Rick's Ramblings

Friday, March 24, 2006

No Left Turn

One thing we have noticed about driving around in New Jersey is the prohibition on left turns. All turns, whether left or U, are made from an exit from the right-hand lane. Typicallly, you exit to the right and make a loop to a cross street where you can continue straight (executing a left turn) or go left (executing a U-turn). Since we are mostly unfamiliar with the roads and routes, this can be a major inconvenience. Often, you can see where you want to go, but can’t figure out how to get there. Making the required left- or U-turn may require you to drive another mile or so, first.

However, after driving around Fort Collins today, we realized the tremendous benefits of this scheme. First, since no one is making a left turn, they can’t hold up the traffic behind them. And, there are no left turn arrows at intersections, which eat up about 1/2 of the wait time at a red light. So, traffic flows much faster and more smoothly. I’ve decided it is a great idea. And, once we learn where the turn opportunities are, we’ll be able to get where we want to go pretty smoothly.

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