Turns, lanes, passing and parking
You are coming up on the street where you meant to turn, but you are in the wrong lane and the lane beside you is full. What should you do?
- Keep going and turn around later where it is safe and legal. Correct answer
- Cut across to the turn lane quickly before you reach the corner.
- Stop in your lane and wait for a gap so you can still make the turn.
Why
Missing a turn costs a few minutes; forcing it is the riskier choice. The handbook warns that changing lanes or direction at the last minute may increase the risk of collisions, and for a missed turn it tells you to continue until you reach a place where you can turn around safely and legally. Stopping in your lane to wait for an opening is not what it asks of you either: it tells you to carry on. The same idea applies once you have committed: if you have started through an intersection, keep going, and if you have started a turn, finish it. Before any lane change, signal, check your mirrors and blind spots, and make sure the next lane has room for your vehicle.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is Keep going and turn around later where it is safe and legal.
The rule behind this one
Turns, lanes, passing and parking in California goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on turns, lanes, passing and parking
- Signs mark the right-hand lane of a street for public transit buses only. Which of these may you do in your car?
- You are stopped, waiting for oncoming traffic to clear so you can turn left. Which way should your front wheels point?
- You are joining traffic on the highway. How much space does the handbook say you need in order to merge?
- Where does the handbook say you must NOT pass another vehicle?