Right-Turning Box Truck, a Bike Lane, and a Crosswalk
You are southbound on a two-lane street in a business district, approaching an intersection where right turns on red are permitted and nothing is posted against them. A box truck ahead of you in your lane has its right signal on, but it has stopped about 8 feet out from the curb with its rear wheels still in the travel lane. A cyclist in the marked bike lane to your right is moving forward at about 12 mph into the gap between the truck and the curb. Across the intersection, a pedestrian has stepped into the crosswalk on the far side of the street you are about to enter. The truck's brake lights have stayed on for several seconds.
1. Explain why the truck is stopped where it is, and why you must not use the space to its right.
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The truck is almost certainly waiting for the cyclist, not parked.
- A box truck's turning geometry forces it to swing left before turning right so its rear wheels clear the curb. That swing is why it sits 8 feet from the curb with its back end still blocking the lane.
- The gap between the truck and the curb is exactly where a cyclist going straight will be, and exactly where a truck's rear wheels will track as it completes the turn. It is a pinch point, and it is also the truck driver's largest blind spot.
- Passing a vehicle on the right when it is signaling a right turn is illegal and is one of the classic right-hook setups: the cyclist proceeds straight, the truck turns across them.
The correct move is to hold back far enough that the driver can see you in the mirror, and let the truck complete the turn.
2. Walk through the order of yields once the truck clears: the cyclist, the red light, and the pedestrian on the far side.
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Sequence:
- The cyclist first. The cyclist is going straight in the bike lane and has the right of way over your right turn. Your turn crosses their path. Do not turn until they have cleared the intersection.
- Full stop before the turn. Right on red requires a complete stop first - behind the stop line or crosswalk, not a rolling pause. Being permitted does not mean being automatic.
- The pedestrian on the far side. Massachusetts requires you to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, and that includes the crosswalk on the far side of the intersection you are entering, not only the near one. The pedestrian's position across the intersection does not release you; you would be turning into their path.
- Then oncoming and cross traffic - a right on red still yields to everyone with a green.
Only after all four are satisfied do you complete the turn. If the pedestrian is still crossing when your light turns green, the answer does not change.
3. Suppose the truck instead stops with its rear wheels blocking the crosswalk you are about to enter, and the light for you turns green. What do you do?
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Do not follow it into the intersection.
- A vehicle stopped in a crosswalk is a visual barrier: a second pedestrian may be stepping off the curb on the far side of the truck, invisible to you, and the truck driver is focused on the turn, not on you.
- If you pull up behind the truck you will be sitting in the crosswalk yourself, which blocks pedestrians and is a violation in its own right.
- Hold back behind the stop line and give the truck room to clear. A green light is permission to proceed when the way is clear; it is not a command to occupy the space the vehicle ahead is vacating.
- Watch the truck's front wheels rather than its signal once it starts moving - the wheels tell you when it is actually committed to the turn.