Arizona’s left turn law puts the burden of a safe turn on the driver making it. Under ARS 28-772, a driver turning left at an intersection must yield to any oncoming vehicle that is 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, and neither does the other driver speeding. If you misjudge the gap, the fault is almost always yours.
Who Has the Right-of-Way
ARS 28-772 applies at every type of intersection, including uncontrolled intersections 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 held that judging oncoming speed and distance is the turner’s job. Even where the approaching driver was speeding, you can still be found at fault for turning into their path.
A separate rule covers driveways and alleys. Before pulling from an alley, driveway, or building onto a roadway, ARS 28-856 requires you to stop before crossing the sidewalk, yield to pedestrians, and then yield to closely approaching vehicles before entering the road.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-856 – Emerging From Alley, Driveway or Building
What the Signal Is Telling You
Arizona intersections use three main left-turn signals, and each carries a different obligation.
- A solid green arrow is a protected turn. Oncoming traffic has a red light, so you can turn without yielding.
- A circular green light with no arrow is a permissive turn. You may turn left, but only after yielding to all oncoming traffic and pedestrians.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-772 – Vehicle Turning Left at Intersection
- A flashing yellow arrow is also permissive. You can proceed, but only after yielding.
A permissive signal never overrides your duty to yield. If you turn during a permissive phase and hit someone, the signal will not protect you from liability.
Completing a Left Turn When the Light Changes
One scenario trips up a lot of drivers. You pull into the intersection on a green light to wait for a gap, and the signal turns yellow or red before you can go. Arizona law allows you to complete the turn. ARS 28-645 requires vehicles facing a red signal to stop “before entering the intersection.”3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-645 – Traffic Control Signal Legend If you are already inside the intersection, you are not entering it. Clear the intersection as soon as it is safe, which usually means turning once opposing traffic stops.
What you cannot do is enter the intersection after the light has turned red. The dividing line is whether you crossed the stop line while the signal was still green or yellow.
Signaling and Lane Position
Before you turn, Arizona requires a signal and the correct lane.
ARS 28-754 requires your turn signal to be on 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, 100 feet passes in about a second and a half, so signal well before you reach the intersection. If your signals fail, the hand signal for a left turn is your left arm extended straight out the window.
ARS 28-751 requires you to approach a left turn from the leftmost lane available in your direction, 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 can swing wider as needed.
At intersections with dual left-turn lanes, staying in your lane through the whole arc of the turn matters. Drifting into the next lane violates ARS 28-729, which requires drivers to stay within a single lane and not change lanes until the move is safe.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-729 – Driving on Roadways Laned for Traffic This is a frequent cause of side-swipe crashes at busy intersections.
Two-Way Center Turn Lanes
Shared center turn lanes are the ones marked with opposing yellow lines and arrows pointing both directions. Under ARS 28-751, you can only use them to prepare for a left turn, complete a left turn, or 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 only when you are close to your turning point, and check for opposing left-turners who may already be in the lane setting up their own turn.
Yielding to Pedestrians and Cyclists
Left turns are especially dangerous for pedestrians because you cross the crosswalk on the street you are 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 Slow or stop as needed. A pedestrian who hesitates mid-crossing has not forfeited the right-of-way.
Cyclists have the same rights and duties as vehicle 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 the intersection or riding in a bike lane, a left-turning driver must yield. Riders moving 15 to 20 mph close gaps faster than most drivers expect.
Emergency Vehicles Mid-Turn
If you are waiting to turn or already turning 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, clear of any intersection, and stop until the emergency vehicle passes.9Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 28-775 – Authorized Emergency Vehicles; Approaching; Following Fire Apparatus Do not try to finish the turn first.
Fines and Points on Your License
An improper left turn or failure to yield is a civil traffic violation. Base fines typically fall in the $200 to $250 range, and 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 with the surcharge.
The Motor Vehicle Division also assigns points to your record:
- 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
If you accumulate 8 or more points within any 12-month period, you may be required to attend Traffic Survival School or face a license suspension of up to 12 months.11Department of Transportation. Points Assessment Attending the school does not erase the points. It is a condition of keeping your license.
When a Left Turn Becomes a Criminal Case
If an improper left turn causes serious physical injury or death, the case moves from a civil ticket to a criminal charge. ARS 28-672 makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to cause serious injury or death through a moving violation.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 License suspension is also on the table. Prosecutors must file charges within two years of discovering the offense.
Commercial License Holders
Commercial drivers face steeper consequences. Under federal regulations, a traffic violation connected to a fatal crash qualifies as a serious offense that can trigger a minimum 60-day CDL disqualification.15Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Disqualification of Drivers (383.51) A second serious offense within three years extends the disqualification to 120 days.
Fault, Comparative Negligence, and Insurance
In most left-turn collisions, the turning driver is presumed at fault. Insurance adjusters start from that presumption because the law puts the yield obligation on the turner. It does not mean the fault is always entirely yours, but you carry the burden of showing otherwise.
Arizona uses pure comparative negligence under ARS 12-2505. Your damages are reduced in proportion to your share of fault, and you are never 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 light while speeding, a jury might find you 30 percent at fault and the other driver 70 percent at fault. Your recovery drops by 30 percent, but you still collect.
An at-fault left-turn accident will raise your premiums. Industry data shows at-fault crashes typically increase auto insurance rates by roughly 45 percent, and the increase can linger on your record for three to five years. If the crash triggers a suspension or multiple violations in a short period, you may also need to file an SR-22 to reinstate your driving privileges, which pushes premiums higher.
What to Do After a Left-Turn Collision
Because the turning driver starts at a disadvantage in any fault determination, evidence at the scene matters more than usual. The goal is to document anything that might shift or share fault: the other driver’s speed, signal status, visibility, and the road layout.
Photographs are the single most useful thing you can gather. Capture the traffic signals, lane markings, vehicle positions, skid marks, and anything blocking sight lines. If you have a dashcam, preserve the footage before it overwrites. Modern vehicles also contain event data recorders that capture speed, braking, and other dynamics in the seconds before a crash.17National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Event Data Recorder That data can objectively show whether the other driver was speeding or failed to brake, which is often the key to rebutting the presumption of turner fault.
Collect contact information from witnesses, and request a copy of the police report using the incident number the responding officer provides. If the officer notes that the other driver ran a red light or was distracted, that report becomes central evidence for your insurance claim and any civil case that follows.