Which lane do you turn from, and which lane do you turn into?

The rule

• Left turn: start in the left-turn lane or the lane nearest the center line, and finish in the left lane of the new road.
• Right turn: start in the lane nearest the curb, and finish in the right lane. Do not swing wide into another lane.
• Pavement arrows are rules. A left-only lane must turn left; a straight-only lane cannot turn.
• With two turn lanes side by side, stay in yours all the way through: each one feeds its own lane on the far side.
• Get into your lane early, before the solid lines and the arrows begin.

Where drivers get it wrong

• The last-second switch. Changing lanes inside the intersection to make a turn you set up late. Miss it, and take the next one.
• Landing in the far lane. Turning left into the curb lane takes the lane that drivers turning right onto that road are aiming for.
• Swinging wide on a right. Too fast into the corner, and the car drifts into the second lane.

How Yield tests it

Yield gives you the turn, like an examiner, and its multi-lane lights roll a different lane layout every time, so you have to read the arrows. Turning from the wrong lane is Wrong lane for the turn, going straight out of a turn-only lane is its own fault, and landing in the wrong lane on the far side is Turned into the wrong lane.

• Wrong lane for the turn
• Went straight out of the turn lane
• Turned into the wrong lane
• Missed your turn

Your lane and the one you come out in are a pair: turn from a lane, land in the lane it feeds. Get straight first, then change lanes if you want another.

Rules differ from state to state, and where they do, your state's driver handbook is the one that counts. Yield is practice, not driver's ed or legal advice. Sources: California Driver Handbook: Navigating the Roads.