I'm riding in a city, mostly on the quieter (but still heavily trafficked) streets with frequent stop signs. I feel that now, after a couple of months of riding most of my local errands and so forth, I have a pretty good handle on how to behave on the road -- except for one situation that seems to distress motorists no end.

I'll come up on a four-way stop where i need to make a left turn. Both streets will have one lane in each direction. What I've been doing in this situation is moving to the left of my lane when no one is behind me so that I'm over by the yellow line, signaling the turn, then turning when I have right of way. However, when I've moved left, I sometimes get honked at by opposing traffic.

Should I move to the center of the lane instead of the left? I guess I'm used to moving into left-turn pockets, and so moving to the left seems like the polite thing to do -- my intention to turn is made even more clear, and I'm not blocking anyone behing me who wants to turn right. But should I stay in the center of the lane anyway? That is what I'd be doing in a car, I guess, when there's not a left-turn pocket ... and it seems to confuse and/or scare drivers passing me going the other way.