Comments on: Is the ‘Michigan Left’ Right for America?

By: City Driver

City Driver — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:00:08 +0000

I live in the city, where most left turns are illegal. So what do we do? We pass the street and go around the block to the right.

Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three right’s do make a left!

By: Tom Baker

Tom Baker — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:31:58 +0000

Heck, even a right-hand cloverleaf makes more sense!

By: Tom Baker

Tom Baker — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:30:37 +0000

I was taught in California traffic school that you when you turn right, you MUST turn into the nearest lane. (Same when you turn left from/to one-way streets.) Only after entering that lane can you do a lane change to the left.

But the flash demo clearly shows the “North to West” cars turning right into the far lane rather than the near one…. Same when the “East to North” cars cross two lanes at the Stop sign in order to turn right.

So is turning right into a far lane legal in Michigan?

I think the median U-Turn (what you call the “Pittsburgh left”) is a LOT more intuitive.

By: Craig Yoas

Craig Yoas — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:40:02 +0000

What is especially annoying and confusing about the MI Left is how they are indicated. Most of the intersections have no graphic sign as shown above in this post. Most tell you what you cannot do: No Left Turn! (But that’s what I have to do.) The indications are almost all counter intuitive to what the driver actually wants to do.

By: Vroomfondel

Vroomfondel — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:17:14 +0000

I seem to recall that there are a few intersections in New Orleans that work like this. The Melbourne hook turn is related to this idea, too.

By: Peter Cooper

Peter Cooper — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:00:24 +0000

Why isn’t it used elsewhere?

Don’t forget the informal “Michigan Left”.. the old turn right and u-turn. Common in Los Angeles, particularly when traffic is too fast or persistent to cross in one go.

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:38:29 +0000

I have been to Vegas and sat in those “3 lanes turn left” intersections for what seems like 5 to 7 minutes for the signal to turn, thinking a Michigan crossover style boulevard would be superior to those intersections with left turn signals. M-59 in Macomb County handles traffic loads that I think would be impossible without crossover type intersections. They installed a roundabout on M-53 where it branches off to Mound Road and old Van Dyke and I still see people who can’t function in the roundabout because in Michigan ‘crossing solid white lines just because I can’ seems to be the prevailing through, even though you’re in a lane that only goes straight and the sign says you go straight, you want to go left to Mound crossing two other lanes that also go straight through the loop. It’s insane.

And when we had that big power failure in 2003 the divided highways functioned perfectly, the police blocked through traffic making everyone use the crossovers to go straight. Worked like a champ.

-Ron

By: Christopher Monnier

Christopher Monnier — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:29:01 +0000

What’s the typical capacity for multi-lane roundabouts? Thankfully (finally!), a few single- and multi-lane roundabouts have been popping up in the Twin Cities area (Edina has a series of three single-lane roundabouts just south of Southdale and the new SuperTarget in Richfield by the airport is accessed via a multi-lane roundabout). The “Michigan left” just seems like a clumsy approach at a roundabout. I would guess that roundabouts are safer than Michigan lefts?