CACI No. 704. Left Turns (Veh. Code, § 21801)

Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (2023 edition)

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704.Left Turns (Veh. Code, § 21801)
The statute just read to you uses the word “hazard.” A “hazard” exists if
any approaching vehicle is so near or is approaching so fast that a
reasonably careful person would realize that there is a danger of a
collision [or accident].
[A driver who is attempting to make a left turn must make sure that no
oncoming vehicles are close enough to be a hazard before the driver
proceeds across each lane.]
New September 2003; Revised May 2020
Directions for Use
The bracketed paragraph should be given in appropriate cases involving multiple
lanes of oncoming traffic. (Sesler v. Ghumman (1990) 219 Cal.App.3d 218, 227 [268
Cal.Rptr. 70].)
Sources and Authority
• Duty to Yield Right of Way: Left Turn. Vehicle Code section 21801(a).
• “We hold section 21802, subdivision (a), requires that where, as here, some, but
not all, of the oncoming vehicles have yielded their right-of-way to a left-turning
driver, that driver has a continuing duty during the turning movement to
ascertain, before proceeding across the next open lane(s), if any vehicle is
approaching from the opposite direction so close as to constitute a hazard.”
(Sesler, supra, 219 Cal.App.3d at pp. 224-225)
• Noting that in 1957 the Legislature added the phrase “at any time during the
turning movement” to this section, the court in In re Kirk (1962) 202 Cal.App.2d
288, 291 [20 Cal.Rptr. 787], reasoned that “if the oncoming vehicle in the lane
closest to the left turning vehicle surrenders its right of way by indicating to the
operator of the left turning vehicle that it desires him to proceed, such operator
may not proceed beyond that first lane of traffic, now effectively blocked by the
waiving vehicle, if in fact other vehicles approaching in any of the other
oncoming lanes will constitute a hazard to the left turning vehicle during the
turning movement.”
Secondary Sources
6 Witkin, Summary of California Law (11th ed. 2017) Torts, §§ 1010, 1011
California Tort Guide (Cont.Ed.Bar 3d ed.) §§ 4.10-4.11
2 Levy et al., California Torts, Ch. 20, Motor Vehicles, § 20.68[2][g] (Matthew
Bender)
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