Two-Way Left-Turn Lane, Faded Limit Line, Wet Night
You are westbound on a four-lane suburban arterial at 9:10 p.m. in steady rain, looking for the driveway of a dental office on your left. Between the two directions of travel is a center two-way left-turn lane bounded on each side by a solid yellow line with a broken yellow line just inside it. The white two-way arrow markings in the lane are worn down to about 40 percent of their paint. The driveway is roughly 300 feet ahead, just past a signalized intersection whose limit line and crosswalk have faded until only the two outermost white bars are visible. A delivery van ahead of you is doing 30 in a posted 45, and a tailgater is holding about one car length behind your bumper. A pedestrian with a shopping bag waits on the corner, and an oncoming car has its left-turn signal on.
1. When and how may you enter the two-way left-turn lane, how far may you travel in it, and can you use it to get around the slow van?
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The two-way left-turn lane is a turning bay, not a travel lane. You enter it through the broken yellow line on your side, not across the solid line, and you may use it only to begin or complete a left turn or to enter the roadway from a driveway or side street. California limits how long you may drive in it - on the order of 200 feet, enough to decelerate and turn - so with the driveway 300 feet ahead you should not dive in early and cruise; wait until you are within roughly that distance, signal, and move in to slow down. Using it to pass the 30 mph van is prohibited, as is using it as a merge lane or a place to queue for a light. The faded white arrows do not change what the lane is; the yellow line configuration does, and paint wear is not a repeal.
2. The limit line and crosswalk at the signal are almost worn away. Where must you stop for a red light, and what does the waiting pedestrian require?
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Worn paint does not delete the crosswalk or the stop point. Stop at the limit line if you can identify it; if you cannot, stop before the nearest crosswalk line, and if even that is invisible in the rain, stop far enough back that a pedestrian crossing in front of you would be clearly in your headlights. At signalized intersections a crosswalk exists whether or not it is painted, so the legal obligation to yield survives the missing paint entirely. The pedestrian with the shopping bag is waiting at the corner; if they step off the curb, they have the right-of-way in the crosswalk and you must not proceed until they have cleared your path. Do not creep forward to "find" the line - with a tailgater one car length back, creeping compresses your stopping margin and puts you over the crosswalk when the light changes.
3. The oncoming car also enters the two-way left-turn lane from the other direction, heading for a driveway behind you. Who has priority in that lane, and what is the hazard?
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Neither of you has priority in the abstract - the lane is shared and both directions may use it for turning, so the answer depends on what each vehicle is actually doing with it. If you are both turning left into driveways on your respective sides, you can occupy the lane at the same time, pass left-shoulder to left-shoulder, and each complete your own turn when your path is clear. The hazard is the vehicle that treats the lane as a travel lane: an oncoming car driving down the center lane toward you creates a head-on conflict in a strip only about twelve feet wide, with no shoulder and a tailgater behind you. So watch the oncoming car's speed and angle - if it is closing rather than turning, stop short of its path, even if that means waiting behind the limit line. Never assume the other driver reads the lane markings the way you do.