Right hook turns
 

I try to keep track of proper safety rules when riding and, importantly, when driving. But I didn't understand the proper right hook rules until I read an article about Uber driverless cars violating them. I viewed right hooks as careless turns without checking for oncoming cyclists - so far so good. But for turns when driving I also have intentionally stayed out of marked bike lanes, staying in the car lane until the bike lane is clear and then turning right. In the article I learned that the proper approach is to merge the car into the bike lane and then make the right. That is the law in CA. I can see why that is safer but I would expect to get some grief if I pulled over into the bike lane at a red light thereby blocking bikes who want to get through.

What do you all do?

I can't speak for California, but here in Michigan the bike lane is for bikes, period. You turn your car from the right-most car lane.

A lot of the bike lanes around here have been repainted so you are in the left side of the right turn only lane. Usually accompanied with a bikes have right of way sign. No guarantee but in those cases I follow the bike lane. Usually.

There are intersections with no bike lane. Either the bike lane ends before the intersection or there just is no bike lane. I usually get in the rightmost straight lane and proceed thru the intersection. That way avoiding the right hook altogether.

The other possibility is to get on the sidewalk. There are some lights that don't trigger for bikes and I usually punch the pedestrian button, then just wait on the sidewalk. In this case you are risking the right hook. So you have to be careful.

I've done all of the above. My choice depends on which I feel is safer in that particular instance.

I do what I need to be safe. Yep got right hooked when first started.

What do you all do?

When driving, I merge into the lane and turn but not in a right on red situation. When the light is red the cyclist is supposed to stop as well so it's not really a right hook.

When cycling, if any vehicle rolls up on my left when we are approaching an intersection I try to stay behind him even if it means braking.

If the bike lane moves to the left side of the right turn lane, I follow it. If there's no bike lane but there is a right turn lane, I move to the right side of the left right turn lane marking after checking behind me. If there's no right turn lane and no bike lane, I stay to the right unless there are stopped cars, in which case I fall in behind the car in front of me. I would have no problem with a car merging into the bike lane for a right turn as long as it didn't hit me. I'd just follow it. I only pass stopped cars on the right if there's a bike lane.

Approaching an intersection, I watch every car that's approaching, passing, or has recently passed for a lit turn signal. I use a helmet mirror.

A somewhat rare intelligence in the cycling world.

I see at least as many cyclists at fault in right hook situations as motorists.

Fortunately, California law gets it right, although too many motorists and cyclists don't get it.

For motorists and cyclists alike, the proper place to start a right turn is adjacent to the curb, which for motorists may entail merging into a bike lane and then turning. Most of the bike lanes around here have dotted demarcation lines for the final 200 feet before each driveway or intersection. Unless someone has made a mistake, bike lanes are never supposed to continue to the right of right-turn-only lanes. Space permitting, they stop and then pick up again to the left of any RTO lanes.

What confuses a lot of people is traffic side buffering of bike lanes, which further encourages motorists to turn from the right lane instead of from the curb, thereby exacerbating the risk of right hooking a cyclist.

When driving and turning right I merge into the bike lane well ahead of any cyclists. When cycling and going straight I pass cars that are turning right on their left if possible. Otherwise I wait for them to complete their turn.

I remember a question on the California driver's test dealing with right turns on streets with a bike lane. I was told it was the question that was most frequently missed.

On the Highway US 101, where there is space there is a cross over ,
a painted on bike lane, between the continuing and the right turning Lanes

There is a Straight thru Path well off the Roundabout, but you have to share the roadway
to get over the Bridges ..

It is such commun problem being turned in front into your path wether from behind of from the front:
Not a full proof solution but is to use "blinkies" the brighter the better!
Stay alert and safe out there.

The bike lanes that I routinely encounter are all being repainted with about 50' of the final 100' to the corner dashed, not solid. This makes (should make) it clear, to bikes and cars alike, that somehow, a right turning car has got to cross that bike lane. If its the bike lane that crosses over, same thing, at the crossover point, the bike lane (not the vehicle lane) will be dashed, for about 25', indicating that vehicles will be proceeding through the crossover portion of the bike lane.

I always assume that a car that beats me to a corner could turn right. Even if they stop first as they should, in a right turn on red environment, the reality is they could turn right. They may even have seen you. They may assume that since they have beaten you to the corner they have the ROW. They may simply not care about it. In suburban and rural environments I usually stop a car length short of a right turn situation if I am not turning right. This says to right turners, "go ahead, make my day". If no takers, I move up. Sometimes a right turner is behind a straight through and prevented from turning. Given the near total lack of turn signal usage in this town you never know what is what.

I do not "make eye contact" or solicit any other kind of acknowledgement from a road user. First it is unreliable and second my eyesight does not allow it. When the light is green I am off with the straight through car. Do not dawdle so that you can be cut down by the car behind him! If you are heavily loaded or just slow, let both cars lead through the corner so you know what they are up to.

When I learned to drive, my (excellent) driving instructor spent more time on stopping the car, quickly, accurately and instinctively, than on any other aspect of vehicle operation. In a lot of the vehicle interactions I witness, the abrogated vehicle wastes valuable milliseconds being surprised, insulted, angry, or all of the above. A collision is the result. If you prevented a crash with your Airzound or other warning device you violated a cardinal rule of my driving instructor. In well over 40 years of driving I've never used a horn in anger, ever. And I don't have horns or bells on any of my bikes. I've been riding those in traffic for much longer than I have been a driver. FWIW.

In this area, making a decision based on the use of a vehicle's turn signal will get you in deep trouble quickly. As a comedian said, if you see a vehicle with the left turn signal on you can rest assured he bought it that way. I am sure I did not quote that correctly, but you get the basis of the quote. Anyway, I mostly try to allow the traffic to clear if there is not a well marked turn lane, but then again you can get in trouble with marked lane use also. Just watch the movement of the cars very closely and do not assume anything.

In my area, bike lanes are very rare, so it's not a situation I have encountered. I know of two in my county on roads I actually travel, both fairly short (a mile at most) and both are on roads that were redesigned and reconstructed within the past 2 years. We have more "bike routes" which don't have special lanes for bikes, just signs indicating a preferred route.

Another vote for running bright blinkies at both ends during daylight. Try to be seen by the right-turning driver who glances in his right mirror. I use a helmet mirror and have been leading weekly group rides for many years. It's amazing how much easier it is to see a blinkie in a quick glance in the mirror than it is a bike and rider, no matter what the rider is wearing. About 300 lumens for each lamp seems right.

Right hooks are something you have to anticipate. Blinkers help. Using a rear view mirror helps more.

As someone said earlier, it is the law in California that you have to merge into (or across) the bike lane before you arrive at the intersection to make a right turn. My local DMV office has a bike lane right in front of it, and they use the opportunity to include making a a right turn across it in the driving test. Almost everyone screws that one up.

Edit to add: It's also an automatic fail of the driving test. My son failed his first driving test that way. Nice, eh?

Anyone who gives you grief for waiting in the bike lane while preparing to make a right turn is ignorant. Think about it. Assuming you got there without cutting anyone off, that's the only safe place for you to wait for traffic to clear for your right turn. It tells cyclists who overtake you what your intentions are so that they don't try to squeeze up on your right side while you're looking left (okay, some will still try to do this:eek:). If you were to wait in the lane to the left of the bike lane, you would have to rely on your ability to see each and every cyclist who overtakes you while you're also looking for an opening to make that right turn.

Now having said that, when you come north to Oregon, things work differently. Up here, you are supposed to make your right turn from the lane next to the bike lane while yielding to anyone who overtakes you in the bike lane. It's odd, but you get used to it. After seventeen years here, I still don't trust anyone in a motor vehicle who is stopped at a red light because I can't rely on their lane position to tell me what they intend to do.

I much prefer it when right turn lanes magically appear to the right of a bike lane. That makes it clear to everyone what to do. The motorist who wants to turn right simply waits for an opening in the bike lane (rarely a very long wait) and crosses the bike lane to the right turn lane. Easy peasy, but not the norm.

No wonder riders and drivers are confused. If the law is different in California and Oregon who knows what it is elsewhere. I confirmed that in DC, where I live, you are supposed to merge right and turn from the bike lane. I will start doing that -- carefully.

What I've seen in California is that the bike lane simply disappears before a major intersection, then reappears on the far side. Intersections are where most accidents happen, so the lanes aren't there when cyclists need them the most! This supports my contention that bike lanes exist for the convenience of motorists, not for cyclists' safety.

So what does "Right Hook Turn" mean?
How many drivers do you suppose are aware of it?

You're going straight and the driver next to you turns right, crossing your path or hitting you. It's so common that we try to never be beside a car when entering an intersection. And sometimes watch them like a hawk in our mirrors, when someone is catching up from behind approaching an intersection. Some of them like to pass us up and then quickly hang a right.

Where would you put the bike lane in the intersection and on the approach thereto? Continuing it straight will invite precisely the sorts of right hooks (not to mention left crosses and side entries) you want to avoid.

California has the right idea. Oregon's bicycle activists unfortunately do not understand traffic flow and destination-appropriate lateral positioning. It is the same mentality that gives us separated cycletracks, which are great until they dump us in a bad position at the next intersection. Using a cycletrack is akin to jumping out of a window in a high rise building. As you pass an open window on the way down and someone asks you "how's it going," the reply is "so far ... so good."

A car merging right into the bike lane, and waiting there until it's clear before making the right turn seems like the most sensible thing for a couple of reasons. First, if the car moves right when practice (across or blocking the bike lane), it prevents (or lessens) the chance of the driver waiting until just at the corner and making the right turn and possible turning directly into the path of a bike approaching from the rear (this has happened to me). Because...presumably...if the car is in the process of, or about to make the turn...that means it must be clear for the bike to enter the intersection. Secondly, bike shouldn't be upset if a car is waiting in the bike lane to negotiate the turn. If the car can't go due to traffic, then clearly it's not safe for a bike to go.

Dan

+1

That's something I learned very early on as a young teenager. Words I've lived and cycled by ever since.




:)

This is the correct way to turn right.., after looking right/rear, of course.
If driverless cars are programmed to intrude upon the bike lane.., beware.