You’re driving. Your hands are on the steering wheel. Directly ahead of you, in your lane, is a red vehicle. It’s a truck. The lane on your right has a black vehicle. It’s a car. The turning lane has a yellow and blue vehicle. It’s a taxi. Across the street there’s a white vehicle. It’s a bus. Coming into the intersection, there’s a big green and white vehicle. It’s a bus, too. You are approaching a red traffic light, so you have to make some decisions.
Where are you driving? How will you get there? You are only driving through this city, but right now you are pretty hungry. So you see the Burger King and decide to stop for lunch. It is already past one, anyways. Burger King is on the left on La Brea Street, so you’ll have to take a left at the traffic light.
You scan the area ahead of you. You look at the signs and road markings. You’ll have to change into the left turn lane, which is marked by a few big white left-turning arrows, but you can’t move into it right now because the solid double yellow lines tell you that on the left is oncoming traffic. You’ll have to switch lanes about 100 feet ahead.
Before moving over into the left lane, you turn on your left blinker. This is what indicates to the people driving all around you what you are about to do. Sometimes your blinkers are called your turn indicators, flickers, or signals. It really depends where you’re from. Next, you check all your mirrors. Side mirrors help you know if anyone is next to you or behind you, and your rearview mirror helps you know what is directly behind you.
Since the light is red, and you anyways have to yield when you turn across oncoming traffic, you put your foot on the brakes. You gently brake as you approach the intersection. When you are moving slow, and you are where the left turn lane starts, you move into the left turn lane and come to a stop behind the taxi.
Now you have to wait. As you wait, you take your hands off the steering wheel and stretch. You see some pedestrians crossing the street on the crosswalk. Some on their phones, some holding bags, some talking to each other. You look at the vehicles and drivers around you and see what they are doing. You look at the tall palm trees lining the street and read the posters attached to them. You spot a broken streetlight that probably won’t turn on and light the streets later this evening.
Oh! The light is green. Oncoming traffic starts driving across the street. The taxi pulls forward into the intersection, waiting for an opening to turn left. You pull up behind him, with your left blinker on. There is lots of traffic, and you don’t get an opening until the light turns red, but luckily, a green arrow comes on and you now have the right of way to turn left.
You turn left onto La Brea, and you have to slow down for a speed bump, which is one of those bumps in the road they use to make sure you aren’t driving fast. Bump! Bump! Your front and rear tires both took their turn crossing the speed bump. Then, you see the Burger King on your right. You turn on your right blinker. There’s no stop sign or traffic light, so you don’t have to stop. You use the brakes, look in all directions, turn right, and park right in front. Time to eat!