal in Georgia. I was taught that it is OK.

My parents taught me to do that. It’s my understanding that as long as you are in the intersection when the light turns yellow, you’re clear. In fact, I think I learned that in Driver’s Ed.

Kansas law

Meaning of a Yellow Light
In some states, it’s illegal to enter an intersection on a yellow light. However, in Kansas, a steady yellow light is just a warning that the light is about to turn red. In other words, you’re allowed to enter an intersection while the light is still yellow, just not after it turns red.

I’m already IN the intersection when it turns red and stops the oncoming traffic.

From the California Driver Handbook:

Do not enter the intersection if you cannot get completely across before the traffic signal light turns red. If you block the intersection, you can be cited.

Is that saying you can’t enter the intersection while it’s green, before it turns yellow?

^^^If traffic is not moving, and the car ahead is stopped to the point where you could not move all the way through the intersection, even with a green light you are not to enter the intersection.

If you do, and traffic doesn’t move and you are stuck in the intersection when the light turns red, you are “blocking the box” and can get a ticket for violating the red light.

Yes the California law is “don’t get into the box”, in the middle of the intersection if you can’t get out when your light turns red. That includes sitting waiting for the traffic ahead of you to move, you must stay behind the crosswalks that mark the outside of the “box”, even if you have a green light.

Well, glad I don’t live in California! I’d so get ticketed.

@zenvelo that’s in your state. Above I posted the law in my state. In my state it’s allowed.

In Kansas: Meaning of a Yellow Light
In some states, it’s illegal to enter an intersection on a yellow light. However, in Kansas, a steady yellow light is just a warning that the light is about to turn red. In other words, you’re allowed to enter an intersection while the light is still yellow, just not after it turns red.

^^^^ that’s part of the price we pay to live in paradise….

:D. I guess I’d pay it once. I’m a fast learner.

It is perfectly legal to proceed into the intersection to wait for your turn. Explanation? It’s to facilitate the movement of traffic. The law allows for common sense.

@kritiper Not if your inability to clear the intersection in time impedes the ability of cross traffic to move. Then it isn’t common sense, it is gridlock and illegal in many states.

The point is to move traffic. All you have to do is wait for traffic to clear and then finish your turn. And finishing your turn is key! Nobody in their right mind is just going to drive out there and hit you. And only idiots panic and just sit there, or try to back up.

If there is a car in the intersection before me, and this car is waiting to make a left turn, I should wait behind the line for that car to clear before proceeding with my left turn. If I am already in the intersection, I have no choice but to finish my turn.
Some of these laws mean “don’t get in the box behind that other guy who’s waiting to make his turn” and thus block traffic. A good driver anticipates that the light may change and that, if he has entered the intersection figuring the guy in front of him will get to go, he will end up blocking traffic.
Never assume anything! Especially when driving!

Right @kritiper.

@zenvelo I’m not sure what scenario you have in your head, but it almost sounds like you’re thinking that the car goes out into the intersection and just sits there while the stop light cycles through several cycles, or something, while the driver waits for a perfect moment to turn left. That’s the only way I can think of that it would impeded the ability of cross traffic to move.

@Dutchess_III My office is at the intersection of Bush Street and Montgomery Street in downtown San Francisco. Both streets are one-way.

Bush Street is a route to a very crowded two-streets-into-one convergence to get across Market Street (the biggest street in SF) and get access to the Bay Bridge. When traffic is heavy, people will try to get across the intersection with Montgomery, even though traffic ahead cannot move. This blocks traffic on Montgomery Street. And sometimes the light does go through several cycles before traffic clears a bit.

I have also seen people with just their bumper over the line to turn left, and they try to go with the rest of the group, which holds up other people trting to cross the intersection.

As this thread started out declaring, “this is ASSHOLERY!”

We are all in agreement that if there cars ahead of you, already in the intersection, then you just stay put, behind the line, and wait your turn. Some people are just really stupid assholes. In our scenario, it’s just you in the intersection.
And how can the streets clear at ALL,whether the light goes through cycles or not, if no one is moving?

Yes, I’m not sure if this scenario applies to just vehicles turning left, or if it applies to left turning vehicles at all. Seems it would apply (more?) to vehicles moving straight through the intersection that might get jammed up behind other non-moving vehicles and then be stuck there through cycles of the light.

I just brought up the “turning left” thing because that’s the only time I find myself stopped in an intersection. I’ve been IN situations where the traffic ahead is backed up from the next light on back, but I don’t venture into the intersection unless I have room to completely clear it. And if I have to sit there through light cycles I do.

@Dutchess_III It was a good point to add.

My husband pulled out into a busy intersection when the light was yellow, was struck by a speeding car fracturing his neck, had a concussion and split ear. He spent days in the hospital and was incoherent when he arrived. Yellow lights scare me.

That could happen anywhere on the road.