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driving

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
Ok, since you drive on the left, can you turn left on a red light?

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No you can't just turn left as their might be traffic cutting across you to go up the left you want to take. Sometimes as saz said there are 2 or three lanes, where two of the lanes will be stopped by a red light but the left hand one will have a green light with an arrow showing its okay to turn left.

    I've never really understood at all the turning right at a red light thing in the US?! :chin:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    FireFly85 wrote: »
    I've never really understood at all the turning right at a red light thing in the US?! :chin:

    The Conservatives have raised the idea of introducing this here too. It will allow people to turn left at a red light, if the traffic is clear, to reduce congestion and improve traffic flow. If the road you are wanting to drive across is not always busy, it would be safe to pull into the left turn if no oncoming cars are about. I think its a good idea.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    They have turn left / right on red in a few countries, but not ours.

    It does seem silly some times when you're just sat waiting for nothing. But at the same time I don't think it would be practically useful that often, due to the volume of traffic.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    In japan there are no buttons for pedestrians to press at crossroads. The two opposite pedestrian crossings have a green light at any one time, but this also means that the other two roads have green lights for the cars.

    This means that even if the green man is lit, there may still be cars turning into the road you are walking across, although they give right of way to the pedestrians.

    It sounds more complicated than it is...

    On the biggest of the big crossroads in city centres, where there may be 8 lanes of traffic on each road, there are also diagonal pedestrian crossings, and all the green men light up together to create a swarm of people.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    drumbeat wrote: »
    In japan there are no buttons for pedestrians to press at crossroads. The two opposite pedestrian crossings have a green light at any one time, but this also means that the other two roads have green lights for the cars.

    This means that even if the green man is lit, there may still be cars turning into the road you are walking across, although they give right of way to the pedestrians.

    It sounds more complicated than it is...

    It's the same in Italy... Scares the living daylights out of me... When I've visited my sister in Rome she's had to teach me how to cross the road... you basically just have to step out onto the road and keep walking and hope for the best. It's terrifying!
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    littlemissylittlemissy Posts: 9,972 Supreme Poster
    Lu_C wrote: »
    It's the same in Italy... Scares the living daylights out of me... When I've visited my sister in Rome she's had to teach me how to cross the road... you basically just have to step out onto the road and keep walking and hope for the best. It's terrifying!

    Oh my God! I thought I was going to die in Rome. It was horrible.

    You still have right of way, but if there are no pedestrians, the cars still go.

    Scary chickens.
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    Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    Over here (Greece) some crossings have buttons, but most don't, and the lights change periodically. Even then, sometimes cars turning might have a green light, but in that case they also get two yellow flashing arrows while the pedestrians' green light is flashing.
    There are a few crossings with no light at all; in that case cars are required to stop if a pedestrian is on the crossing.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Lu_C wrote: »
    It's the same in Italy... Scares the living daylights out of me... When I've visited my sister in Rome she's had to teach me how to cross the road... you basically just have to step out onto the road and keep walking and hope for the best. It's terrifying!

    It's like that in France as well, trying to cross the roads in Paris was always an interesting experience, I'm surprised more people dont get knocked down.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I never stopped in the red lights
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    SkiveSkive Posts: 15,286 Skive's The Limit
    We do have some of the safest roads in the world.
    Weekender Offender 
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    what i noticed in japan is because there might be a pedestrian even if the light is green, some drivers drive with a little more caution. Also, in the suburbs, the streets have no pavements and the roads are narrow. There are sometimes uncovered deep contrete trenches down the sides of the road, and the lamposts are actually on the road, as there arn't hedges/pavements.

    It's like they expect a hazard round the next corner, while in this country, nobody seems to look at anything except the traffic lights lights. (and even then its hit or miss if they stop in time. No pun intended.)

    anyway, bit of a tangent.
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