This is starting to annoy me.

There are a few intersections in the Charlotte area that often present confusion to some drivers.  I'll go over two examples that I encounter every single weekday (I am the lime vehicles), and then recount a situation I encountered today.

Consider Ballantyne Commons intersecting with John J. Delaney / Durant Blvd:

The lime and cyan vehicles both start out having green lights.  The NC driver's manual (grab it here) indicates that the lime vehicle should turn into the left lane, and the cyan vehicle should stay in the right lane close to the right edge of the road (page 51).  This is the way I drive, and this is the way most people drive.

Unfortunately, sometimes you'll see the lime vehicle pause in the middle of the intersection, waiting for the stream of cyan vehicles to stop before turning left.  This is annoying, jams up the intersection, and causes pain and anguish for drivers who know the light is typically very short.  When I'm the lime vehicle behind another, erm, lime vehicle stopping in the middle of the intersection, I will blow the horn at them.

Sometimes, the cyan vehicles will turn right into the left lane of Ballantyne Commons Pky, causing a potential collision with the lime vehicles.  If I'm the lime vehicle, I will blow the horn at these vehicles, too.

Note that if Ballantyne Commons Pky only had one lane in each direction, the cyan traffic would have the right of way, and the lime traffic would have no choice but to hang out in the intersection.

I've only had to do this a few times in this intersection.

Onto another intersection with identical properties, the I-277 offramp intersecting with E Stonewall St:

Here we have the same thing.  Both the lime and cyan traffic both have the green light.  Lime traffic should turn into the left lane of E Stonewall St and the cyan traffic should turn into the right lane.  In this intersection, the cyan traffic does actually have two options, the yellow line is a right turn only lane.  Both the right turn only lane and right lane are acceptable paths.  This is described in the same section of the driver's manual.

One thing that makes this intersection different than the prior one is the traffic volume.  There is hardly any lime traffic volume (usually, I am the only one in the left-turn lane) but there is a steady stream of cyan traffic (this is around 17:25 on a weekday).  The light is still pretty short, though.  Again, I'll blow my horn at lime traffic in front of me that doesn't move, and cyan traffic that veers into the left lane of E Stonewall St.

Ok, having set the stage, here's what I encountered today (2nd intersection).  Heading to MCAC, I found myself behind another vehicle turning left on E Stonewall St, and I noticed that this guy was waiting for the (cyan) traffic to stop before he turned left.  He wasn't moving at all, so I gave him a beep or two.  He didn't move at all, and, well, I got around him (ok, probably not the best thing to do, but not relevant to the discussion at hand!).

Turns out he was headed to the same destination, and confronted me once inside the aquatic center if I was the "guy in the silver Acura that shot past him."  Yep, that was me.  He asked why I beeped him and took such action.  After realizing he wasn't going to beat me up (ok, he was driving a big white Ford pick-up truck - I suppose I wouldn't have felt that way if he had been driving a medium-sized sedan, but whatever), I told him I've had some bad experiences with folks sitting in the middle of the intersection and not budging, alluding to the fact that the light didn't stay green forever.  He then said he didn't turn left because he was worried the oncoming (cyan) traffic turning left was going to go into the left lane, which none did as he was waiting in the intersection.  Although it came out rather strangely, I conveyed to him that it was certainly legal to turn left into the left lane, and that the oncoming traffic should stick to the right lane.  He then asked me if there was a sign somewhere in the intersection that stated this!  I don't recall what I said to that, but ended up apologizing (why did I do that? I am hating myself for doing it!) and we went our separate ways.  He did mention this was the first time he drove through the particular intersection, so I suppose it's not bad to be cautious, but still.

So, hopefully this guy won't make the same mistake twice.  Either that, or he will just avoid the intersection…

On that note, sometimes I feel the need to carry around the driver's manual in my glove box.  You never know when it'll come in handy!

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