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Illegal Turn??

L

Lazy8s

Golden Member
So tonight I was driving my g/f to the concert building where she plays clarinet for the wind symphony. I was in the left lane (of a 2 lane road) and I was about to make a left when my g/f asked me to drop her off up front. I quickly turned on my right turn signal, pulled over and then turned right into the parking lot. The road's speed limit is 35mph and I had just started from a stop so I couldn't have been going 20mph. Lo and behold a cop comes into the parking lot behind me and turns her lights on. I drop my g/f off and pull over out of the way. After giving her my license I ask what I did wrong and she says "You made an illegal turn as you obviously know." Of course I had no idea so I asked her how my turn was illegal since I pulled into the entrance. She said "You made an illegal right hand turn from the left hand lane." I replied "I signaled, pulled into the right lane and then turned, I'm really very sure. Is that illegal? Is there some distance I have to travel in a lane before I'm allowed to turn out of it? 30 feet or something?" She looked at me obviously trying to size me up. I said "I apologize if I sound funny. I was going to make a left then my g/f asked me to make a right at the last minute and I thought I merged and then turned. I'm not trying to give you a hard time, I really did not know I did anything illegal. I just want to know for next time." She started to say something then she asked me how to pronounce my last name. I told her and she said she would "Let me go this time since it didn't seem intentional." She ran my license and then gave it back to me without saying anything and got back into her patrol car and drove off.

I tried googling "illegal turn" "right hand turn from left lane" and some other things but I could not find anything explaining it. I was under the impression that an illegal right-hand turn from the left lane was when a person stopped at a light and then made a right hand turn across the right-hand turn lane when they were not in the turn lane. Does anyone know for sure or know somewhere I could ask to find out? I don't so much care to find out if I did in fact break the law because I know I didn't, but I have been stopped by this lady before illegally and I want to know what is going on in case it happens again.
 
If the lane lines were solid white, you made an illegal turn. Solid white lane lines indicate that no lane changes are allowed. Perhaps that's what your offense was?
 
The lanes were single, white dotted lines. I was also at least 40yards from an intersection in both directions. I really do not think it was an illegal turn. Any cops on ATNT?
 
you should have blinked, then merged, then blinker off , then blink again to make the right into the lot

if you didn't blink twice, then that must have been the problem
 
I'd say that making a right turn from the left lane is illegal... solid or dotted white lines... but going from the left lane into the right lane and then turning, AFAIK, is perfectly legal.
 
Originally posted by: Lazy8s
Originally posted by: Baked
Racial profiling FTL.
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Heh, I'm a white guy driving a 2000 toyota. I'm as white middle-class as they get.
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You may have been transporting illegal / dangerous amounts of boston cream pie or waffles, both of which she would have confiscated for further "testing", preferably with a little whipped cream.
 
Originally posted by: jumpr
If the lane lines were solid white, you made an illegal turn. Solid white lane lines indicate that no lane changes are allowed. Perhaps that's what your offense was?
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IIRC..per the FL drivers' manual, solid white lines indicate to change lanes with caution. Double white lines prohibit lane changes.

Then again, I could be wrong.
 
Really? Any idea what the title was? I'll search for it. My car turns off the blinker if you turn the wheel enough to actually turn a corner. I turned my blinker on and it stayed on from the left lane to the right, then into the turn and stopped when I turned all the way. There's no way I "turned" or my blinker would have gone off. I obviously did the whole thing quickly as my g/f told me at the last minute but it had to have taken 20feet at least for the whole ordeal.

Does anyone even know what an illegal right turn from the left lane is? Sounds bogus to me on a 2 lane road; I mean, how can there be a law saying you have to drive "x" feet in a lane before you can turn out of it?
 
use your enter button, man. i'm not reading that huge block of text.

they're called paragraphs, son.
 
Does anyone even know what an illegal right turn from the left lane is?
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Making a right turn from the left lane, resulting in cutting across the right lane rather than turning from it.
 
it sounds like she believed you turned too quickly from the left lane into the parking lot...

most traffic laws say you must continue in a lane for a certain time/distance before making another turn - I assume she believed you did not continue in the right hand lane for enough time before making the exit.

Best way to avoid it is to physically turn off your signal, then resignal to the exit. This shows you had an intent to enter the right hand lane, and subsequently, the exit afterwards rather than just making a turn to exit.
 
Originally posted by: Lazy8s
Really? Any idea what the title was? I'll search for it. My car turns off the blinker if you turn the wheel enough to actually turn a corner. I turned my blinker on and it stayed on from the left lane to the right, then into the turn and stopped when I turned all the way. There's no way I "turned" or my blinker would have gone off. I obviously did the whole thing quickly as my g/f told me at the last minute but it had to have taken 20feet at least for the whole ordeal.

Does anyone even know what an illegal right turn from the left lane is? Sounds bogus to me on a 2 lane road; I mean, how can there be a law saying you have to drive "x" feet in a lane before you can turn out of it?
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An illegal right turn from a left lane is exactly what it sounds like.

Imagine you're in the same situation as you were - driving down the left lane, planning on turning left. Then, at the very last second, your gf tells you to just take the right turn, so you make the turn directly from the left lane, without merging into the right lane.

Doesn't sound that complicated. I certainly wasn't witness to what you did, but I'm guessing the cop was going out on a stretch with this case.
 
Originally posted by: Lazy8s
The lanes were single, white dotted lines. I was also at least 40yards from an intersection in both directions. I really do not think it was an illegal turn. Any cops on ATNT?
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Plenty, but they'll just tell you the cop did nothing wrong and that you're a spoiled little know-it-all for daring to question her.
 
there is a minimum distance that you have to signal before turning or turning after changing lanes. that distance should be defined in the traffic statutes in your area.
 
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