About a year ago, while watching cross traffic fly by at 50 miles an hour as I sat at the front of the line in the left turn lane of a busy intersection during a red light, my brain, always one to jump ahead and go, "What if..." suddenly seized on a horrific scenario.

What if this moron turning left on the green cuts it too close and gets whacked by one of those fast-moving cars in the oncoming traffic? Well...it was pretty easy to predict what would happen to me. The car turning left would get hit and helicopter right through where I stood.

That was the last time I sat in a left turn lane.

Since then, I have developed multiple strategies. But, the one I like best is cutting over, across the opposite lane, where from I then cross the road counter-flow to traffic. This works really well when there is a sidewalk. It even comes with some added advantages like being able to go on the red when cross traffic clears a bit and the line of cars waiting to turn left on the green make their turns.

It's a bit unorthodox, in that I have to zig and zag a bit. But, I see it as infinitely safer than standing exposed in that left turn lane like a sitting duck.