PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla.  — When three lanes merge to two just past a busy Pinellas County intersection, a Bay News 9 viewer says it's game on to see who gets in front of who. 

Rich Lynch lives on the beach in Pinellas County and drives the Tom Stuart Causeway to and from his home every day.

At the intersection of the Causeway and Duhme Road, there's an issue that makes him nervous.

"You're sitting there at the light and you know it's about to change.  You've got a person on your right that could be turning right or going straight...you're not sure,” said Rich Lynch. “And then once that light changes green it's like a gun fight.  Who's gonna draw first?"

There are three lanes westbound on the Tom Stuart Causeway at Duhme Road.  Then, just past the light, the right lane merges into the center lane. The second the light turns green, cars in the right and center lanes race across the intersection to get ahead of the others before the lanes merge.

"We had a big semi next to us and I thought, OK, is he turning right on to Duhme,” said Lynch. “And no, he wasn't.  And this guy was gunning it as soon as the light changed. And then you're squeezing over and you've got people on the other side and there are people turning into Publix... It's kind of chaotic."

What he'd like to see here is a change in the traffic pattern.   If the right lane were a right turn only, these crunches wouldn't happen.   It seems the majority of traffic already makes a right at the intersection.   It would be a matter of signage before the light letting drivers know to merge left before the intersection.

The Tom Stuart Causeway is managed by the State, so if any changes were made here, they'd be the ones to do it.