Stay in your lane to avoid mishap, fault

Published 1:30 am Friday, July 15, 2022

Q: Here’s the situation: I’m at an intersection intending to turn left. The road I’m turning on to has two lanes in each direction. Across from me, there’s a car that’s turning right, so we’re both turning onto the same road. Since there’s two lanes, can I proceed to turn into the nearest lane, expecting the other driver to turn into their nearest (right) lane? If there is a bump, who is at fault?

A: Sometimes a question about traffic law is really a surface-level question masking a much deeper concern. Maybe you didn’t intend it that way, but I read it as a search for existential meaning, as in, “How much trust should I have in humanity to consistently do the right thing?”

Let’s start with the rules. In driver’s education, you probably learned to turn as you described in your question. That’s consistent with the Washington Driver Guide, which states, “Turn from the lane that is closest to the direction you want to go and turn into the lane closest to the one you came from.”

That’s a reasonable translation from the legalese in the Revised Code of Washington. If you’re making a right turn, you should start in the furthest right lane and turn into the furthest right lane. For left turns, replace “right” with “left” and follow the same guidance.

The driver guide goes on to say that you should wait until you’ve completed your turn to change lanes if you need to. The law doesn’t specifically state how soon you can change lanes, but it prohibits lane changes until the driver “has first ascertained that such movement can be made with safety.” On roads with more than one turn lane, your best bet is to stay in your lane.

So, you’d think you could expect another driver to turn into their nearest lane, but the fact that you’ve asked the question suggests you don’t. That gets us back to our existential dilemma — should we trust other humans? Every time you drive a car, cross the street, or ride your bike on the road, you’re placing some level of trust in other drivers to do the right thing. Our behavior indicates that we regularly trust each other on the road. But we also know that people, even the best ones, can be lazy, selfish or distracted, so it’s wise to maintain a level of caution.

Applied to this situation, you can anticipate that an attentive and responsible driver will most likely stay in their lane, and you’ll be fine as long as you stay in yours. An experienced driver will also consider that “most likely” is not a guarantee, and will build in a cushion of space and time so they have an opportunity to safely respond to the unexpected.

If the other driver doesn’t follow the rules and your extra space wasn’t enough, when the two of you end up in the same lane at the same time the officer investigating the collision will likely place the burden of responsibility on the driver who didn’t stay in their lane. Even if you’re proved in the right, that’s little solace when you still have to take your car to the repair shop, or worse, get some repairs on yourself.

Doug Dahl writes a weekly traffic column for this newspaper. He is with the state Traffic Safety Commission.