double lane left turning... sheesh

All,

Sun came out here in Sugar Land and so I took the MV out for a short run. Friday about 2:30 PM. I often avoid this day and time frame due to intense traffic, seems everyone is out and in a rush. Went anyway.

I was at a full stop, packed traffic, double left turn lane. My blinker was on, and big red brake lights on. You betcha.. a cager in a toyota decided she wanted to squeeze into my lane, and clipped my tire. She bumped and grazed me, I found no damage to my bike-- amazing. Fortunately I did not go down. Sun to west was a glare issue, but it is hard to believe she did not see me. Location was FTM 1464 and highway 99 frontage road in Sugar Land.

It is an ugly intersection. I think I am pretty much done with Friday afternoon rides. Given that, I am going for a ride Saturday morning.

Traffic in Ft. Bend County just keeps getting worse and worse and worse.. and I keep wondering... is it just time to sell both bikes and quit. For now, I will be very picky on time of day to ride. Yep, Friday afternoons just don't work for me anymore.

Yup, there’s a double lefter in granbury. Consistently someone is running into the center leftturn lane-at me.
I lived in Houston. I don’t miss it.

That's how I got hit the day before Thanksgiving 2010. With 4 lanes to turn into, a lady on the inside came all the way across - from behind no less, because I had gone out quickly so that I would be visible - and angled into me from behind after I had already completed the turn. I got knocked down, slid 20 feet, and bounced off the curb on the outside. 90% chance she was on her phone. I got the ticket, of course, and only got out of it because a witness turned up.

I'm a big believer in Defensive Driving, so analyzed the accident from every direction, trying to determine what I could have done differently to avoid a similar situation again. Only thing I ever came up with was -- never turn from the outside lane if it's avoidable.

Three months later, Focus Frenzy got hit at the same intersection.

Generally speaking, drivers are more apt to go wide in a turn than tighten up. You see it everywhere, even simple right turns: Drivers in little cars will not stay in the right lane nevermind vans, pickups and suvees.
Therefore, using the left-most lane in a double left is the most defensive position.

That all said, I'm not exactly clear what happened to the OP, but I'm glad he is unhurt.

TS, Duke:

I appreciate your comments. Normally at this intersection I turn from the inside lane. Clearly, it was a mistake to turn from the outside lane. It was a close call. Driver was behind me, so difficult for me to analyze exactly what happened. I think her tire or bumper grazed my rear tire, just barely. We were fully stopped. My bet is she was on her phone or otherwise distracted.

Drivers around Sugar Land are simply horrid. Any intersection is a major risk.

Ride safe!

More years ago than I like to remember. I was turning left from the outside lane, legally inside was left turn only. About halfway through the turn I heard breaks squealing and I remember thinking somebody's going to get hit. I looked over and realized that somebody was me. A high school kid in old Oldsmobile Cutlass was sliding toward me. He hit me knocked me down and I slid on the pavement for a few feet, ouch. I laid on the ground for a few minutes accessing injuries. Fortunately in this time there were none and then a thought popped into my head "traffic". I jumped up from laying flat on my back. Unknown to me at the time an off duty nurse had stopped and was running toward me to render aid and when I jumped up she stopped and had this look on her face like I had just risen from the dead Anyway young man had come off the freeway exit at a high rate of speed and was trying to beat the light until I foiled his plan by turning in front of him. I never saw him because he wasn't there when I started my turn. Now I avoid an outside turn if possible or if I have to turn from the outside I always keep a watch to the inside lane. Lets be careful out there.

dukey33 said:

Generally speaking, drivers are more apt to go wide in a turn than tighten up.

Click to expand...

Yup. In the aftermath of my accident, I actually stood at that intersection, watched the cars turn, and counted about one in seven from the inside lane who crossed that big, white dotted demarcation line into the two outer lanes. Almost no one cut in from the outside lane.

Technically, I did everything right, but got hit anyway. I used to teach Defensive Driving and the overarching principle is not about being right or wrong, it's about preventability. So in my case, what could I have done differently to prevent the accident? The only answer was not to be in the right hand lane, even though it was perfectly legal. Either that, or avoid the intersection altogether, which is only 300 yards from my house. So, I avoid like the plague turning from outside lanes now.

Lucydad, I'm glad you got through yours with no more than a scary tap. Ultimately, it was a cheap but powerful lesson.

There is one right after I exit the highway to turn towards work. Double left were cagers have went straight and almost clipped me while I turned left from far lane.

I made almost 4,000 dollars from stupid drivers that can't make a left turn and stay in their lane , I really like my old beater truck with a big steel grill guard . I did have to buy one tire when one pushed my into a gutter and I gouged the tire bad enough I wasn't comfortable driving on it . One called the cops , it cost him extra . In each case there was significant damage to the other vehicle . The one that called the cops had a beautiful 96 crew cab pickup that was ripped open on the passenger side from the front door to the back of the bed . I repaired my truck with two sheet metal screws to reattach some broken plastic trim .