This just came up this morning. Please excuse my drawing's crudeness. I have not and will never claim art skills.



My thinking is the purple car turning left across 3 northbound traffic lanes and one eastbound turn lane yields to the blue car turning right. The driver of the blue car is looking to the right and can't see the car turning left across 4 lanes of traffic. The yield sign is so the driver of the blue car yields to anyone else at the frontage road intersection except those that have stop signs. That would be vehicles in the intersection that have come to a complete stop and are then moving into the intersection as well as vehicles heading eastbound that are going straight, turning left on to the frontage road, turning right onto the frontage road, or turning right onto the main highway.

I could be wrong though, hence the poll and discussion.

Question:
Who yields to who?

Choices:
Purple car yields to blue car
Blue car yields to purple car
the bigger car wins
the faster car wins
I'm color blind

 

My deceased father was a traffic engineer, and he explained the “yield” means exactly what it says-yield to all other traffic; in this case blue yields to purple so purple can complete the turn safely.

quote:

Originally posted by bcereuss:
My deceased father was a traffic engineer, and he explained the “yield” means exactly what it says-yield to all other traffic; in this case blue yields to purple so purple can complete the turn safely.

I'd agree with this, as long as the purple car doesn't have a stop or yield prior to their turn & there's no northbound [per the photo] traffic for purple to yield to.

I just realized I have the yield sign in the wrong spot, but it most likely doesn’t make a difference. It should be on the right hand side of blue car, not the left as drawn.

I get what you guys are saying, but how does that apply the to the people on the frontage road with Stop signs? Doesn’t the person with the Yield sign have priority over the people at the Stop signs? If that’s the case, then Yield doesn’t mean Yield to all traffic. If Yield doesn’t mean Yield to all traffic, then that opens up the question as to which vehicle turning off the main road to the side road has priority. Normally, the vehicle turning right off the main road to a side road has priority over a vehicle turning left off the main road to the same side road as the right turning vehicle. Does the Yield sign change this?

This is an odd intersection. Most of the intersections that have a yield sign in the right turn lane are at traffic light controlled intersections. The Yield sign only comes into play when the lanes you are turning from have red lights. You can continue you right turn without stopping for the red if there’s no traffic heading straight through the intersection on the road you are turning onto or if there is no traffic turning left from the opposite direction of the road you are turning from to the road you are turning onto.

Blue car lost his right of way when he left the thru lanes and went into turn lane with a yield sign. So purple has right of way. Would be tricky as to right of way for crossing frontage road, but technically he would only have to yield to vehicles already in the intersection, so as to entering the intersection he has right of way over cars that are required to come to a complete stop, which he is not required to do.Part of the Stop sign laws (in Florida, where I am a LEO) state that you have to yield right of way from the stop sign (FSS 316.123 2a)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd9RTTGq1eY

"Six months ago I couldn't spell ungineer now I are one"

Who in hell designed that intersection?

Purple car has the ROW, but if I'm in the purple driver I'm watching the blue car and assuming they probably won't yield.

Cars at the stop signs on the frontage road have the lowest rank. They have to wait for both cars to clear before proceeding.

No yield beats yield.
Yield beats stop.

Left turn yields.

In this case, left turning purple car yields to the blue car (which might not turn right).

The Yield sign is in reference to the car turning right (the blue car) and pertains to yielding to vehicles in in the frontage road's intersection.

If the purple makes a command decision the blue vehicle MUST yield to the crosser of traffic, the purple car driver will be in for a rude awakening if/when the blue car changes their mind and goes straight rather than fully executing the right turn.

Actually had this type question on my first driver's license exam.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
Left turn yields.

In this case, left turning purple car yields to the blue car (which might not turn right).

The blue car is in a right turn lane. Not that he might not bop back out of it, but this is different than if he was just turning out of a lane of traffic, right?

quote:

Originally posted by pace40:
Who in hell designed that intersection?

Yeah, they need to be kicked in the junk.


I'd be surprised if Purple didn't have some sort of signage. Every similar intersection I can think of around here, crossing a multi-lane highway, has a stop or yield sign at the median crossing.

Purple car should make sure the intersection is clear before proceeding. The intersection includes the access road.

Would anybody's opinion change if the blue car were turning right from the access road rather than the main road?

From a slightly different perspective, the car that has the best opportunity to prevent a collision has the responsibility to do so. IMO, this is the purple car. Same principle as a front-to-back collision, car behind is at fault.

For those critical of the intersection design, there are many many intersections in NoVA of this type, pretty much every cross street of a non-access-controlled highway. Very few of these have traffic lights, or turn restrictions. Most of these were established when all roads were single lane in each direction, but persist to this day even though the major highways have become multi-lane thoroughfares.

The frontage road has to stop, and cannot proceed in any direction until completely clear of either the purple or blue car.

The blue car has to yield to the purple car. Minus the frontage road there is an intersection like this near my house that I have to go through on a regular basis. I always have to remember that even though I am turning right, I have to yield to those who are turning like the purple car is doing.

I didn’t think of it earlier, but here’s a satellite view from Apple Maps:



Pretend there are no other cars on the road except the purple and blue ones.

Where I’ve shown them is approximately where we were and we were both moving.

As expected, Purple has a Yield sign.

Purple yields to Hwy 45, then can cross when clear. Blue yields to anyone transiting where their 45 exit joins the side street, so would need to check left. (But would not necessarily have to yield to Purple yet, if Purple is currently sitting and awaiting a gap on 45.) Frontage road has Stop signs, so yield to anyone transiting that frontage road intersection.

Therefore, if Purple is sitting stationary where it currently is as Blue is approaching that Yield sign, Blue can proceed since that intersection portion is clear at the time.

But if Purple is crossing 45 when Blue is approaching the Yield sign, Purple has the right of way where Blue's exit joins the side street.

Shit, I didn’t even see that. Seems like purple should yield to blue then. The guy came across the 3 lanes of traffic, got in front of me, and slowed down while pointing at my yield sign. Seems like he ignored his yield sign.

There was no other traffic, just us and we were both moving.

No. Purple's yield sign applies to the intersection with the three lanes of Highway 45 traffic.

Sounds like you were Blue while the Purple guy was already coming across 45, in which case you absolutely would be expected to yield. Once he is crossing 45, Purple has right of way at the intersection with Blue's yield sign.


This is basically 3 different intersections, not one big one.

1) Median Crossing/Highway 45 lanes (Purple's current spot)

2) Elkcam Blvd/Highway 45 exit (Blue's current spot)

then

3) Elkcam Blvd/Tamiami Trail frontage road


Each has its own set of traffic control signs, dictating who has right of way at each of the three intersections.

So if Purple is currently transiting across 45 onto Elkcam, Blue has to yield at that (2nd) intersection. But if Purple is just sitting stopped at the median, Blue doesn't need to yield since the intersection in questions (2nd) is clear.

I’m blue. Purple had not yet started across the 3 north bound lanes when I reached where I was while turning right. We were both moving, but he was faster or he wouldn’t have been able to get i front of me. I did yield because no one needs a wreck, but I think he gunned it to get in front of me.

He had a yield sign, I was already in the turn, he should have yielded. If he was coming across as I entered the turn (the actual turn, not just the turn lane), I should yield to him.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
I didn’t think of it earlier, but here’s a satellite view from Apple Maps:

That's pretty different from the drawing and not that bad a design. Wide berm and extended turn lane makes a world of difference. Ignore my previous comment.

quote:

Originally posted by pace40:
That's pretty different from the drawing and not that bad a design.

Agreed. Plenty of room at/between the three intersections for each actor to yield/stop as needed.