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What's the right way to take a left turn across a neutral ground?
New Orleans drivers aren't exactly known for their reasonable approach to getting around. Why else would car insurance be so expensive in this town?
But there's one thing -- well, apparently besides the use of turn signals -- that really confuses folks, and that's what to do at a left turn across a neutral ground. (That's what we call a median, for all y'all not from these parts.) In fact, we talked to three different people near just such a turn Uptown, and each one gave us a different answer.
The conundrum we're talking about is this: You're driving down a road that's divided by a neutral ground, and you want to take a left, so you do. Thing is, you now have to make a decision: Do you cross the traffic on the other side of the neutral ground to keep going on your merry way, or do you wait for the light to turn green at that intersection?
It seems like a lot of people have trouble with this one. Jewel Carney, the director of the New Orleans Safe Driving School, said he gets asked about it just about every week. Actually, before I could even explain exactly what I was asking, he sighed and just said, "I'm going to go ahead and guess that you're asking about how to make a left turn at a median? Nobody does this correctly."
The right way to cross that neutral ground, according to Trooper Melissa Matey with the Louisiana State Police, is to obey the traffic light if there is one. You don't get a pass just because you're turning off a street that gave you a green light. If there's a red one in front of you, you don't get to run it just because you're turning. And when there is no traffic light, you yield to oncoming traffic before continuing.
Notably, this has nothing to do with the size of the neutral ground, nor whether there's any striping on the ground. It has only to do with what the traffic control signage says, though Rodney Mallett, the spokesman for the Department of Transportation and Development, said roadway engineers look to the size of the median for whether or not to put any signage there. (If it's 30 feet or wider, road engineers would install a stop sign on each end of the neutral ground. The presence of a green arrow grants drivers the right-of-way; a regular circular green light indicates drivers should yield to oncoming traffic when turning.)