A 3-minute lesson from the Missouri course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Busy roads use special lanes to organize turns: double left-turn lanes, center two-way left-turn lanes, and J-turns on four-lane highways. Cities and counties can also add their own traffic rules on top of state law.
Know the rule
Multiple left-turn lanes: from the left-side turn lane, enter the left lane (to the right of the yellow dividing line). From the right-side turn lane, enter the right lane.
An alternative intersection on a four-lane highway: instead of crossing fast lanes, you turn right with traffic, merge into the far left lane, then turn left in the direction you want to go.
You pull out of a shopping center onto a street with a center two-way left-turn lane. Don't use that lane to merge; enter the regular travel lane. Later, move into the center lane only as you slow for your left turn, never traveling more than 500 feet in it.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
On a road with a center lane marked as a two-way left-turn lane, for how many feet may you legally travel in that lane?
No more than 500 feet
No more than 200 feet
No more than 1,000 feet
No more than 300 feet
Answer: No more than 500 feet
A vehicle may not travel in a two-way left-turn lane for more than 500 feet; it is only for slowing to turn.
