The Point Grey road test area is full of notorious left turns, but the one that I feel is consistently the most problematic is at the intersection of Broadway and MacDonald.
On your Point Grey Class 7 road test, you may find yourself in this intersection waiting for a safe gap to turn left. You’ll finally see a safe gap in the oncoming traffic and start your turn, but suddenly a pedestrian racing for the bus enters the crosswalk on your left. You have to stop, and you are blocking the now oncoming traffic. Actually, the pedestrians don’t usually run into the crosswalk here – they usually casually saunter, lollygag, or dillydally, taking their sweet time, green light, red light, they don’t care if you’re on a driving test.
At this intersection, it is typical that only one vehicle is able to turn left during the cycle of a traffic light. You’ll be facing a line of left-turning vehicles. There are no cars going straight, the crosswalk on the left is clear (rare), and you start your turn. Suddenly a car shoots out of the left-turning lineup, coming right at you. Hopefully you see this before the examiner does.
Or you see a safe gap in the oncoming traffic, start to proceed and now a car comes out of the Safeway parking lot across the intersection. You are able to stop in time, but now you have some pedestrians in the crosswalk on your left. The light turns yellow, then red, and the pedestrians are still crossing. You start moving towards the crosswalk, and now you’re facing some dude turning right very late, blocking you from completing your turn. The traffic on your left and right now have a green light and are honking at you.
You somehow get through the intersection and now are on MacDonald. There is a vehicle in front of you trying to turn left into an alley over a painted traffic divider. You are stuck there while a steady stream of vehicles is now passing you on the right. The left-turning vehicle has finally turned, and all of those passing vehicles are cutting in front of you because their lane is about to end. The madness just continues.
Believe it or not, even as messy as this intersection can be, there is another one in the Point Grey road test area that several driver examiners have told me is the worst. If you’re taking the Point Grey Class 7 or Point Grey Class 5 road test, let New Day Vancouver Driving School (me, Perry) help you. I can show you where all the fun stuff is, all the usual places that examinees fail. Give yourself your best chance of passing the Point Grey road test by taking a lesson with the Vancouver driving teacher that is the Point Grey road test expert, me, Perry, of New Day Vancouver Driving School.
