Why do people find it necessary to come to a stop, or near stop, before turning into the turn lane?

My guess is that they are being safe. They don’t know if opposing traffic from the right is making a left turn and might cut off part of the turn lane because of the angle of the curve. I know that happens quite a bit here, and slow down before I get into the left turn lane.

It’s also quite common for someone ahead of me (in the straight lane) to have a need to bully his or her way into the left turn lane because he/she didn’t plan ahead.

And that isn’t even getting into the possibilities about being unsure of directions and decision making.

Bottom line, there may be perfectly legit reasons. CHill.

It doesn’t bother me if they signal before moving over. It’s stunning to me that people signal before turning and not before slowing down. The whole point of the turn signal is to give warning, yet some people don’t signal until they are already making the turn. Forget the people who don’t signal at all.

They slow down, because they feel like they need to. Maybe their stop is more gradual than yours. My husband doesn’t start stopping soon enough for me a lot of the time. I don’t know if he saw the red light, yellow light, stopped car, lane closure, is forgetting to turn, etc. Makes for a lot of arguments.

Edit: Also, some people see better than others. I think people only need to be corrected to 20/40 to drive. Also, people like my dad have bad depth perception so he is more cautious about estimating his distance from an object, intersection, etc.

I couldn’t care less about anybody driving behind or beside me who thinks I’m not driving as fast as they want me to. I will continue to drive as defensively as I was taught and as carefully and sanely as I wish in order to protect myself and my passengers.

That’s what I call “Quebec Turn”. Complete stop BEFORE using their turn signal. Right in the middle of the road.
Saw that too many times to count when I visited in the early 1970’s Quebec Province for two weeks. EVERY left turn was “STOP than turn signal”.

Near stop or full stop before moving into another lane is, to me, asking to get rear ended. In NY state, they’ll say you’re liable for part of the damages.

@Tropical_Willie I don’t see how anyone who drives thinks that’s ok. It’s so frustrating.

Obviously driving is too difficult to be attempted by anyone.