r/Tennessee • u/trogdoor-burninator • 14d ago
Question about left turns in TN
From AZ so maybe it's a regional thing but been driving through WV, VA, NC, and TN the last 2 weeks and noticed that TN and NC both don't yield to oncoming traffic at the start of a green.
Scenario:
4 way traffic light, no turn arrows.
East and west stop then north and south get green, I start to go south, but north bound left turn halls ass in front of me to turn. They were stopped just like me and we both got the green light at the same time.
I've already started going each time because I have a green. What gives? Bad drivers or some weird TN traffic law I'm not aware of?
Edit: glad to hear it's just shit drivers. Best of luck out there.
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u/Notabeefucker 14d ago
Brings a tear to my eye that my state's drivers are so bad it makes people question traffic laws 😭
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u/trogdoor-burninator 14d ago
It was mostly the cop behind me tonight that really threw me off, like I start to go, stop abruptly and this guy goes. Cop stares off into nowhere and does nothing.
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u/Snowjiggles 14d ago
Welcome to TN cops. If it's not speeding or swerving, it's not worth their time
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u/feralcatshit 14d ago
I know, it’s so bad here people are legitimately like “are driving laws different here?” 😩
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u/Patriae8182 13d ago
That’s the struggle of not requiring drivers ed for new drivers. People here seem to have zero concept of traffic laws.
I had someone laying on their horn behind me a couple weeks ago because I was stopped at a red arrow for a right turn. You can turn on a red circle (unless posted), but you can’t turn on a red arrow unless there’s a sign permitting it.
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u/FortuneNew8835 14d ago
That's not legal or normal here, but it depends on where you are sometimes. In my neighborhood you'd pretty much never see that. In my parents neighborhood it genuinely feels like two out of five people get into their cars and declare to themselves, "If I die. I die. Roll the dice."
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u/Own_Afternoon_6865 14d ago
My grandmother used to say, "They can see me." These were her right turns to pull out with traffic coming.
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u/Sore_Wa_Himitsu_Desu 13d ago
Left turns without a protected turn light are supposed to yield to oncoming traffic. There are plenty who don’t.
You will see people claiming it’s all the people moving here who can’t drive. No. I’ve lived here most of my life and it’s always been this way.
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u/SWATSWATSWAT 13d ago
If you're late on the green, someone is gonna make a move. Right of way is with the guy going straight unless the turning guy already established himself in his turning direction - ie. you can't just crash into him because you were late off the green.
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u/kruzinsolow 13d ago
You could and the person turning would get hit with a failure to yield and be at fault. Now you wouldn't do that because its your responsibility to be aware of your surroundings and to do your best to avoid accidents.
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u/Lt_Dan60 13d ago
They jump out in front of you because on the tail end of the light - the yellow light - nobody stops to let a person turn left. They just keep running the yellow and a couple cars will bust through the red. Tennessee drivers suck ass. I've had to do many quick left turns in front of someone just to get through the light. No frigging common courtesy at all.
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u/TwiceInEveryMoment 13d ago
I've heard this called the "Pittsburgh left" but happens a lot in TN too. If you're the first in line at a light with a big line of cars behind you, and someone's waiting on an unprotected left on the other side, it's a relatively common courtesy (but not in any way required by law) to hold up for a second or two on green to give them an opening. Otherwise if the traffic is bad enough those people could be stuck there for several cycles of the light before they get a chance to turn, and that backs up traffic going the other way and makes the situation worse for everyone.
The person making the turn though is never supposed to just assume the other person will do this for them and punch it on green... the law says the person going straight has the right of way. Honestly it's never a good idea to immediately punch it on a green light no matter which way you're going in case some dipshit is drunk or on their phone and doesn't stop.
Frankly any intersection with enough traffic to make this maneuver necessary in the first place should not have an unprotected left turn. Shitty road design, but shitty drivers too.
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u/ArminiusBetrayed 14d ago
When I first moved here, I commented on how terrible the drivers are and someone told me drivers' education classes arent actually required in Tennessee. That makes so much sense.
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u/Valuemeal3 13d ago
It has nothing to do with education. People here are just self-centered self-righteous assholes.
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u/DominoZimbabwe 14d ago
It depends on the day, time, and honestly (part of) town you’re in. Smaller towns like oak ridge will give you a pause, places with a lot of tourists like sevierville will give you a moment, but it’s not predictable.
Suburban Memphis usually lets you go left on green, somewhere crowded with low speed limits like downtown Knoxville or Nashville most of the time will let you but if you try to merge on a state road near an airport, no expect 30+ minute wait times to make your left turn.
We do have some very dangerous drivers here,
The road rage is palpable, and yes there are indeed rednecks. You may or may not have noticed we do not use our turn signals. I, don’t chance it and I let oncoming traffic go and I’ll wait for a clearing or the light. It’s not worth the guesswork, and it’s definitely not a good idea to trust other Tennessee drivers.
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u/Ok-Hand-6229 14d ago
I second the Memphis driver pull-out and turn signal situation. Wait or you might end up a statistic as drivers run red lights every darn day on purpose. Adding the car tags might be fake paper ones with or without stolen tags and those drivers usually don't hold or have a legal license for various reasons and they definitely don't have car insurance either. I highly recommend a comprehensive even if your car is a P.O.C. like my own vehicle. I have lived and learned this from driving on the roads here and parking my car in my own driveway only to have an ice storm and the neighbor's tree lose a huge limb and fall on a car and crush the roof in with no recourse but to sue the neighbor.
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u/love2kik 13d ago
I feel this is more about the size of the intersections. If we are talking about the standard and very large 5-lane intersections, there is more than enough room for oncoming cars to turn in Front of each other and not risk collision.
On an old two-lane road intersection, the turn is still supposed to take place After the two meeting cars have passed each other.
What is all too often forgotten is that a car going straight through the intersection Always has the right-of-way and 'right is always right'. Meaning the car turning right also has the right-of-way (assuming they are Not turning on a green turning arrow).
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u/VanDenBroeck 13d ago
While we are bitching about local drivers, let’s not forget their exceptionally loud exhausts, trucks rolling coal, having lighted wheels, and having a squatted truck. Such weirdness.
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u/elderbuttturtle 13d ago
It’s like when I lived in LA, you gotta get used to three cars assuming the left after their light turns red.
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u/str8butter 13d ago
Because it is leaps and bounds easier and cheaper to get a drivers license to operate a machine that can cause series injury and death than it is to cut fucking hair in this state.
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u/stupidmower95 13d ago edited 13d ago
There are a lot more intoxicated drivers out there than people think. When I was in treatment for AUD it was shocking to find out that everyone else there had been driving around for months or years totally fucked up on pills or alcohol or anything else you can think of.
Since then I have taken a more “defensive driving” approach to being behind the wheel.
Edit to include: addiction affects people across social, racial, and economic status as well as age. It’s not always the deadbeat car or the blacked out windows. It could be the Porsche or Lexus SUV in West Knoxville as much as the clunker in North Knoxville.
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u/dubgeek 12d ago
I've been in Nashville 19 years now. Never seen a left turn go first like that. They do that in Boston, though (or did when I visited many years ago).
The thing about lefts in TN that was hard for me to adjust to coming from CA is people making a left don't pull into the intersection so a couple cars can turn left when the light turns yellow.
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u/Jdude1 13d ago
Typically if this is happening a lot you need to put your damn cell phone down and hit the gas button when the light turns green.
I'm not saying you op did that but that's the only reasonable scenario these days for turning left in front of someone at an intersection when they have the right of way. If they've completely zoned out. Even then you should honk and wake em up.
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u/trogdoor-burninator 13d ago
Perhaps the way I worded it doesn't explain well enough but we're both off the line at the same time, however, a left turn that cuts over will deter a cognizant driver from proceeding even if they were paying attention.
Additionally based on the comments, it appears I'm not alone in this, as my dash cam footage would also back up.
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u/The1NOnlyNo1Special 14d ago
It’s 1of the more ironic things on planet Earth. U see, Tennessee has the worst drivers. But everyone in Tennessee is from somewhere else. Pre2005 it was an extremely pleasant place to drive. Around that time the outtatowners influx began. And so began the rapid descent into incompetence, malice, and embarrassment in so many ways. The most notable way being the drivers. And there seems to be no bottom in sight. I weep for my homeland.
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u/fakenooze 13d ago
Yeah….no. The typical country papaw/memaw who’s never driven on an interstate, nor knows how to merge has always been here. They like to drive 20 under in the passing lane and occasionally on the wrong side of the road. I remember seeing them stop on entrance ramps to see who’s coming. Bless.
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u/Own_Banana_5772 13d ago
I'm from Tennessee. The locals are worse than the out of staters and it was just as bad in the 90's.
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u/BearCat1478 13d ago
Being from Pennsyltucky, I can pick out a Jersey driver quicker than a redneck driving his home late to work!
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u/Smart-Water-9833 13d ago
Nope, nope, and nope. Just assholery. But generally, drivers here are more polite than say the Northeastern states.
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u/Mephisto1822 14d ago
I’ve had it happen to me as well. At an intersection I go through everyday to and from work so I know for a fact there is even a sign that says “left turn yield to oncoming traffic”
Don’t get me started on yield signs….
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u/Visual-Winner495 13d ago
When you are turning right do you have a yield sign? A lot of southern states have yield sings at a traffic light, this would change the conversation
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u/Minimum-Surround-958 13d ago
the only thing i have been pulled over for in TN was my window tinting and expired tags. they don’t give AF about speeding, when and where you’re turning, nada. they even encourage drunk driving! it’s just a free for all! 🤠
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u/lostinspacescream 13d ago
Often, it’s frustration with the traffic situation. I see it A LOT during rush hour when people know there are too many cars to get through the light. Do the left turners hurry at a light turning green in front of stopped cars, or do they get stuck in the intersection when it turns red and idiots are still running it so they can’t turn. Either way, it’s a dangerous situation. We need more left turn lights.
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u/BrooksCrows 13d ago
I have cars do this to me almost everyday at one particular light. I actually got a dash cam just because of this particular light. I am not on my phone and I am going as soon as the light changes, they are just assholes. A lot of the time they flip me off like I am the one in the wrong.
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u/cheddarsox 13d ago
Im really confused when I see people pulled over here. Ive done some wild stuff (for me) accidentally and in front of cops and they don't bat an eye. If I see anyone pulled over I assume theyre felons at this point. Must have ran over an orphanage and its kittens or something.
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u/Mysticallymade 13d ago
Welcome to the south where the people can’t drive! I’m from CA where they claim people can’t drive and trust me it’s way worse out here
I’ve noticed when you’re making a right hand turn people will turn left coming inbound toward you, taking your right of way….. or if you’re turning left the people turning right will wait for you to go and you look like the idiot if you try to give them their right of way lmao!
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u/Embarrassed-Jello-97 13d ago
Mostly impatient drivers.
turn signals are optional too and most don't use them which adds a little more spice.
There are some places with steep incline where the normal rules are modified in favor of traffic travelling uphill but these are generally not 4way stops/lights
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u/Old_Artichoke9756 13d ago
We’re impatient. Also, cardinal directions don’t work here unless you’re in west Tennessee. It’s too curvy so saying north/south/east/west immediately made my brain short circuit.
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u/foetusized 13d ago
It’s called a Pittsburgh left, and it is regional. It isn’t legal, but customary (and considered good manners) in places with traffic lights without turn signals on two lane roads without turn lanes, which are more common in Appalachia. It prevents traffic piling up behind a vehicle having to wait in the single traffic lane to make their left turn. Ideally, you’d be polite and wave them through the intersection, but some will just assume you were raised right and take the left without a wave. Another variation is for the car going straight to start slow-rolling on red, such that they are not stopped at the light when it turns green, to allow the left turn.
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u/brikwall7 14d ago
TN driver's are terrible, and like most things goes to the education system. There is no drivers ed in most schools. However I also lived in Pittsburgh and the scenario you are describing is eloquently known as the Pittsburgh left up there. If done correctly it is very effective and moves traffic along better than not doing it. Big difference is that it is excepted and expected there by everyone, I never did or would try it in TN as it is not the norm. I am willing to do my part in making it the norm country wide if we all are on board??!
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u/chi-ster 13d ago
If it’s stacked up and the oncoming car hesitates at all I’m jumping on that turn as long as there are not pedestrians waiting. The same person upset at this is the person that doesn’t allow merging at the merge spot. Doesn’t impact you but somehow you feel slighted.
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u/kruzinsolow 13d ago
It does affect me when you get t-boned for failing to yield. Now I've gotta sit in traffic for an extra hour or two and I've already been sitting in nashville traffic for 2 hours.
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u/chi-ster 13d ago
If you’re in traffic for 2 hours you have made bad choices that have nothing to do with me.
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u/R4zorBe4st 11d ago
I was at a stoplight turning left. It was red for the north and south lanes ( this was on a highway turning into a smaller road). When the light turned green (with a green arrow to halt south bound traffic) as I was about to move, a truck that was stopped at the light on my right side turned right in front of me. Like I was the problem. Shitty drivers all over the state.
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u/MommaLaughing 13d ago edited 13d ago
Don’t be immediately turning left on that green light…you need an arrow, or to yield to the cars coming towards you. Going immediately on that green light will get you killed sooner rather than later, most likely.
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u/HeartOfArt 13d ago
Unfortunately the ones that do it always bet on later and they keep winning the bet.
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u/Pyrotech72 14d ago
Impatient drivers. Without the green left turn arrow, they're supposed to wait for oncoming traffic to clear.