Posted: 5/2/2006 6:20:00 AM EDT
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So, couple weeks ago, I get pulled over by a Carrollton cop less than a mile from home.... he was in an unmarked Crown Victoria - metallic "champagne" in color. He issued a cite for 50 in a 40. Less than a week later, half a mile down the road, I see a pickup make a lane change in an intersection from the middle lane, across the left lane, then into the left-turn lane.... one car ahead of a carrollton squad car.... they never pulled him over. Then this past weekend, leaving my neighborhood.... I'm sitting at a light facing northbound on a two-lane two-way street, with my left turn signal on, intending to go (west) on to a 6-lane divided road. Another motorist is facing southbound across the intersection with her right turn signal on, wanting to turn into the same westbound road as me. Light turns green, and we both begin to move, and I clearly aim for the left-most lane nearest me... the other driver turns wide across all three lanes and into the one I was going to take (she could have taken two lanes nearest her). I'm forced to yeild, which I halfway expected to do anyway since nobody seems to remember the "turn into the lane nearest you" law any more. So, anyway, I pull in behind her (in th left most lane) and she moved right into the middle lane, then right again at the next intersection to turn right. The entire time she's flipping me off. As we stop at the next light, she rolls down her window and cusses me out for not yeilding (I obviously did) claiming she had the right of way. I tried to explain she is supposed to turn into the nearest lane and that of the three lanes, surely the two of us could have both used the road at the same time.... but she was too pissed.... wife happened to have her camera so she snapped a pic of this gal bitching me out.... and we jotted down her license plate number. Of course, there were no cops around, but I observe this wide-turn nonsense at this and every other intersection on a daily basis. I've even seen cops setup at this intersection many times, and NEVER pull anyone over for turning wide. How many accidents are caused merely by going 10 over the speedlimit, vs improper turns? Ah well, City of Carrollton got a tax-bonus from me this month. <sigh> Yeah, this is sour grapes! 
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Did the laws ever change requiring you to stop for unmarked units? When I was an active LEO, you were not required to stop for unmarked units. IMO, unmarked traffic units are a really BAD idea. This makes it incredibly easy for morons to impersonate, and harder for us mere mortals to tell the difference between real and fake po-po's. |
This one ought to be good.  FWIW, unless it was a controlled experiment (i.e. same LEO who pulled you over and let the other person go with their dangerous driving), you've got nothing. Even still, in my parenthetic hypothetical, you'd still really [likely] have nothing, as LEOs usually have discretion wrt that sort of thing. All that said, it pisses me off to no end (in general, not at anyone in particular -- more of that "shake an angry fist at the universe" kind of piss-offedness  ) when drivers who are clearly dangerous are given free passes versus those who go a few over.Lubbock drivers are (like everyone else, I'd assume) really, REALLY bad about swinging wide in dual turn-lane situations. Most dual turn lanes in Lubbock have dotted white lines, but ~ 50% of Lubbock drivers seem to have no idea what they're there for. 
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BTW, to elaborate a little on the above, it is unnerving how dual turn lanes are set up here, esp when they lead into three lanes after the turn. Due to things like - oh I don't know, maybe physics - one would think that the inside lane would be given two of the three lanes, it being harder to keep the inside car on the one-lane tightrope. Not the way it works here. The inside lane on a 2-3 turn is only given the inside lane after the turn. The vehicle on the outside of a 2-3 turn is given two lanes with which to turn into. ETA: Graphics. Present model:  Seeminly more-logical model: 
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I hear ya.... and in fact, in the Dallas area, you'll find both. In my case, using your graphic, I was coming from the LEFT going to turn UP (in to the left most lane) and silly me, I expected the driver coming from the RIGHT to turn UP into the right-most lane as prescribed thusly:
....from home.att.net/~texhwyman/laws.htm#Turning |
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Here's one that happens all the time: Three "regular" lanes (i.e. all going straight) at a regular intersection. One single left turn lane. At least once a week, I'll be in that single left turn lane, and some fuckstick in the left-most "regular" lane will make the turn with me.  Bumper cars should be legal for that. |
Correct... and as the left turner, I was trying to be courteous by choosing the left most lane, thus leaving a lane of "cushion" between us.
Oh, I don't doubt that.... glad I made my bonus contribution... (that one ticket is about 4% of my property tax) Hey, in looking at the traffic code.... I find this:
and yet a friend of mine got a ticket in Frisco on his motorcycle (summer heat) for driving on the shoulder because of a long line of cars "stopped on the main traveled portion" due to an accident about a mile up the road. He paid the fine and got deferred adjudication. |
It is not against the law to change lanes in an intersection. That should not be confused with it being illegal to pass a car within 100 feet on the approach to the intersection. If there are two or more legal lanes for the direction you are going, there is no problem changing lanes. It is the passing cars into oncoming traffic at the intersection that is illegal.
The section of the Transportation Code that you just posted shows that your friend broke the law. He wasn't passing a turning or disabled car, he was using the shoulder to get to the head of the line on his motorcycle because he didn't want to wait his turn. Every car that he passed that was not disabled or turning left, is a violation. The car at the head of the line could have passed the disabled/wrecked car. If your friend would have waited for his turn to get to the head of the line, then he could have legally passed the disabled car. |
You must yeild to unmarked in Houston during the day and not at night. Unmarked in HPD are not allowed to light you up at night. To the poster, please quit your whining. You got caught speeding, deal with it. |
You are clearly mistaken, there are three stipulations 1. To pass a vehicle Slowing or Stopped 2. To pass a vehicle that is Diasabled 3. To pass a vehicle that is Turning |
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I may be wrong (and I'm sure someone will tell me if I am), but the way I've always understood TX traffic laws is that they have a dual purpose: 1) Driver safety (I guess pedestrian safety is also taken into consideration) 2) Non-interference with the [safe] flow of traffic (which is often synonymous with the flow of commerce) At least those are the rules I use, since I don't have the TX Code to refer to in my glove box or console every time one of these split-second decisions presents itself. |
Yep. Actually you are not allowed to drive to the left of center. Many people mistake this fact. |
Awesome, I'm going to start doing it every day now.... even if I don't NEED to... just to make up for 26 years of not doing so! 
As DevL pointed out, the law also says for cars STOPPED in the main lane.... which is how every car was when he got the ticket. DevL - yes I got a speeding ticket.... yes I'm whining.... sorry if it bugs ya! I whine about these things all the time.... I got my ticket, and am taking my lumps, but it just burns me up that I (and many others) get a ticket essentially from a machine (radar - hard to fight in court) but the Police are seldom giving tickets that are for more serious infractions, probably because it relies on their testimony. And red-light cameras are the worst example of this, IMHO. |
I know that is Houston's policy, but I am not sure that it is consistent with State law... |
So if I am buzzing down a two lane road at 70 MPH (posted 70 MPH), and it is double yellow lined so I can not pass on the left, if the guy in front of me gets on his cell phone and starts "slowing" from 70 to say, 65, I can pass on the shoulder/right? I think they put too many "ors" in there and not enough "ands". |
That's what I have always done. Note that this is/was mostly on country roads, as I grew up in a farming town of 3k-7k ppl. Note also that my post does not answer your question.
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| Think of cars who slow to 5mph on a country road to turn. You dont come to a stop, you pass them on the improved shoulder to maintain speed. I have done this in front of police officers may times. Never once thought it was illegal and never got pulled over. I always thought it was illegal to do so on the freeway... it appears it is not. It also appears the common courtesy of allowing someone to pass by pulling onto the shoulder and slowing down is illegal? Or is that listed in stipulations 1-3? |
§545.058. Driving on improved shoulder. (a) An operator may drive on an improved shoulder to the right of the main traveled portion of a roadway if that operation is necessary and may be done safely, but only: (1) to stop, stand, or park; (2) to accelerate before entering the main traveled lane of traffic; (3) to decelerate before making a right turn; (4) to pass another vehicle that is slowing or stopped on the main traveled portion of the highway, disabled, or preparing to make a left turn; (5) to allow another vehicle traveling faster to pass; (6) as permitted or required by an official traffic-control device; or (7) to avoid a collision. |
| Putting the last two scenarios together, a common practice back home for me (lots of two-lane roads) was to turn [more or less] from the shoulder so that I did not impede the flow of traffice when attempting to turn left. Of course, I would wait for the vehicle travelling behind me to go by before I would [technically] turn across two lanes of traffic. Probably not kosher, but I was never hit for it. |