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Driver's Ed?

I'd say "Dear Sirs," But I'd end up laughing so much my Pepsi would spill in
the keyboard and I couldn't type the rest of this message..... (no offense,
I just would never use that term IRL!!)

I don't know if there is a limit of one question per person, but this one
has been really bugging me. It's a driving one:

Basically if there is an intersection, while one direction has green arrows
for the left hand turn lanes, the people coming the other direction have a
green arrow for the right turn lanes. Who has the right of way when a
person makes a U turn from the left turn lane? (in divided highways that's
the only way to get to businesses on the other side and about 1 in 20 cars
are doing a Uey) I have seen an accident almost happen every few days on my
way home from work (Gude and 355 in Rockville MD) and since both have green
arrows, if two hit each other, who is at fault?

While I'm complaining about driving here is another:

In drivers ed they taught me that when making a left at a light (unless you
have a red or green arrow) you pull half way into the intersection and go
when it clears. If it doesn't clear, you have to go after it turns red to
clear the intersection so you aren't blocking stuff. So most people do
that. But some lights have your light turn red, and the other way keeps
green longer (no clue why the hell they do that) but it scared the shit out
of me when I waited until it was Red for a second or two, then started to go
figuring those cars way off were slowing down, and they were cruising at 50
and almost hit me side on. Why do they make intersections that do this?
Maybe they are just trying to kill me ;)

Thank you,
Michelle C. Sharp

Well, seems like there is some crazy driving going on over there.  Well, off to call the Police to find out what is going on here.  Well, maybe some drivers ed people can help us out.  Looking up phone numbers to call!

Mark Wienants sent us this answer:

First part:
A person making a U-turn must yield the right of way to someone making a right turn if they both have arrows. The ideas at work here are that they are changing direction more and that they are entering someone else's right-of-way.

Second part:
Your driver's ed teacher should be shot. If you have an arrow, you have right-of-way and should enter the intersection and turn. If you have a green light (not arrow), you must yield right-of-way to oncoming traffic. Technically, this means you wait behind the white line until it clears. There is no "right" of leaving an intersection once you have entered it.

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