How do I take a turn?

[Scott O]

When I commuting on the bike heading home I need to take a left hand turn off of a really busy road (138 North in Milton MA). Speed limit is @40 mph but this section is straight and downhill and a lot of cars are doing 50+. I can usually find a break in traffic to get myself in the middle of the road doing 30mph but when I need to cut across the other lane of traffic to make a left turn, I sometimes need to stop to let the oncoming traffic pass by. Meanwhile, I've got the traffic behind me, and they're able to slow down and go around me, but its a little disconcerting knowing they're blasting down this hill at a high rate with some nasty consequences if they're not paying attention. Question is - what's the propper way to make a turn under these condition? Should I just stand over on the side of the road and wait for both sides to clear and should I be standing in the road with my hand signaling a turn? Thanks.

[bikdav]

If the scheme that you're using now seems to be working, then I'd say continue to use it carefully. I have a similar but smaller scale problem at an intersection that is near my house. Here, the only thing I can do is wait for a break in the traffic before making the left turn from the right hand side of the road. In all honesty, there is no one way to deal with traffic. Different people have different schemes.

[Westie]

I had a similar problem on a commute to a previous job. My solution was to cycle past the danger point, make a U-turn at a safer/easier spot further up the road (which also had traffic lights) and then cycle back.
Only added about 200 hundred yards in my case.
Of course, if I could get the turn in without having to deal with problem traffic I took it - if it looked busy I took the long option.