To the Editor:
A basic rule of left-turn driving has quietly eroded. Drivers are no longer pulling up to the point of the turn, even at green lights and stop-sign intersections.
At unprotected left turns, drivers have long been taught to enter the intersection on green, pull forward to the point of the turn, left wheels hugging the center line and wait there for a safe opening. That positioning isn’t aggressive — it’s intentional. Intersections are engineered with the expectation that at least one vehicle will stage this way so traffic can clear efficiently and predictably.
Increasingly, drivers now remain behind the stop line until oncoming traffic completely disappears. The consequence is not added safety but reduced capacity, unnecessary congestion, and uncertainty about who will move and when. When no one pulls up, entire light cycles are wasted. Even though the law protects a driver who entered legally on green, many people don’t trust that anymore. A lot of newer drivers were never clearly taught intersection positioning, taught vague “don’t enter unless you can clear” rules (which apply to blocked intersections, not left turns). So they wait behind the line, thinking they’re being cautious — but they’re actually reducing intersection efficiency.
This shift seems driven less by law or safety than by fear and misunderstanding. Proper left-turn staging is legal in most jurisdictions and safer precisely because it is clear, visible, and expected.
Traffic works only when shared rules are understood and followed. Re-teaching this basic but important driving practice would improve both flow and safety — and restore a small measure of civic cooperation on the road.
Jeff Ciampa
Warwick