I didn’t give the subject of a left turn much thought until the other day.
Jeff remarked,“ There should be no left turns.”
“Come again?” I asked. “ Did you say no left turns?”
“Yes. I did. Think about it. Do you know how much time is wasted waiting
to make a left hand turn or waiting in the left turn lane?”
“No”. (Wow… this is something that never even crossed my mind.)
“No left turns, Jeff repeated.
“I’m not sure that banning left turns saves time”. I answered “It might
actually take you longer to get anywhere if all you do is make right turns.”
“Three right turns and you’re there.”
(Obviously Jeff had given this some thought. More than me.)
“Yeah, but making only right turns will take you out of your way.
It will be less direct.” I countered.
“Sure, but faster than waiting 3-5 minute every time you wish to
turn left.” (He may have a point here.)
Ok, but perhaps It’s just the perception that left hand turns take longer
because you are not moving. While with right turn you at least feel like your moving?”
“No. It’s the waiting. It’s a waste of time. Not to mention unsafe.
Do you know that more accidents happen when people are turning into
oncoming traffic? Left turn. We need to ban left turns.
Write something in your blog about that.”
(While I hate to admit my husband is right. I did some research on left turns.)
National statictics back Jeff up. I’m finding out that besides the accident rate
(Not for safety, but for fuel efficiency and time savings)
And Myth Busters (One of our favorite family TV programs) confirmed that
turning right while driving improves fuel efficiency.
Some communities and designers are giving the no left turn idea real thought.
“Did you write about no left turns yet?” Jeff asked.
“No.” (I hate it when he is right!)
As we used to say at Cal in the 60's, "Three rights make a left."
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