She was about to turn left into her neighborhood from a major arterial road. Had to wait in the unprotected, not indented, left driving lane for oncoming traffic. She waited with wheels turned left.
She previously waited to enter her neighborhood in prior years a hundred times. And for a hundred times, she may have waited with her wheels turned left. Nothing problematic had ever happened.
Today, she was hit from behind as she waited. Her car, thrust into the path of oncoming traffic, was struck. She was killed and left a son and a daughter in high school without a mother.
I have told 8,000+ students that you can be doing something wrong – for decades – and not realize it is wrong because the trigger event has not yet occurred.
Adhere to the proper habit, I tell them. And I tell you: always, for your left turns, wait with wheels straight, not turned. Always. There is no detriment in doing so.
- With wheels straight if hit from behind, you will more assuredly avoid collision with vehicles coming from the other way. You will escape. You will be sent forward, not left, and you will have time to then brake should you need to.
- The danger is more apt to exist at the unprotected left turn where there is no indented dedicated, turn lane. At the median with the protected indented turn lane, while you wait with wheels straight, if rear-ended you can veer right as needed to avoid hitting a pole in the median.
- While waiting – wheels straight – in the unprotected left turn, you can quickly escape forward should you see from your mirror that the vehicle coming from behind is not stopping and would rear-end you. Get out of there. Always be ready.
Wheels straight while waiting for the left turn is an epitome of why we need to review, examine, analyze our driving habits. For once we set driving habits, we do not usually re-analyze periodically as we should.
You can be doing something wrong for decades and not know it is wrong. Until that one day. That is why we need to establish the best habits. This is why we need to revisit older habits.
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