Originally Posted by
baron von trail
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.
Depending on the size of the intersection, the car would have slowed down immensely by the time it'd get to you. On my local 4 lane road (2 each way) if I were sitting in the left turn lane and someone did what you said, they'd have to slide 40-50 feet to get to me. Sure, it'd hurt, but I don't think you'd be seriously injured. Now, if the left turning car got plowed into by a semi, that's another story. Mass wins in accidents.
You should be a risk assessment officer. Seems to be your calling.