Q&A - Problems Turning Right at an Intersection

Question: Here is a typical intersection in Vancouver at West Broadway and Birch in Kitsilano. Turning right is only allowed from the far right lane. However, West Broadway is packed with parked (legally, see the parking meter) cars, and if the parked car is too big and/or too close to the intersection, you don't have any room to change lanes.

You are not allowed to change lanes after the car passed as well because changing lanes at an intersection is forbidden. So how do you legally turn right?

Law on Turning Right

Here is the law that governs turning right at intersections:

Turning at intersections

165 (1) If the driver of a vehicle intends to turn it to the right at an intersection, the driver must cause it to approach the intersection and then make the turn as close as practicable to the right hand curb or edge of the roadway.

What is Practicable?

The parked vehicles prevent you from using the curb lane until the last few meters so it is not practicable to move right until you pass them. At this point in the view, there is nothing to prevent you from moving to the right in order to accomplish the turn. If you do turn at this point, you have done what you could in the circumstances and that is acceptable.

In BC it is not illegal to change lanes in an intersection, just unsafe.

Where is the Intersection?

By the way, the intersection is defined by the box drawn from the extension of the curb lines:

I somehow doubt that the food truck is 6 m back from the crosswalk, but it is not easy to be certain from the image.

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