One thing I've found annoying in my two months of living in Maryville is the propensity of drivers to fail to follow through on left-hand turns when a light turns red. Everywhere else I've lived - rural Michigan, Chicago, northern Virginia - when you plan to make a left turn at a light, you go out into the intersection and when the traffic is clear you complete your turn (this is if you don't have a left-turn arrow). Sometimes oncoming cars are beating the yellow so you have to wait until they are through before you complete your turn, even if that means following through on a red. I've seen this done in front of police officers multiple times and I've never seen anyone get pulled over for it. From what I understand, you are legally allowed to complete the left turn if you've begun it under green or yellow, even if the light has just turned right. You just cannot ENTER the intersection after the light is red.

Well, I've seen cars just sit there at the light all over Maryville instead of completing the turn. Sometimes it's downright dangerous to sit there, like when cars on US321 South fail to complete the left turn onto Broadway and find themselves stuck in the middle of traffic (there's an upcoming hilltop but by the time the light turns red, it's obvious that no more cars are coming over the hill.) What gives here? Why don't people follow through in their left turns? Very few intersections have red-light cameras - none in Maryville. Is the law different in Tennessee? Or are drivers just excessively timid?