Evening star., 1928-08-30
0utside.Inside Left Turns.

Before the adoption by the District
of the outside left-hand turn rule for
intersections controlled by policemen
it was freely predicted by observers of
| traffic conditions that confusion of the
worst type would result If motorists
attempted to carry the idea a step
further and made the outside turn at
unpoliced intersections. 1t was stressed
at the time the rule was put into effect
that the outside turn was not to be
| used save at automatically and police
controlled crossings but those who
foresaw accident-breeding conditions
arising from non-observance of this
warning on the part of motorists are
being amply vindicated on the streets
of the National Capital today.
Motor habits are hard to break The
driver who first had to learn the left
hand turn as practiced on automatically
lighted streets, but who made the fun
damentally sound inside left turn-that
is. from the center of the street to
the left-on all other occasions was not
an apt pupil when the system was
extended to cover police-controlled
crossings. For years he had made the
turn from the inside and while he
accepted as something new and per-
haps proper that the traffic lights
required different tactics, he had a
difficult time getting used to the idea
OF making the outside turn where
policemen were stationed. Once he did.
however-and this is where the rub
comes-he began to apply it instructive
ly TO all left-hand turns regardless of
trafilc control. That, unfortunately,
seems to be the situation in Washington
today.
The fundamentally sound left-hand
turn is from the center of the street
or road. All other turns are makeshifts
to apply to special conditions. The rea-
son that the center of the road turn is
one of the fundamentals is that it pre-
cludes the possibility of bad judgment
on the part Of the motorist making the
turn causing an accident by crossing
moving trafic. From the inside the
motorist must breast but one stream of
travel and that is Ia full vision because
he Is facing 1t. The outside left-hand
turn causes the motorist to charge
through two lines Of trafic, one facing
him and one at his rear. The reason
that the outside turn can be made with
safety at controlled intersections is
that either lights or police hold up other
trafhc while the motorist completes his
maneuver. It is patent, however, that
when there Is no machinery or human
control of the trafiic streams 1t is the
part Of good sense for the motorist to
cross only the line Of travel facing him
and not the two lines which he would
have to If he made the outside turn.
The probation period has now passed
for those who persist in making the
inside left-hand turn where policemen
are stationed. Motorists are being held
rigidly TO account In their supervised
naneuyers at intersections It would
seem, therefore, that the time had
arrived to frown just as much upon the
practice of outside turns at unpoliced
crossings as inside turns where manual
control is in effect, Whenever one of
these outside turns is observed by a
guardian Of the law at an unpoliced
intersection, the motorist who Is COM
mitting grave fault in his driving
should certainly receive the same treat
msnt as the hapless offender against
the regulations at a controlled inter-
section.