Allow left-turning vehicles to wait inside intersections

[SiberianDev]

This would be especially helpful at traffic light intersections, since it would give cars a chance to turn left when the traffic light is changing.
Right now, you essentially have to provide wasteful "protected left turn" phases when the left turning flow is small, but the main road is busy.

[Ciroth]

That is not a good idea as traffic loves to block the box for left turns. It ends up causing too many traffic jams. Infact, I'd rather have a rule that says car's will not enter an intersection unless they can drive through it.

[lost]

Originally posted by Ciroth:

That is not a good idea as traffic loves to block the box for left turns. It ends up causing too many traffic jams. Infact, I'd rather have a rule that says car's will not enter an intersection unless they can drive through it.

Blocking the box is a different problem than allowing a left turning vehicle to wait in the intersection. In the latter, the vehicle(s) in the intersection have priority to clear when the light changes. In the former, they enter the intersection with no chance of clearing it. Related problems for sure and you can end up with a turning vehicle not being able to clear in particularly bad traffic. But allowing a vehicle in the intersection while waiting to turn when there is no protected turn phase actually improves overall traffic flow in most cases, especially when turning from a busy road to a low traffic road which isn't likely to gridlock.

[SiberianDev]

Originally posted by lost:

Originally posted by Ciroth:

That is not a good idea as traffic loves to block the box for left turns. It ends up causing too many traffic jams. Infact, I'd rather have a rule that says car's will not enter an intersection unless they can drive through it.

Blocking the box is a different problem than allowing a left turning vehicle to wait in the intersection. In the latter, the vehicle(s) in the intersection have priority to clear when the light changes. In the former, they enter the intersection with no chance of clearing it. Related problems for sure and you can end up with a turning vehicle not being able to clear in particularly bad traffic. But allowing a vehicle in the intersection while waiting to turn when there is no protected turn phase actually improves overall traffic flow in most cases, especially when turning from a busy road to a low traffic road which isn't likely to gridlock.

Well said.
From personal observations, it's not that much of a problem when vehicles queue across an intersection, because there'll still be at least 1 free "car space", for any vehicle potentially waiting forever on the side road to make use of.