WHY MUST THERE ALWAYS BE A MICHIGAN LEFT?
Rogue Warrior
Whenever I drive myself somewhere
The map above does not show a Michigan left. They are the bane of my existence followed closely by the roundabout. I don’t hate them in theory. I think they would help traffic flow and be the cause of less accidents… if anybody fucking knew how to use them correctly. I mean they constructed all of these progressive newfangled roundabouts but never taught anyone the proper way to drive through them! Everyone has a different approach to the Michigan left and the roundabout. In my humble opinion, there should only be one consistent uniform approach used by all.
A Michigan left (or Michigan U-turn) is difficult to explain to an outsider. I will show a graphic I grabbed from the interwebs to illustrate below:
Image credit: Michigan Department of Transportation
Green line: You cannot go straight to make a left turn. You must turn right to make a left.
Red line: You cannot go straight to make a left turn. You must turn left followed by a right.
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Confused? Yeah!
I drove myself to the doctor yesterday. I have been bumming rides from John and my mom until now because of the dreaded Michigan left. I’m always way too stressed out by people using them incorrectly. Yesterday did not disappoint. It’s meant to be one lane. One car behind the other to wait their turn. At this particular turnaround, cars could also go straight to the parking lot of a mall.
The car in the lead was going straight. I was set behind that car a little off to the left side trying to prevent someone from making another lane. It backfired on me. I needed to turn left and this guy in a huge truck flies up next to me aggressively wanting to go straight. He carved out a nonexistent lane for himself and cut in front of both of us already queued up! I tried to remain calm.
According to Auto Law from Michigan Department of Transportation:
I failed. As it was playing out, I turned to look at him and held up one finger (not that finger!) to signify only one at a time could go through. He didn’t care, of course. When he cut me off, I laid on the horn to express my frustration with him. He didn’t care. Why do I do this to myself? I get angry and worked up and it has no effect on the other person. My blood pressure skyrockets and I’m shaky for too long afterwards.
I had been so proud of myself for staying calm while driving on the way to the appointment. That dust-up on the way home should not diminish what I accomplished. There were no Michigan lefts on the drive to the office. Only one directly after leaving my doctor’s office. Maybe I can find a different route to avoid the dreaded ML.
The drive over was quiet because I imagined my niece was in the passenger seat. I acted accordingly, trying to make my shotgun rider feel at ease. It worked.
The drive home as you read, not so much.
Sorry for venting. Thanks for reading!
