OK, normally I wouldn’t whine about this, but the same damn thing has happened several times in the last month and I’m trying to figure out why so many people seem to be so stupid all of a sudden because up until maybe a year or so ago, I rarely saw this (and no, the law hasn’t changed, I looked it up.)

There’s an intersection near me where there is a lot of traffic that turns left, and a lot of opposing traffic that turns right, and almost every freakin’ time I come to this intersection, at least one moron insists on making a left turn despite oncoming traffic (and yes, oncoming traffic includes people turning right.) I’m guessing that they assume that since the road they’re turning onto has two lanes (it’s actually three, but one ends about 50 feet from the intersection so for all practical purposes it’s two lanes) that they think they can turn left into the left lane and the right turners will turn right into the right lane and everyone will be happy. Only problem, is that is 1) illegal 2) dangerous and 3) stupid. Because a lot of times what happens is the left turner doesn’t stay in the left lane, or the right turner doesn’t stay in the right lane. And to further bugger it all up, many people turning right STOP on the freakin’ green light! WTF?!!! I assume it’s because at some time prior, some idiot has turned left illegally and almost run into said right turner, so now they’re super cautious. Only one major problem, when you stop on a green when making a right turn, the morons turning left from the opposite direction ASSUME YOU HAVE A RED LIGHT so they come barreling through their turn because they think they have the right of way. Now, you do of course, have to look where you’re going, whether you’re turning left or right, but you should NOT completely stop on a green light unless there is a real reason to do so. If you do, you increase the chance of an accident (not only from an idiot turning left now thinking he has the right of way, but also by someone behind you slamming into you because you stupidly stopped on a green light.) So please, people, follow the damn law (this is for California, other states may differ) and remember, if you are turning left you DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY on a green light. Green arrow? Yes. Green light? No. (The only exception is when you have pulled into the intersection and opposing traffic has a red or your light has turned red, then and only then are you allowed to finish your turn but ONLY IF IT IS SAFE TO DO SO! If a car is turning right, even on a red, you MUST YIELD. If an opposing traffic car runs a red light, you MUST YIELD.) A super easy to remember rule of thumb is this: When you are driving, if at any time you cross another traffic lane that has a green light or right of way (opposing or perpendicular) you MUST YIELD. Since someone turning left must cross over the oncoming lane in order to make their turn, they must yield to ALL traffic (cars, pedestrians, dogs, superballs, bikes, garbage blowing in the wind … all of it. And yes, even stupid drivers who stop on green lights. Especially stupid drivers who stop on green lights. And “oncoming” means people turning right because they are in the same oncoming lanes of traffic as people who are driving straight, and I sure as hell hope you don’t turn left when someone is coming toward you driving straight.)

And one other thing, if you do not have a valid license AND insurance, get off the damn road! And if you do have a license and insurance, please obey the law and that means no yapping on your cell phone or texting while driving either, OK? Because next time I see you doing something illegal, I’m filming it and reporting license plate numbers.