That's not a lane, and the light's not green, and you're going the wrong way!

[Valentinian]

On my way home from work this arvo, heading to pick up my significant other before returning to home sweet home and the cats, I encountered a driver I like to call "You Little S***head", since that's what I yelled at them.

(I have no idea whether or not this person is actually little. I just know they drive a teeny-tiny little blue car, which is why they were able to pull off what they did.)

There I am, sitting at a red light. I'm the first car in the left lane, waiting to go straight. It's sort of a four-way intersection, but to my left is the entrance to Macdonald's instead of another road, and there's a nice little sign saying "Left turn on red permitted after stopping". (Australia, we drive on the left, I guess it's equivalent to an American right on red.)

Suddenly, a teeny-tiny little blue car appears on my left! There's no lane there! There's a bike lane, which is definitely not intended for cars, teeny or not. Strike one!

Teeny blue car pauses for a moment, then starts forwards, only to slam on the brakes as an SUV cruises past in front of us heading into the Maccas parking lot. "Left turn on red permitted after stopping" actually means "after stopping and looking to see if it's safe", dude. Strike two!

SUV out of the way, teeny blue car starts off again... straight across the intersection against the red. "Left turn on red" does not mean "What the hell, go straight, nobody's in the way right now". Strike three! You're a s***head!

[Seanette]

The body may or may not be little, but the brain obviously is.

[notalwaysright]

There's no lane there! There's a bike lane, which is definitely not intended for cars, teeny or not.

I remember in driving school we were taught to stay out of the bike lane. Don't drift into it, or use it as a turn lane. It's not for you, car. It still bugs me when people treat it as part of the main road. What if there was a bicyclist in there? Jeeze.

I actually saw something relevant to this post today. Was coming up to a stop light. There's a left turn only lane, and a straight/right turn lane. 99% of people go left or right because straight leads to a dead end. Anyway, the first car is sitting pointed straight on, no blinker. Second car is impatient, and squeezes by in the bike lane to turn right. Then when the light turns, the first car flicks on the blinker and turns right. Also, I sometimes stop over to the right a bit. Not out of my lane at all, just enough to that people can't zip by illegally.

[Shalom]

there's a nice little sign saying "Left turn on red permitted after stopping". (Australia, we drive on the left, I guess it's equivalent to an American right on red.)

IN the state of New Jersey, you can also make a left on red, provided it's between two one-way streets.

[Valentinian]

I remember in driving school we were taught to stay out of the bike lane. Don't drift into it, or use it as a turn lane. It's not for you, car. It still bugs me when people treat it as part of the main road. What if there was a bicyclist in there? Jeeze.

There are a bunch of places here on main roads where a bike lane crosses / is crossed by an offramp. The lane is painted BRIGHT GREEN with white borders on those sections, with a handy silhouette of a bike to remind people who might have forgotten what it's for, to point out that a bicycle going straight has right of way over a turning car in those spots.

I swear nobody else ever checks for bikes before turning. Yes, if traffic is slow or somebody with awesome legs is pushing their bike to the limit, one can come up behind you...

[Jetfire]

My city added bike lanes recently to a lot of roads. Other than painting lines and the occasional bicycle stencil, there's no other separation between the lane and the vehicle part.

And even more confusing, Every Single Time the bike lane comes up to an intersection, the bike lane ends 2-3 car lengths before the intersection. Assumably that's to allow cars to move over for turns, but it's just confusing to me.

Thankfully, we're small enough that traffic (bike or vehicle) is rarely thick enough for that to be an issue.

[An Haddock]

Never a cop around when you need one.