Can you turn left from a lane with a straight arrow?

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An intersection near my condo has three lanes: a left-turning lane, a lane for going straight and a right-turning lane. Each lane has a sign with an arrow showing what you should do. I was in a line of cars waiting to turn left in the left-turning lane on the green light when a car bypassed us on the right and made the left turn from the lane with the straight arrow. A car in front of me in the left-turn lane made a wide turn and the two cars nearly hit each other – there was a lot of honking. Don’t you have to do what the arrows on the signs say? – Ted, Mississauga

Those arrows at intersections aren’t just helpful pointers – they’re usually showing you your only option.

“If a lane is designated [as] straight through, that’s the movement drivers are expected to make from that lane,” said Sean Shapiro, a road safety consultant and former Toronto traffic cop. “If there is a dedicated left-turning lane and you make the left turn from the through lane beside it, that can absolutely result in a charge.”

In Ontario, the law states that when there are designated lanes, drivers “shall obey the instructions on the official signs.”

But even if there aren’t signs for a designated turning lane – or lanes – you’re supposed to turn from the leftmost lane.

If you turn left from the wrong lane, you could face charges including making an improper left turn, Shapiro said. That comes with an $85 fine – $120 in a community safety zone – and two demerit points. With fees, that comes to $110 or $150.

If the move is dangerous, you could also be charged with careless driving, which comes with a $400 fine – $490 with fees – and six demerits.

Typically, when there are signs with arrows, there are also painted arrows on the pavement. Sometimes, the arrows may show that you can make more than one move – for example, they may show that you can go straight or turn left.

Also, if the lane has a straight arrow, you shouldn’t be turning right from it either.

While the rules vary by province, they generally require you to obey signs and to turn from a designated left-turning lane – or if there isn’t one, the leftmost lane.

Lane of the lost?

But the law aside, making a left turn from the straight lane is confusing to other drivers around you.

“Signs, signals and pavement markings allow us to anticipate what another driver is going to do,” Angelo DiCicco, chief executive officer of the Ontario Safety League, a non-profit which focuses on driver education, said in an email. “If I’m beside you in a lane designated for a left turn and you’re in a lane designated to proceed straight, I’m making decisions based partly on the reasonable expectation that you’re going straight.”

So, for example, that driver turning left next to the lane that goes straight has no reason to expect that a car will be turning there – so they likely won’t be looking out for you.

“It creates a conflict that other drivers aren’t expecting,” Shapiro said.

It doesn’t matter why you’re turning from the wrong lane, he said. Maybe you’re trying to “bypass the lineup” of cars waiting to turn. Or maybe you just ended up in the wrong lane by mistake.

“Traffic law doesn’t give you a free pass because you missed your lane,” Shapiro said. “[But] if someone realizes late that they’re in the wrong lane, signals, safely changes completely into the turning lane and then makes the turn, that’s different. They may have poor planning skills, but they haven’t necessarily committed an improper turn.”

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