In my experience in the US, "pass then turn" would ONLY be for odd intersections like the median example given earlier.  With our penchant for land barges, our intersections typically have plenty of room for turning in front of each other.  Most of the UK's backroads would be one-lane, one-way roads here and people would still complain about how narrow they were.

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything.
Charles Kuralt

Autox/Rallyx Videos

Zip's hit the nail on the head. That's what's generally done in that sort of intersection, e.g. traffic lights at a crossroads. You quite often find white arrows painted on the road to help you position the car, whilst you sit in the middle ready to turn right.

Clubman & 1275GT - its hip to be square!

I can see what it's supposed to do, but really can't see the point of the counter-clockwise ring other than to make it so you don't have to go all the way around clockwise like you would normally do.

Yikes!

Quack.  Quack.   Orange Cream soda.  Shaken, not stirred.
Served with a side of melted peanut butter toast.

MAgic roadway?  Sheesh, it's magic if you understand it! 

I believe you can pass any side u want on this setup!

Martin.

My mind's made up - don't bother me with facts!

 

 

Interesting.  Traffic Circles.  I always thought that the car already in the traffic circle has the right of way.

When turning left (in the USA).  The narrower the street, the more apt that you will turn left in front of the car turning left in front of you.  We have a 4 lane road with a decent median.  The median is wide enough that you can stop in the median without blocking traffic.  when I turn left here, I stay to the right, and would pass behind another car turning left that is coming towards me.  This is because I would be following the traffic flow of someone who might be crossing the main road, and I would also be lined up with the exit road/driveway when exiting the main road.  It also means that I would not be directly facing a person trying to enter the intersection from the road I was trying to exit to.  I think that it is primarily up to how wide the intersection is.

Quack.  Quack.   Orange Cream soda.  Shaken, not stirred.
Served with a side of melted peanut butter toast.

>>On a little, side road intersection, it is intuitive to turn "behind" the oncoming car ("pass, then turn").<<

I can't quite agree that that's "intuitive." I've spent a lot of time in the Midwest (KS, NE, OK, IA) as well as living in Calif, and turning before passing seems more the norm. This was exceedingly confusing to me when I drove in France, however, because there, they pass and then turn behind the facing car. Got lots of honks and puzzled looks until a French friend educated me.

I think there are two different discussions going on in this thread, perhaps the wording of the original is hard to grasp without a sketch.

When he says "pass then turn", I think he means, at an intersection. Not passing a slower car while driving down the road.

On a normal "X" intersection, two lane to two lane, it is normal to turn after opposing cars have passed by each other. But for some intersections, like a large, divided road, in Michigan anyway, many large intersections have lanes marked by painted, dotted lines on the pavement, preventing the turning cars from passing and turning (the painted lines want you to turn in front of each other, rather than turning after you pass by each other). Where I have seen these they have made sense, based on the layout of the large, divided intersection.

On a little, side road intersection, it is intuitive to turn "behind" the oncoming car ("pass, then turn").

Norm

Actually passing in the right lane in the US isn't stright out by the rules, but most people do it anyway.  To paraphrase the rule (in Indiana driver's manual):  Beep and flash your lights, if the person doesn't get over procede to pass on the right with extreme caution, as you are dealing with a poor driver.

I've sat down and thought it through. Passing before turning makes perfect sense on single lane roads. I mean, where are you going to come up with the space to turn ahead of another car wanting to turn right? That would surely make you cut the corner on the turn. Dual carriageways and wider roads, I guess we'll play those by ear.

Charrison,

Really??? Around here that would look like bumper cars.  
But, there again, a few miles from my house is a traffic circle that has the oddest protocol I've ever seen... If you're traveling from the main north south roadway, you have the right of way... If you're on any of the other intersecting roads, traffic in the circle has the right of way. Strange and a regular source of bent fenders. 

 

At cross roads, "pass and turn" is the recommended move ie each car pass so that the drivers are nearest to each other.

However, local customs sometimes dictate otherwise, for instance if the roads are really narrow, there may not be space to pass & turn. It takes less space to pass in front.

I think what Kra is refering to is at an intersection with two cars facing each other both turning right.
I would hope that the protocol is to wind up turning passenger side to passenger side just as we do on this side of the swamp.
I've had folks at odd intersections try to convince me to turn around the outside of the oncoming vehicle... Couldn't see anything but bad results from that idea...

 

The rule in England is to keep left except to pass.

The way people drive in the US is the same way.

kra, The Highway Code states that you should keep left,except when overtaking.Unfortunately,once drivers pass their Driving Test,they forget what the code says. I've been on the Motorway and kept pace with cars hogging the Middle and outside lanes for miles. I actually prefer the American system where you can pass both sides,wakens the dozy buggers up. I also like the fact that the local Licence Office in US, GIVES you the Rules of the Road for FREE. In the UK you have to BUY IT,and it aint cheap.

 

"Come to the Edge"he said,"I'm afraid"I said,"come to the Edge"he said, I did...and he pushed me off,...and I FLEW.

Got to say that I'm a little confused about this. American drivers turn left ahead of one another, nearly always. I've always understood that British drivers turn right after passing one another, but have just read a UK drivers ed website which says nearside to nearside turning is generally the prefered method, though both are still technically correct. Which is more done in practice? It's been about 4 years since I was last in the UK, and I don't remember which I found to be more common.