I live at the top of Corral Canyon and every morning I am faced with making the transition from the Canyon onto PCH at 8 a.m. I have seen many “near misses” as drivers try different ways to make the turn. Some are death defying! Some drivers take a deep breath and go for it! Some wait until there is no traffic in sight both northbound and southbound! It’s not a traffic light we need; it’s following the correct procedure. There is no need to halt the flow of morning traffic if you follow the directions below. Here is the simplest and safest technique.
After stopping at the stop sign next to the gas station, look left and then right, to make sure there is no car waiting to turn into the canyon from the west, or north. Do not worry about the stream of traffic heading south or east. As soon as you see a safe space in the traffic heading west, or north, proceed to the ‘middle lane,’ the one in between the yellow lines. Do not stop! Proceed slowly, looking in your rear view mirror until you see a gap in the traffic in the fast lane, the lane nearest the center of the road. Picking up speed to match the flow of traffic, put your indicator out to show that you intend to merge into the fast lane. Please, do not put your indicator out and turn at the same time! At least five or six seconds before you merge should do it.
Do not try to merge into the traffic, which will be traveling at 50-55 mph, when you are only doing 35-40 mph. The key is to match your speed with the flow of traffic (a little faster is safer than too slow) then merge, leaving more space behind you than in front. If you are going too slowly and cause the vehicle behind you to brake and show his brake lights, this could result in you getting a ticket! Do not try to make it over to the slow lane, nearest the beach, in one go, unless you are absolutely sure that both southbound lanes are empty. After you have merged safely into the traffic you can decide to change to the slower lane if you want to.
Incidentally, when you come down the canyon, put your engine in low gear, for automatics, second gear for manual shifts. You will save your brakes! No, it will not affect your engine.
Paul S. Lewis