JugHandles
April 8, 2006
It's a rainy afternoon and I have nothing better to do, so I will attempt to formulate a discussion on the jughandle. As a new resident of NJ I find them to by extremely annoying. If you ask someone from NJ I guarantee they will ramble on for at least 10 minutes about how awesome they are. For those of you that have no idea what a jughandle is, let me attempt to explain...
The basic idea is to make a left turn by turning right...makes no sense if you ask me. There is usually a ramp/exit of some sort from the right hand lane that will direct you around in a loop of sorts. You end up in a way so you are heading straight across the intersection you needed to make a left turn. The idea came about in the late 50s and for whatever reason New Jersey really went to town with it. In a year or so they had 160 jughandles in the state. PA has adopted the idea in some areas and a few other states like NH, IL, MI tried one and never construction a 2nd...wonder why?
There are several types of jughandles you may encounter. There is the standard jug which exits b/f the intersection you need to make. Usually right and left turns are made here. There is the crazy reverse jug, which exits after the intersection. The really messed up part is that sometimes you CAN make a left turn. But, you usually end up missing it b/c you're in the right lane
looking for the damn jug.
Now if you were from out of town, with no prior knowledge of jugs and saw one of this crazy signs....I would definitely be thinking "what do you mean I can't make a left turn?" You can always tell when there a confused foreigner trying to make a left turn...it's a true death sentence.
The arguement for jughandles is mostly to due with safety and convience...no waiting to turn left and crossing over traffic which could lead to an accident. There's also something about leaving the left lane for passing. To me there is no sensible arguement here. The left lane free for passing goes right out the window, when you actually have instances of real left turns. Which leads to the point of being completely inconsistent and unpredictable. Why are some b/f the intersection and others after? Why do some intersections allow normal right and left turning? Why do some allow no turning out all? Then there's the issue on congesting the area that the jughandle ramp exits onto!!! (you understand if you've ever experience this phenomenon)
Come on NJ!! Let's just make it easier on everyone. You make left turns from the left lane. If you concerned about high traffic areas, accidents, etc you design a green turning arrow for the left turning lane.
The basic idea is to make a left turn by turning right...makes no sense if you ask me. There is usually a ramp/exit of some sort from the right hand lane that will direct you around in a loop of sorts. You end up in a way so you are heading straight across the intersection you needed to make a left turn. The idea came about in the late 50s and for whatever reason New Jersey really went to town with it. In a year or so they had 160 jughandles in the state. PA has adopted the idea in some areas and a few other states like NH, IL, MI tried one and never construction a 2nd...wonder why?
There are several types of jughandles you may encounter. There is the standard jug which exits b/f the intersection you need to make. Usually right and left turns are made here. There is the crazy reverse jug, which exits after the intersection. The really messed up part is that sometimes you CAN make a left turn. But, you usually end up missing it b/c you're in the right lane
looking for the damn jug.
Now if you were from out of town, with no prior knowledge of jugs and saw one of this crazy signs....I would definitely be thinking "what do you mean I can't make a left turn?" You can always tell when there a confused foreigner trying to make a left turn...it's a true death sentence.
The arguement for jughandles is mostly to due with safety and convience...no waiting to turn left and crossing over traffic which could lead to an accident. There's also something about leaving the left lane for passing. To me there is no sensible arguement here. The left lane free for passing goes right out the window, when you actually have instances of real left turns. Which leads to the point of being completely inconsistent and unpredictable. Why are some b/f the intersection and others after? Why do some intersections allow normal right and left turning? Why do some allow no turning out all? Then there's the issue on congesting the area that the jughandle ramp exits onto!!! (you understand if you've ever experience this phenomenon)
Come on NJ!! Let's just make it easier on everyone. You make left turns from the left lane. If you concerned about high traffic areas, accidents, etc you design a green turning arrow for the left turning lane.
2 comments:
Wow. That was really informative. I had never heard of a jug handle before but I think I agree with you. Common sense tells me that left turns should be made from the left lane. So I'm curious...does the jug loop you around to a stop light and then you go straight through the intersection that way? OR does it loop you completely around the intersection and then you merge into traffic on the other side of it?
Typically the jug loops around the same side you are traveling and you have to merge into the road that crosses the intersection and there is a light. So you would be heading straight through the light after using the jug instead of making a left. Does that make sense? It's so hard to explain if you've never seen one...plus they're really inconsistent, so it's confusing no matter what unless you're familiar with the are.
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