If I’m reading it correctly, it appears that you pulled up next to the car that was already at the stop sign. If that’s the case, that would be the source of the problem you encountered. 8-way stops are confusing for most motorists at the best of times, but that’s really the only way to approach a bike lane at a stop sign. The car may be in the left lane, but if they were there first they still have the right to go. Turn signal or not, you still should have waited long enough to observe what they were doing before proceeding.

I also had to learn this lesson the hard way. This link has a description for how drivers should deal with bike lanes at intersections.

There are a couple ways to handle this.

At a stop sign, I would ALWAYS get in the queue behind the last car. Keep toward the left side of the lane so you are highly visible as you approach your turn at the stop.

At a red light, if the queue is short and you won’t miss the green, it’s best to get behind the last car (left side of the lane is critical to be visible to oncoming left-turners). If the queue is long at a red light, pass CAREFULLY and do one of 2 things: 1) if it is a small car in front, stop forward of its position where the driver can clearly see you (be courteous of pedestrians and don’t block the crosswalk); 2) position yourself between the first and second car where the driver of the second car can clearly see you and the first will not hit you if it turns. These techniques apply to wide lanes and bike lanes. It’s bad manners to pass a queue in a narrow lane and then make them pass you again after the intersection.

I hope this helps. You know I am available and happy to ride with you any time (our mentor program is free) and you are right here in my neighborhood. So if you have questions or concerns about particular intersections or things you encounter, let me know.

BTW, those 4-way stops in Baldwin Park are very confusing. I’ve had some close calls there even with making myself highly visible. They should have designed roundabouts for that kind of traffic volume.

Then one day, not long ago, I was at an intersection that didn’t have a right turn lane, resting my foot while examining the car carefully for a turn signal and observing that the car had every opportunity to turn right and red, yet declined to do so.

All indications showed that the car intended to drive straight through the intersection, but of course there would be no story if the driver had.

NO MORE BREAKS! Just like I can’t trust drivers of SUVs not to try and squeeze past me, I can’t trust them to turn properly.

Yesterday I had a minor incident on Lake Baldwin Ln and Jake St. I was in the bike lane approaching a stop sign. There was a line of cars along side me. I noticed one of the cars about 3 cars back from the stop sign had their right turn signal on but turned it off. I happened to stop at the sign next to this car. I somewhat assumed they were going to go straight and as we were both about to go next, they made a right turn instead. I was beside them, but not enough that I was able to avoid getting side swiped. I would usually put myself ahead of the car in this situation, but not seeing their signal anymore, I mistakenly assumed they were going straight too.

Maybe I can be re-educated as to what I should have done in this situation….first thing probably not assume they are going straight?

I’ve placed my thumbs down, of course.

I can see how such information can be misleading. The primary point that jumps out at me is that it interprets the law as allowing for exceptions. Yes, just as it always has, but adds the restriction of mandatory bike lane use.

I’ve already had to deal with these exceptions, via four citations in two years. The uninformed uniformed law enforcement officers couldn’t understand the law before, what makes the Sentinel think they will understand it now?