In a city that seems to have everything, there are also plenty of rarities. A parking spot in Koreatown. A quick trip on the 405. An In-N-Out drive-thru without a 27 car line. But perhaps nothing in LA is so rare as a left turn arrow at an intersection. Yes, Los Angeles is well known to be the land of the unprotected left turn. So, in a city where a car is practically essential, why is it so hard to find a reliable left turn signal? Well, there’s more than one reason.
LA: The City of the Unprotected Left Turn
It takes about 15 minutes of LA city driving before teenage permit drivers and transplants begin to anxiously wonder: where are all the left turn signals? As of 2016, a mere 14 percent of LA’s intersections offered motorists the relief of a green left turn arrow.
That percentage has likely increased a bit over the years thanks to the city’s Vision Zero program. But it’s still an uncomfortable situation for fresh transplants and veteran Angelenos alike. How uncomfortable? Let’s put it this way: UPS developed its own 1000-page algorithm just to help its drivers avoid making left turns in the city.
In the Time Before Left Turn Signals
Los Angeles was actually one of the earliest cities to design its streets with the automobile in mind. This was in the days before traffic lights. Obviously, the left turn signal wasn’t a thing, and wouldn’t be for some time.
It wasn’t until 1956 when LA’s first left turn arrow was installed, saving Sepulveda Boulevard from an unprotected left turn limbo. By this point, most of the city as we know it had already been forged in concrete and pavement. And, at these established intersections, there was little room to install a left turn signal.
No Space to Displace
And herein lies the first big reason for the lack of left turn signals in LA: there simply isn’t enough room. Sure, there are times when designers managed to find enough median space to shoehorn in a left turn signal. But with streets already too narrow for a median, traffic planners were out of luck.
Even when space allowed, installing a brand new traffic signal was easier said than done. This became apparent in the 1970s when the budget for improvements was stretched thin long before satisfying the demand for left turn signals. In those days, over 95 percent of the city’s intersections required the risk of an unprotected left turn.
Insufficient Equipment
It was also difficult to install left turn signals in the early days of civic planning because the available equipment just wasn’t advanced enough. The poles that support traffic signals, technically called “mastarms”, lacked the strength to accommodate more than a single light fixture. Simply put, a left turn arrow was a luxury that the city just couldn’t afford.
Until 1957, it was perfectly acceptable for a motorist to make an unprotected left turn and expect oncoming traffic to yield. A year earlier, LA began an ambitious initiative to get its traffic signals up to the standards of the time.
But it wasn’t until the ‘70s that mastarms built to accommodate a myriad of traffic signals became widely available. Until then, the best the city could muster was redrawing lanes on wider roads to accommodate new left turn pockets. An unprotected left turn was still an unfortunate part of the deal.
Going with the Flow
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Even with these challenges, LA could have added significantly more left turn traffic signals during their ‘70s initiative. But in those days, signals were much more primitive than those we enjoy in modern times. They relied upon preset timers as opposed to sensors capable of gauging in real time the number of cars lined up in a lane. Therefore, integrating left turn signals meant making time for a whole new lane change. Fearing this would needlessly slow traffic even further, planners decided that the occasional unprotected left turn was worth the risk.
Of course, an unprotected left turn wasn’t exactly occasional, even in the ‘70s. And as the city’s population continued to grow, the problem became more evident. But it wasn’t until the 1990s that conditions reached their boiling point.
The Return of the Left Turn Signal
In 1991, one of LA’s judges, frustrated from being stuck at the intersection of Temple and Main, had a word with one of his friends on the City Council. The council passed a motion, and just like that, shoved the city off its turn signal wagon.
Since then, turn signal technology has grown considerably. These modern signals utilize smart technology with induction loop sensors that can gauge the number of cars at an intersection. It uses this information to determine whether or not to present a left turn arrow.
The Los Angeles Department of Transit (LADOT) began to update traffic signals across the city with this technology as early as the 1990s. But even with the technology now installed in hundreds of intersections across the city, an unprotected left turn is still a common occurrence for Angelenos.
How to Save Yourself from an Unprotected Left Turn
So, how can you get a left turn signal at that nightmare intersection you face daily? The admittedly lengthy process starts simply enough: with you filing a request with LADOT. If they receive a significant amount of requests for a particular intersection, their team will come out and conduct a survey.
Engineers execute these surveys twice daily; during peak morning and evening traffic. However, even if the intersection is deemed in need of a left turn signal, it could be some time before it actually happens. That’s because installation can cost upwards of $100,000.
However, it’s hard to ignore the inherent risk of the dreaded unprotected left turn. In Los Angeles, the most frequent causes of traffic collisions are:
- Failure to yield
- Failure to stop at a red light
- Speeding
Two of these can often relate to the poor execution of an unprotected left turn.
Surviving the Lack of Left Turn Signals
We’ve all been struggling to make it through an unprotected left turn with several other cars at a busy intersection when the light turns red. But if your car is behind the limit line when that light turns red and you try to make the turn anyway, you could get a hefty ticket. However, if your car is already beyond the limit line when the signal light turns red, you’re in the clear.
Of course, that’s assuming oncoming traffic manages to yield. It can be an exhausting experience, hence the demand for more left turn signals. At $100,000 a pop, new traffic signals are still few and far between. But just because Angelenos are accustomed to the risk of unprotected left turns, doesn’t mean they’re enjoying them.
