Comments on: 64 Worst: Left Turn Signals Vs. Parking At Trader Joes

By: shainla

shainla — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 08:03:54 +0000

my main trader joes is in burbank (solely because that’s where i work) and i utilize the left turn lane signal (thank you evil city of burbank) to get there. the monday night parking lot at TJ’s is CA-RAZY but all other times are somewhat manageable. the los feliz TJ’s has something that i’m not allowed to speak of in public so that’s not so bad, the glendale TJ’s is generally OK and i plan most driving routes for not having to make left hand turns so i guess i can’t vote for this one. is there an “all of the above” category?

By: mediaconcepts

mediaconcepts — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 01:47:44 +0000

This was a close call, but after living here for 16 months, I am still astounded at the lack of left turn signals. I once spent so long in the left turn lane on Montana to Barrington that I had to give up, causing big disappointment to the retriever in my backseat who was wondering why we weren’t going to Barrington Dog Park. Left turn signals have probably been around since the days of the Dusenberg, and are part of Traffic Planning 101. Dumb dumb dumb L.A.!

By: Mack Reed

Mack Reed — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:34:30 +0000

Get the Vespa. She doesn’t own you yet. :)

er, maybe he doesn’t … didn’t want to assume … never mind.

By: browne

browne — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:49:05 +0000

I want a Vespa, but my fiancé claims I will die if I get one. Two bicycling accidents and people get all paranoid.

I remember when I turned 16 and my first car, I didn’t know that you had to yield when making a left turn. I would just turn and everyone would honk and yell. I thought people sure are angry when they drive. Then one day I had my friends in the car and as I turned left everyone started screaming and yelling at me, that’s the first time I realized just because I was in the car that I didn’t always had the right of way. I don’t know exactly how I missed this in driver training or how I got 100% on the written test, but the driving test I took at the Covina DMV (or somewhere out that way,) because I had heard they didn’t make you get on the freeway in Covina unlike Hollywood, I think I barely passed and the instructor was like I’m just giving this to you, because you are nice, but please be careful. Crying is an effective tool in passing a botched driving test.

I remember in college I got on the 110 Freeway on accident in downtown and I backed off the entrance…I think I made an excellent decision to stay off the road via being behind the wheel of a car.

I guess now since I don’t drive I would have to say Trader Joe’s parking lot, because of the former cross walk of death at TJ Silver Lake. I’ve almost got hit by too many people owing to the design of that Trader Joes, so for me TJ is the most dangerous, because even though I don’t drive the existence of that parking lot has almost ended my life on several occasions.

Browne

By: Annika Barranti

Annika Barranti — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:10:18 +0000

Dude, don’t laugh! The other day we passed about a hundred guys on assorted types of scooters, and they looked tougher than any motorcycle gang I’ve ever come across. And organized! They had hand signals and everything.

By: Mack Reed

Mack Reed — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:49:51 +0000

Didn’t Mayor Villaraigosa promise more left turn lanes are in our future?

By: frazgo

frazgo — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:01:44 +0000

lol “vespa gang” I needed that laugh.

By: Annika Barranti

Annika Barranti — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:54:12 +0000

This one was really hard, but in the end I went with left turn signals because they make it harder for me to get to Trader Joe’s AND EVERYWHERE ELSE. My husband’s secret to parking at TJ’s is to ride a Vespa. If enough readers get Vespas, we can start a gang!

By: scarysquirrel

scarysquirrel — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:53:26 +0000

I think for those of us who don’t shop at Trader Joe’s, this is pretty much a given.

And, even those who do shop there… I’m sure you must have to make a nasty left somewhere along your route. Maybe not though.

By the way… do you say rOOt or rOWt when it comes to “route”?

By: frazgo

frazgo — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:39:46 +0000

The lack of left turn signals, or protected lefts as I learned to call them from prior places I lived in are a killer. Literally. Close to a third of the so called "head on" fatalities I handled are out of people making left turns. Simple view but speed and misunderstanding that left's yield to oncoming traffic as outlined in VC 21801 tends to be the biggest problem.