Originally Posted by taygalchi
The California "Creep": When making a left hand turn on a two way street with no left hand turn arrow, you are supposed to pull up and move almost into oncoming traffic so that when the light turns red you are halfway into your turn. When the light turns red, you and the car behind you are allowed to make your left turn.
I moved here from the East Coast. We creeped back east, but apparently not enough for the people in L.A. I got yelled at daily when the light turned green and I did not creep into oncoming traffic.
I also learned not to "block the box" when driving in NYC. In L.A., I got yelled at for not blocking the box.
You're not supposed to creep into oncoming traffic... you're supposed to creep into the intersection so the car behind you is also in the interseciton and can also make the turn when the light turns red. It's a good idea to keep your wheels straight until you start turning, so that if the guy behinds you rear-ends you, you don't get side-swiped by oncoming traffic.