Two Right Turn Lanes....

This has gotten completely out of hand and ridiculous. Apparently some cannot comprehend that I simply said to make right turns FOR YOUR TEST however the state you are testing in requires it.

I'm done with this bull****.

...words...and funny puns...

I think there (still) might be a misunderstanding on my point.

I agree with using farthest lane out from a double turn. You have to take the wide approach. I have no idea how many times I've had to cross a double yellow in a button hook style turn to keep from hitting things. There's a turn coming from a residential that is a forced right hand turn with a median separating the traffic coming in on the side street (terrible with words to try and describe this). The turn has to be done a specific way or you hit a sign with either off tracking or tail swing.

Cars move, sign post and poles don't unless you make them. Wait out the car. One of the main points stressed when learning to drive a school bus.

A school bus travels from a major road to minor roads and spends the majority of their time in residential areas full of tight spaces and corners. A topic that is commonly taught is to use the furthest right lane when making a left hand turn. Briefly touched on (just like mountain driving since kansas is as flat as a bowling lane, flat to the naked eye but small lifts and drops that may be missed) encountering the same scenario on the right hand side. It was instructed that it's the same as a left just flipped over, use the farthest left.

Eh.. GTown doesn't really attack anyone. He just tells it like it is. I don't come off as a "warm and fuzzy" person either much of the time.

I'm far from warm and fuzzy. Sometimes I come off as a jerk. I'm sorry if I offended someone. My only point was that no matter the intention it's how others perceive it that matters.

I don't mince words or waste time with them which makes what I say sound worse than intended.

Susan wrote:

This has gotten completely out of hand and ridiculous. Apparently some cannot comprehend that I simply said to make right turns FOR YOUR TEST however the state you are testing in requires it.

I'm done with this bull****.

Sorry you feel this way Susan. If the above was all that you said, Brett and I would not have challenged you in the first place...

As far as the logic I presented, real life examples and why I disagree with you and several others, call it whatever you want, but it's not bull**** or ridiculous.

From Susan D.'s original post. Very last sentence.

I completely see why they would say use the outermost lane, but please do whatever is required for testing in the state you intend to obtain your CDL in.

Sometimes it is easy to focus on certain aspects, and gloss over other parts, that are relevant. I am definitely guilty of this.

Stay safe

I agree with Brett probably the most, and I understand what MyNameGoesHere was talking about. I had to make a turn like this for a company I went to work for. Ha ha, I didn't set up the truck properly and clipped a sign... oops. he he nothing bad, but it was slow going getting through the turn.

Brett made it simple.... and the memory came back to me from school. Their theory or rule of thumb was to give your trailer as much room as possible to travel (to keep it from closing in on the other lane as much as possible). And always, always, always keep things, cars and such, in your mirrors, at all times.... never lose sight of anything.

I haven't a clue what the rules were in the CDL manual... I only remember what I was taught, and it served me well ob1. :)

From Susan D.'s original post. Very last sentence.

I completely see why they would say use the outermost lane, but please do whatever is required for testing in the state you intend to obtain your CDL in.

Sometimes it is easy to focus on certain aspects, and gloss over other parts, that are relevant. I am definitely guilty of this.

From another of her posts:

Most (not all) truck routes have plenty of room for taking right turns in the lane farthest to the right. If it's tight, you wait for the cars in the right-turn lane to your left to complete their turn then slowly proceed with making your right turn and protect your right side as you do so.

You're right Danielson, you seem to have glossed over some of the relevant parts yourself.

And I personally think this is the wrong approach. By the time you're in the right hand lane and you realize you don't have the room you need to make the turn, it's too late. You've needlessly put yourself and those around you in a dangerous position. There is no advantage to taking a right hand turn from the right hand lane when there are two right hand turning lanes. You should by default choose the left lane of the two right hand turning lanes, the lane with the widest turning radius.

If anyone is taught this in school I would love to know about it. If you see this in writing, I would love to see a copy of it. I would love to question anyone who is teaching this approach because it is simply wrong and should be changed immediately.

I love what G-Town said about his approach to mentoring new drivers and I feel exactly the same way. I'm passionate about helping others get their career off to a great start, and I don't believe that we can have an opinion that sits on the fence. As mentors we have to be willing to take a stand for what we believe in:

I am extremely passionate about truck driving, especially when it involves safety. There are some who replied to this thread (and will remain nameless, pun intended) that accused me of going on the "attack" in support of that which I know to be true based on years of experience. One of them a pre-student who instead of defending their right to read information that is sugar coated and sweet, should attempt to comprehend the points being presented. To be crystal clear...when anyone insists on being right when I and most of the moderators know, they are mistaken, I will ratchet-up my response to whatever level is necessary to drive home my point. I am extra passionate about this thread's subject because I do not want anyone to get into trouble for believing something that is not true or not advisable. If some of you believe that level of commitment is attacking then I invite you to do whatever you so desire and then, when you are called into the safety department to explain the err of your ways, compare "that conversation" to the one we had in this thread. My goal is for all of us to avoid that type of meeting.

Susan, you did say that people should take the test the way their state requires. Of course we've yet to actually find anything in writing that shows a state is requiring people to take a right hand turn from the right hand lane if there are two turning lanes. I'm hoping we can find this in writing somewhere because I would immediately challenge it and try to get it changed.

You did not state, however, that you think taking the turn from the left hand lane of a turn with two right hand turning lanes is the proper way of doing it, and in fact gave an example of how to handle it if you find yourself in a bad position in the inside lane. So it's clear you think it's ok to take that turn from the inside lane and the rest of us disagree with you so I also don't think it's BS that people are defending their positions, as should you if you feel you're right about something.

If anyone can find something in writing that shows you should take a turn from the inside lane (shorter radius turn) of two turning lanes, please let me know about it. I will in fact contact anyone who is teaching this to try to get this changed, because it is in fact the wrong approach to take.

That's why I said it needs to be addressed on a federal level. I was told to do that by the DOT examiner in Kentucky when I road tested for my CDL.

I was talking to my other half about this and he said when he tested in Georgia (Atlanta) when he received his instructor certification he had to do that also.

Is that how we take all turns? Absolutely not. Like I said, you have to adjust for the unique/impending turn.

The officer told him they do that to see how a driver will handle it and of course the proper way in that situation is to let cars to your left go ahead then ease into your turn. This is only for TESTING and some states will have you do that to see if you can handle it in a safe manner.

Yes it's crazy and I don't believe people should be tested that way. Testing needs to be standardized on a federal level.

The officer told him they do that to see how a driver will handle it

[sarcasm]Wow, that's a fantastic idea![/sarcasm]

Let's take a brand new driver and force them unnecessarily into a dangerous and awkward position to see if they freak out or hit something.

I wonder if these officers would like to be present when the innocent families driving next to these student drivers are informed that they're being used as guinea pigs in this experiment? I wonder if these officers would do this same experiment if it was their spouse and children lined up next to that truck?

Yeah, cuz the world isn't a dangerous enough place without forcing brand new drivers into dangerous situations. Obviously I'm not a fan. You don't experiment with people's lives, especially innocent people who have no knowledge of the situation and have nothing to do with it.

Section 2 of the ' Texas Commercial Motor Vehicle - Drivers Handbook '.

Section 2.7.6 - 'Space for Turns' : No information for double turn lanes turning right, but it does say to keep trailer as close to the curb as possible to keep vehicles from trying to pass you on the right.

Left Turns with double turn lanes : There is a diagram on page 2-18 (Figure 2.14). It says, "If there are two turning lanes, always take the right turn lane. Don't start on the inside lane because you may have to swing right to make the turn. Drivers on your left can be more readily seen. See Figure 2.14"

So, at least one of them is cleared up.