31 August 2013

Driver's Ed

Boston drivers are notorious for their lack of patience. If someone behind us beeps when a traffic light turns green, the Mrs. typically makes a comment to herself, or me if I'm in the car.

Yesterday, though, was different. We were at a T intersection, coming up the vertical part of the T and waiting to turn left. This particular intersection is tricky, and it should probably have a traffic light, but around here things often stay uncorrected like that a long time. (How long did it take for a signal to get installed at Packard's Corner?)

Without a light, we were forced to wait until the road was clear. A car came up behind us and before long the driver beeped the horn. Then again, then again. Beep. Beep, Beep. The Mrs. leaned out her window and yelled back at the other driver, "I can't go! There are cars turning in front of me!" (Her argument was bolstered at that exact moment by a car that turned and came past both of us. She gestured at it in case the other driver somehow hadn't seen it.) "If you don't feel like waiting, feel free to go past me!"

No more beeping.
at 11:05 AM
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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you pull one car length into the intersection and wait or did you wait behind a crosswalk or stop line? Some intersections require you to wait in the middle of the intersection or you'll be stuck at the light forever.

8/31/13, 12:18 PM
Some Assembly Required said...

As I said, there was no light at this intersection. Though I have never heard of what you are describing, it may be different in other parts of the country.

8/31/13, 12:21 PM
Anonymous said...

Oh, right. I'm guessing you had to cross T tracks and then turn left? For those you have to first wait for the nearest car & bike traffic to clear (cars & bikes traveling from your left to right). Then you have to wait for all T traffic to clear (both left and right). If both those conditions are met, then you can pull forward and wait to turn left from on top of the T tracks. Cars turning to their left in the opposite direction have to yield to you because you're traveling straight. I hope that makes sense.

Also, if there is no room to wait on top of the T tracks, then don't pull forward and block traffic.

8/31/13, 12:48 PM
Some Assembly Required said...

No T tracks either. Just traffic passing by in both directions, and turning from both directions onto the street we were on.

8/31/13, 12:59 PM
Anonymous said...

Now I'm stumped, which intersection was this at?

8/31/13, 1:03 PM
Some Assembly Required said...

George Street at Winthrop Street in Medford. We were waiting to turn left onto Winthrop.

8/31/13, 1:10 PM
Anonymous said...

That intersection doesn't look tricky at all! If you want to see a really tricky intersection, look at this one: https://www.google.com/maps?ll=42.320478,-71.088409&spn=0.500081,1.056747&cbp=12,188.66,,1,8.24&layer=c&panoid=6G0_5Ezadtpvbyo6j3w3xw&cbll=42.350934,-71.129833&t=m&z=11

8/31/13, 1:20 PM
Mark Kaepplein said...

Your wife was getting beeped at for not being far enough left in the lane so other drivers could still turn right while she waited. This might require being slightly over the center of the road, but that's OK as long as they have enough room. When a MBTA bus is at the bus stop there, drivers will have to cross the median to go around the bus also.

8/31/13, 1:21 PM
Some Assembly Required said...

I didn't say it was tricky.

8/31/13, 5:46 PM
Some Assembly Required said...

You purport to know a lot about this situation for someone who wasn't there; looking at a google street view image of an empty intersection does not present the complete, real-world picture. Being more over to the left would mean being in the path of cars turning right from Winthrop St. onto George. And for the record, the beeping car was not turning right.

8/31/13, 5:53 PM

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