Arizona left turn law requires the driver turning left to yield to oncoming traffic, use the proper lane and signal, and watch for pedestrians and cyclists crossing the path of the turn. Get it wrong and you face a fine, points on your license, and a strong presumption of fault if there’s a crash. Cause a serious injury or death, and the ticket becomes a criminal charge.
Who Has the Right-of-Way on a Left Turn
Under ARS 28-772, a driver inside an intersection intending to turn left must yield to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction that is either already in the intersection or close enough to be an immediate hazard.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-772 – Vehicle Turning Left at Intersection A green light does not change that duty. If oncoming traffic is still flowing, you wait.
The rule applies at every type of intersection, including uncontrolled ones and four-way stops. A left-turning driver yields to any vehicle going straight from the opposite direction regardless of who arrived first. Arizona courts have long placed the burden of judging oncoming speed and distance on the person making the turn. Even if the approaching driver was speeding, you can still be found at fault for turning into their path if you misjudged the gap.
A separate rule covers alleys and driveways. ARS 28-856 requires you to stop before crossing any sidewalk, yield to pedestrians, and yield to all closely approaching vehicles before entering the roadway.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-856 – Emerging From Alley, Driveway or Building
What If the Light Changes While You’re Waiting to Turn
You pulled into the intersection on a green, you’re waiting for a gap, and the signal goes yellow or red. You may complete the turn. ARS 28-645 requires vehicles facing a red to stop “before entering the intersection.”3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-645 – Traffic Control Signal Legend If you’re already in the intersection, you aren’t “entering” it. Clear the box as soon as it’s safe, which usually means turning once oncoming traffic stops for their red.
What you can’t do is race in on a stale yellow and hope to squeeze through. If you cross the stop line after the signal has gone red, you’ve run a red light. The dividing line is whether the signal was still green or yellow when you crossed the limit line.
Reading Left-Turn Signals
Arizona intersections use three common left-turn signal displays, each with a different obligation.
- A solid green arrow is a protected turn. Oncoming traffic faces red, so you turn without yielding.
- A circular green light with no arrow is a permissive turn. You may turn, but you must yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians first.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-772 – Vehicle Turning Left at Intersection
- A flashing yellow arrow is also permissive. You may go only after yielding to oncoming traffic and pedestrians.
A permissive signal never overrides your duty to yield. Turning on a permissive phase and hitting someone will not shield you from liability.
Signaling and Lane Position
ARS 28-754 requires your turn signal to run continuously for at least the last 100 feet before the turn.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-754 – Turning Movements and Required Signals At city speeds that distance passes in under two seconds, so signal well before you reach the intersection.
ARS 28-751 tells you where to be. Approach the turn from the extreme left-hand lane available for your direction of travel, make the turn through the left portion of the intersection, and end up in the leftmost lane going your new direction.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-751 – Required Position and Method of Turning Vehicles at least 40 feet long or 10 feet wide get an exception and may swing wider as needed.
At intersections with dual left-turn lanes, holding your lane through the full arc of the turn matters. Drifting into the adjacent lane mid-turn violates ARS 28-729, which requires you to stay within a single lane and change lanes only when you’ve confirmed the move is safe.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-729 – Driving on Roadways Laned for Traffic It’s one of the most common causes of side-swipe crashes at busy dual-left intersections.
Using a Center Two-Way Left-Turn Lane
Shared center turn lanes, marked with opposing yellow lines and arrows pointing both directions, have specific limits under ARS 28-751. You may use them only to prepare for or complete a left turn, or to make a legal U-turn. They are not travel lanes, merge lanes, or passing lanes.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-751 – Required Position and Method of Turning
Enter the lane only when you’re close to your turning point, and check for opposing drivers already using the same lane to set up their own left turns. Don’t coast along in the center lane waiting for a gap.
Yielding to Pedestrians and Cyclists
Left turns are particularly dangerous for people on foot. When you turn, you cross the crosswalk on the street you’re turning onto while your attention is still on oncoming vehicles.
ARS 28-792 requires you to yield to any pedestrian in a marked or unmarked crosswalk who is on your half of the roadway, or close enough on the other half to be in danger.7Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-792 – Right-of-Way at Crosswalk A pedestrian who pauses or hesitates mid-crossing hasn’t given up the right-of-way.
Cyclists have the same rights and duties as drivers under ARS 28-812.8Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-812 – Applicability of Traffic Laws to Bicycle Riders When a cyclist is going straight through an intersection or riding in a bike lane in the opposite direction, a left-turning driver must yield. Bikes are easy to misjudge: they’re smaller, often closer than they look, and a rider at 15 to 20 mph closes gaps quickly. A deliberate head-turn past the A-pillars before you commit to the turn can keep you from missing someone in your blind spot.
What to Do When an Emergency Vehicle Approaches
If you’re waiting or mid-turn when an emergency vehicle approaches with lights and siren, ARS 28-775 requires you to yield immediately. Pull to the right edge of the roadway, as close to the curb as possible, clear of any intersection, and stop until it passes.9Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-775 – Authorized Emergency Vehicles; Approaching; Following Fire Apparatus Don’t try to beat the emergency vehicle by completing your turn.
Fines, Points, and License Consequences
An improper left turn or failure to yield is a civil traffic violation. Base fines are typically in the $200 to $250 range, though the exact amount varies by court. Arizona adds a 13 percent surcharge on top.10Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 12-116.02 – Additional Surcharges; Fund Deposits A $235 base fine ends up around $266 after the surcharge.
The Motor Vehicle Division also assigns points based on the outcome:
- Standard failure to yield or improper turn with no crash injuries: 2 points.
- Failure to yield causing serious injury: 4 points.
- Failure to yield causing death: 6 points.
Reach 8 or more points in any 12-month period and you may be ordered to attend Traffic Survival School, or your license may be suspended for up to 12 months.11Department of Transportation. Points Assessment Attending the school doesn’t erase the points; it’s a condition of keeping your license.
When a Left-Turn Violation Becomes a Crime
If a bad left turn causes serious physical injury or death, the case shifts from civil to criminal. ARS 28-672 makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to cause serious physical injury or death through a moving violation, with license suspension also on the table.12Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-672 – Causing Serious Physical Injury or Death by a Moving Violation13Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-707 – Misdemeanors; Sentencing14Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-802 – Fines for Misdemeanors Prosecutors must bring charges within two years of discovering the offense.
If You Hold a CDL
For commercial drivers, the stakes rise. Under federal rules, a traffic violation connected to a fatal crash counts as a serious offense that can trigger a minimum 60-day CDL disqualification, extending to 120 days for a second serious offense within three years.15Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Disqualification of Drivers (383.51) One left-turn misjudgment at the wrong moment can end a professional driving career.
Fault and Insurance After a Left-Turn Crash
In most left-turn collisions, the turning driver is presumed at fault. Insurance adjusters start there because the law puts the yield duty on the turner. The presumption isn’t absolute, but you’ll carry the burden of showing why it shouldn’t apply.
Arizona uses pure comparative negligence under ARS 12-2505. Your damages are reduced by your share of fault, but you aren’t completely barred from recovering unless your conduct was intentional or willful.16Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 12-2505 – Comparative Negligence; Definition If you turned left and were hit by a driver who ran a red at high speed, a jury might assign you 30 percent of the fault and the other driver 70 percent. Your recovery would be reduced by 30 percent, but you’d still collect.
An at-fault left-turn crash will raise your auto insurance premiums, and the increase typically stays on your record for several years.
What to Document at the Scene
Because the turning driver starts behind in any fault analysis, evidence gathered at the scene matters more than it would in a rear-end case. The goal is to document anything that could shift or share fault: the other driver’s speed, signal status, visibility, and road layout.
Photographs are the single most useful thing you can do. Capture the signals, lane markings, vehicle positions, skid marks, and any sight-line obstructions. If you have a dashcam, preserve the footage right away. Modern vehicles also contain event data recorders that log speed, braking, and other dynamics in the seconds before impact.17National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Event Data Recorder That data can objectively show whether the other driver was speeding or never braked, which is often the key to rebutting the presumption against you.
Get contact information from witnesses, and request the police report using the incident number the responding officer gives you. If the report notes that the other driver ran a red light, was distracted, or was speeding, it becomes central evidence for your insurance claim or any civil case that follows.