Yellow box junction!!!!

SuperInfinity

This pisses me off. The more I think about it, the more I realise how it could cause a serious accident.

I was going merrily along my way after turning off to the right from the left in the upper part of the picture below, the road I came off of isn't shown. When all of a sudden I get some IDIOT pulling right out in front of me when I had the right of way!!!!

We didn't collide, we weren't close to colliding, but jesus he gave me quite a shock. So anyways, I gave him a look and started moving again. To my great surprise, he started moving again at the SAME TIME!!!! But that was okay, maybe he thought I was letting him go. We were in a dreaded "no you go, wait i'll go, uh oh now you're going" situation.

Now I didn't wave him on or anything, so as it was my actual right of way to begin with, I went ahead fast. To my surprise I heard a hoot behind me and I wondered Christ what on earth happened now... and then it hit me... he was probably hooting at me!!!! He thought it was HIS right of way!!!! He thought you were allowed to do that in a yellow-box junction!!!! There is the possibility that someone hooted because he was causing hold-up since they now had the green.

I looked up yellow box junction up on the net and I was right all along. The main road still has precedence, it's not some reverse law where the smaller road or off-track road gains precedence. The main reason for the yellow-box junction in this situation is letting people go INTO the small road. Coming OUT of there is a whole other matter. I hope that guy looked up the meaning of the word tonight. He wasn't too young either, 30s I would say.

Zoney

See Rules of the Road, Yellow Box Junctions.

...don't enter the box if to do so would block other traffic that has the right of way.

He shouldn't have entered the junction if he was going to block you, as you had right of way.

However, if he was already in the junction (even if he shouldn't have been) then you shouldn't have entered until you had a clear run across it.

You must not enter the yellow box junction unless you can clear it without stopping.

That's my take on it.

As a non-motorist, my main irritation is motorists on side roads who don't realise that pedestrians and cyclists continuing along the main road have right of way - not just the vehicular traffic on the main road. The same goes for those vehicles on the main road turning in to a side road. It's compounded by motorists not even using their indicator when breaking this right of way (i.e. you're continuing along the street and even looking behind you when you come to a side road, you may not be able to tell if someone is going to try and kill you - indeed on busier roads this pretty much means waiting until *no* traffic is passing along the main road just because of the potential for lawbreakers).

munchkin_utd

Actually, yer man coming from the right also was correct as there is the old chestnut of right before left!

In Ireland we have the whole "main road has priority" idea, BUT a main road isnt a main road unless theres yield signs on the side road, which there isnt in cities.
Therefore, right before left comes into play.

Yer man came from the right, so in a situation of stalemate with one having to go first, he has priority.

In unmarked junctions and exits there is unconditional right of way for traffic on the main road or right of way for traffic approaching from the right in Austria, Germany, Denmark, Greece, France, Italy and Ireland

Actually, its a very interesting article on the differences in priority laws across Europe so worth a read.
http://www.roadtransport.com/Articles/2008/01/23/129609/how-the-rules-of-road-differ-across-europe.html

Jip

You can enter a yellow box at a junction if you're waiting to turn right so the guy wasn't in the wrong really. It's more of a case that both of you should have come to a bit of sense and allowed one or another to go ahead, how many seconds would that have cost you ?

Zoney

The ROTR section on junctions also has a number of relevant points - particularly with respect to T junctions, and a note on the equal priority road junctions about right of way not being an absolute right and to drive with caution and regard for other road users. (So the right-turner was in the wrong even if the roads were equal priority, which as it was a T junction, I believe was not the case - but the OP also shouldn't have tried to "enforce" their right of way either).

slimjimmc

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Actually, yer man coming from the right also was correct as there is the old chestnut of right before left!

In Ireland we have the whole "main road has priority" idea, BUT a main road isnt a main road unless theres yield signs on the side road, which there isnt in cities.
Therefore, right before left comes into play.

Yer man came from the right, so in a situation of stalemate with one having to go first, he has priority.


Actually, its a very interesting article on the differences in priority laws across Europe so worth a read.
http://www.roadtransport.com/Articles/2008/01/23/129609/how-the-rules-of-road-differ-across-europe.html

Hmmm, interesting allright but it's a pity the author didn't notice that holding a mobile phone while driving has been illegal here since 2002, over 5 yrs before she wrote that article. How reliable is the rest of it?

Mobile phones

The majority of EU member states have either recently introduced rules on the use of mobile phones while driving or are planning to do so soon. The consensus is that hands-free use of mobile phones is allowed. The exception is Ireland, which has no rules in place and at present has no plans to introduce any.

D'Peoples Voice

SuperInfinity wrote: »

That picture reminds me of the Marlborough road junction in Ranelagh,
except there is a set of traffic lights on that junction,
and it still creates all types of confusion on a daily basis (well okay thats an exaggeration - I've only ever walked by and this happen about 30-40 times but still feels like a regular occurence).

The reason is that there is a set of traffic lights, and if you're coming from the direction you were coming from (say Clonskeagh/Sandford road),
one traffic light pole is on the left before you enter the yellow box and a second traffic light pole on the right on the far side of the yellow box.

Now what happens is that someone coming from your direction,
pases an amber traffic light pole on the left but before they clear the yellow box, they are stopped by the now red traffic light pole on the right.

Hence they stop dead centre in the yellow box.
Of course traffic trying to come onto the main road from Marlborough Road, the road to the left where your man was coming from in yer case, are now blocked by the car parked in the yellow box, who refuses to move because he can still see his traffic light pole on his right remaining red. Then a chorus of car horns go on for 20-25 seconds until the lights go green.

its a sight to behold!

cyclopath2001

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

Now what happens is that someone coming from your direction, pases an amber traffic light pole on the left but before they clear the yellow box, they are stopped by the now red traffic light pole on the right. Hence they stop dead centre in the yellow box.

Sounds like they don't know the RoTR. I wonder why they do that? Is there a stop line in front of the second set? The rule is to stop at a stop line. If you've already passed the stop line, you keep going. Of course, if there is no space beyond the box junction, they should remain at the initial set of lights and stop line until it's clear.

corktina

regreatably few people seem to know the ROTR and fewer still obey them when they do know them...seems to me you were in the right if your exit from the box was clear and the guy turning right out of a side street (if I have your map correct) would be wrong...the give way to traffic from your right rule would not apply in this case

The box isnt there to give someone coming out of a side street priority, its just there to give them (and people turning in there) the space to do it.

maxheadroom

Jip wrote: »

You can enter a yellow box at a junction if you're waiting to turn right so the guy wasn't in the wrong really. It's more of a case that both of you should have come to a bit of sense and allowed one or another to go ahead, how many seconds would that have cost you ?

You can only enter a yellow box when turning right if you are blocked by oncoming traffic, not if turning right at a T-junction.

paulm17781

People here seem to think that yellow boxes are there for your to enter so you have to move once the traffic starts moving regardless of the colour of the lights.

Like most rules of the road, if the Gardai actually punished people for stopping in yellow boxes, you'd probably find people would stop. Instead it is seen as a harmless offense and another reason we have such bad drivers.