A Driving Primer for Connecticut Drivers, Part 1

This primer is presented somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but it is inspired by the actual activity I've seen on the roads since moving to Connecticut. To be fair, it may just be the greater New Haven drivers that really need this primer, as I hear that even Massachusetts drivers think New Haven area drivers are terrible. One legal-ish note: none of the images used here are mine. Click on an image to see where I've linked to it from and any copyright information that may be included.

Part 1: What are those yellow and white lines along the road for?
The funny lines you see on the road are there for an actual reason and not just for decoration, believe it or not. After some really extensive research, I've found out what many of them mean. For this first part, we take a look at those lines that are parallel to the direction of travel on the road. For some reason, they come in both yellow and white; this is one of the things that is most baffling about the lines on the road.

• Yellow lines. It turns out that the yellow lines are supposed to be a divider between traffic traveling in each direction. In the U.S. (and many other countries), you are supposed to keep the yellow line on the left side of your car at all times, even when going around corners like those shown above! Apparently, you're not supposed to drive straight through a section of road like the one above, touching your tires to the inside curb on each curve. This is true even if one of the yellow lines is missing or dashed instead of solid. One clarification: when keeping the line to the left of your car, you are supposed to leave some space between your car and the yellow line. You are not supposed to drive with your left tires on or slightly across the line.
   
• White lines. There are apparently two different types of white lines which are parallel to the road (we'll get to lines across the road in the next part); some designate a thing called "lanes" and others mark the edge of the road. (Both of the white lines in the above image are of the "edge of the road" variety--see below.)
• "Lanes" are difficult to explain, so I'll start with an image:
  
  
  Note how the cars in this image are in straight rows with those dashed white lines in between the rows. The area between the rows that the cars are driving in are called "lanes". My research indicates that when driving on a road with multiple lanes, you are supposed to choose a lane (always remembering to keep the yellow line to your left, even if it isn't directly bordering your lane) and stay in it. This means not drifting onto (or over) the line between the lanes and back again. It also means not driving with one of the divider lines under your tires or car!! Apparently, drivers in a lot of places have mastered this difficult task and rarely cross the lines between the lanes inadvertently.
  
  Once you have chosen a lane, you are not stuck in it forever. You can, when needed, execute a difficult maneuver known as a "lane change". It's accomplished following a few simple steps:
  (1) Wait until there are no cars next to you or immediately behind or in front of you in the lane you wish to move into. You can determine when this is so by looking out the windows of your car (this may require putting your phone down) and, for checking behind the car, by looking in the mirrors.
  (2) Turn on the turn signal on the side of your car that the lane you wish to move into is on. Note that at this point, you have not yet begun to move into the other lane.
  (3) Double-check to make sure that there is no one in the space that you want to move into in the new lane. This must be done by turning your head and looking, do not use the mirrors for this, as they have "blind" spots and there may be traffic lurking in them.
  (4) Assuming that this is no other vehicle in the space you want to move into, move into that space quickly (over the course of 2 or 3 seconds) and smoothly. Do not take 3 minutes to complete a lane change. This is considered simply drifting across the lane lines, which I explained above is not something you're supposed to do.
  
  One last thing about lane lines: sometimes, they appear in intersections, such as this one in Hamden, CT.
  

  

   These are to guide you through the intersection. If turning left through the intersection in a direction indicated by one of these dashed lines, remain on the same side of that line as you were when you started all the way through the intersection, as illustrated below.
  

  

  Notice how the black SUV heading south stays to the left of the guide line (red arrow), but the white car heading east must stay to the right of the guide line (blue arrow). The white car's path is very important because there may be, unbeknownst to the driver of the white vehicle, another car also turning from the lane just to the left of it. If the white car crosses the guide line then it may strike the car on its left. This is bad.
• "Edge of the road" lines, also known in some parts of the country as "fog" lines or "shoulder" lines mark the edge of the roadway. In the normal course of driving, your tires should never cross one of these lines. There are two exceptions: (1) pulling over to park at the side of the road and (2) turning into a driveway. In both of these cases, you are expected to use your turn signal to warn other drivers that you are about to do something "unexpected". (I put the word in quotation marks because you know you are about to do it, so it's not really unexpected, but remember that, unlike you, the other drivers are pretty self-centered and clueless, so they don't know what you're going to do and you have to clue them in.)

That's it for part 1. Keep an eye out for part 2 on traffic lights and intersections, coming soon.