Left Hand Turns: Yay or Nay?
By Karina | July 23, 2008
By now everyone on the internets probably knows that I live in New Jersey. Did you know, though, that in most of New Jersey you can’t make a left-hand turn? That’s right, no left-hand turns and we can’t pump our own gas. It’s a crazy crazy state I live in.
I have gotten in a LOT of arguements with native New Jerseyians about the merits of the “jughandle” (or the elaborate infrastructure that prevent left turns. It’s my believe that jughandles slow down the left-hand turner. You have to drive farther to get to your destination. I also think that they create an environment where people are able to drive super fast, and that’s not good for the environment! And I will admit: I like making left turns. It’s exciting.
It turns out, though, that there are lots of articles poo-pooing the left turn. UPS actually contacted Tiny Choices in April to let us know about their fuel saving policy of designing their routes to minimize left-turns. According to their website, by doing this they have saved 3 million gallons of gasoline. Gracious! There’s an NPR story about it here, if you’re interested. UPS uses special software to calculate the best route to take that minimizes the number of left turns and also plots out the deliveries in the most efficient way. I wonder if characterizing those 3 million gallons of gas as a savings from a left turn, and not the most well mapped delivery route, is a misnomer. It may be safer, it may save some gas, but I don’t think it’s the only reason why UPS has saved 3 million gallons of gas.
Now, maybe I’m stubborn, and maybe it’s because of all of those disagreements with my friends who grew up in NJ. But why don’t we just shut off our cars at stop lights while we’re waiting for left turns? I mean, rock on, UPS for saving 3 million gallons of gas. But according to bunches of people if we’re going to be sitting still for any length between 6 and 10 seconds, we should shut off the car. And that would save us the hassle of driving around the block (or the jug handle!) to avoid a left.
What do you think? Left turns: yes or no?
Photo from Flicker user twenty ninth of december photography via creative commons license.
Topics: Transportation |
I’m with you. I like left-hand turns most of the time. There are only occasions where they’re a pain in the ass…such as at super busy intersections (such as trying to get onto the hwy in Philly) where the left hand turn lane backs up a long ways and you end up sitting there. You’re not sitting still long enough to turn the car off, but still long enough to burn up lots of gas.
On another note though, I’m of the opinion that turning the car off at a long intersection is good. I’m not entirely sure whether it’s good or bad, but it makes me feel better when I do it.
I like doing it too, and I really like the sudden quiet with a shut off engine. a moment of peace in my commute!
I don’t know about left turns… where I live there’s not enough traffic to make a huge difference I don’t think. Also in some places making right turns and going around the block isn’t an option due to road layout.
I am, however, seriously against turning off of cars. In order to do that you need to be *paying attention* so you can start up again and go when it’s time without delaying everyone else. I do NOT trust people to pay attention to that level.
it’s true, people do wool-gather and space out! but on the other hand, shouldn’t we force people to pay more attention when they’re driving?
my hybrid has an auto-stop feature and I wish all cars came with it. it can’t be *that* complicated to implement!
I totally agree–I don’t need to sit there while somebody dozes in their shut-off car.
Left turns in LA are exciting, to say the least. There are relatively few left turn signals, so the typical strategy is to wait until the light turns yellow (or in some cases red) and slip as many cars through as possible, while the perpendicular traffic approaches menacingly, as though they’ll happily clip the trunk right off your car.
Nothing riles up an Angeleno like when an East coaster sneaks a left turn just as the light turns green.
My commute involves 3 or fewer turns every morning, Only one stop sign, and zero traffic lights. (My town doesn’t have a traffic light.)
I love the quirky different laws that different states have, though. In Tennessee, you can turn right at a red light, But I know that is not the case everywhere.
You can’t pump your own gas in NJ? Well in TN, you can’t buy Liquor (Beer and other “Malt Beverages” don’t count) ANYWHERE except a certified Liquor Store, and Liquor Stores are not allowed to sell ANYTHING but Liquor. Gas stations located next door to liquor stores frequently have a shelf full of all the Bloody Mary Mixes and other Non-liquor items that the liquor store cannot legally sell.
And as of one year ago, Gas Station clerks HAVE to card you for beer, even if you are obviously older than John McCain’s Mom. Sorry, Granny! No ID? No Beer. It’s The Law. (I work at a gas station. I get cussed out a lot more nowadays.)
in NJ we also have town-based liquor laws. so in my town you can buy wine and beer at grocery or convenience stores, but there are no serving licenses so everything is byob. in a town nearby there is no beer or wine in convenience stores. and above all I love the towns where you can’t buy anything except for food (semi-blue laws say no appliance, furniture, stationary, etc. sales) on a sunday but you CAN buy booze after 11 or 12.
my other state of reference is pittsburgh, where there is an official beer store and you can’t buy less than a case of beer unless the store sells food - so many beer stores have nasty hot dog racks in front so they can break cases! PA also has state run liquor/wine stores, so if you’re throwing a party you have to hit 3 stores: beer, state liquor, and grocery.
Wow, and I thought Michigan was weird. We have the “Michigan Left.” (Real term, look it up on Wikipedia). It used mostly in the busiest areas of the suburbs, but it’s definitely something that takes getting used to. Whenever I had friends from other areas of the states visit me, it always took a few days to get used to making those turns (you go through the intersection, turn around in a u-turn, then go back to the intersection to make a right).
Now that I live on the other side of the state, there are real lefts, and the lights are situated so that there is usually a green arrow for the left turn. I don’t mind it really, sometimes it takes a little extra time, but it’s less confusing than the non-left left hand turns.
I don’t know how turning off the car at intersections would be ideal. If you save a few seconds worth of gas, only to turn on your car again and use all the gas it takes to turn it back on, are you really saving any gas? I remember reading somewhere, that it takes as much gas to idle for one minute as it does to turn on your car. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it would make an interesting study for the idle vs. turn off of sitting at lights.
there’s a “pittsburgh left” too, which basically means you jump the light and make a left turn first at an intersection instead of waiting your turn. that takes a lot of getting used to also! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_Left)
The link that is above states that these days, especially with modern fuel injectors, you don’t really lose that much gas at start up. the calculations do say that if you wait longer than 6 or 10 seconds you save gas to shut off. it’s pretty controversial but there are a lot of pages citing that. and automatic engine-shut-offs are a cornerstone of hybrid technology, so it can’t be *that* bad!
We do the “Michigan Left” in New Orleans, too! Except we just call it “left turns are weird here”.
And here is a funny, unrelated story about my own experience making left turns in Lansing, Michigan: I was born, raised, and taught to drive in New Jersey. Consequently, I was completely freaked-out by the center turning lanes I encountered on a trip to Lansing. So much so that I just made my own jug-handle by cutting through a parking lot to turn onto a side street.
Personally I’d rather not have to make a left turn if I don’t have to… it’s like racing with on-coming traffic.
Oh, and we buy our liquor at the grocery store, the drug store, wherever! My favorite thing about California.
I think it can be more fuel efficient, because it keeps traffic moving and from turning into a gridlock situation. Also, I suspect it’s safer.
It also depends on where you’re making the left. There aren’t a ton of jughandles in Northern Jersey, where I am, but a lot more in central and southern Jersey, and usually on highways with lights (route 1?) that get a TON of traffic.
so in terms of keeping traffic flowing and keeping route 1 from getting even more clogged up with stop and go traffic, having people make lefts from the left hand lane at a light slows things down so much. Just compare the left-hand turns on route 17 (where you turn left at a light, generally, with no jughandle) to other highways. It takes forever, and you almost always get stuck.
I’m guessing that the jughandles probably prevent a lot of accidents and t-boning. My mom got into a car accident this way when she was waiting to make a left at a light (with a left arrow sign), and some jackhole ran their red because he saw cars going the other way.
Hey there, neighbor! :D (I’m in Philly.) I’ve always worried that it wouldn’t be good for my car to turn it off while waiting. I used to put my car in neutral while waiting at a long light, but my mom said it wasn’t good for my car.) Also, when it comes to left turns, frequently you’re not actually sitting there; you’re inching up. Which seems kind of ridiculous, but it’s the way it works.
I actually just read in an article recently that mentioned how it can be dangerous to turn off your car or take it out of gear at a light because you’re less able to react to the changing conditions and possible dangers that appear around you (adjacent moving lanes could cause an accident, for example).
What if an ambulance comes up behind you? If traffic is 4 deep in two lanes when an ambulance pulls up, 8 drivers have to restart their cars and then move out of the way. It can take a couple of minutes to clear a path when the cars are all running already. It’s hard enough for ambulances, police, and fire trucks to navigate traffic already.
I just love that you find left-hand turns exciting.
:)