Traffic lights and yellow boxes

Sala

I posted this over in motors but I'll try here too - even if no one knows the junction I;'m talking about I can try to explain it.

In Wicklow there is a new set of traffic lights. If you are coming from one direction towards the main street there is road from the right and both now have traffic lights. My dilemma, today I crossed the yellow box going straight (no one in it) on a green light, but slowly as I had been stopped so by the time I crossed it the light on the other side went ambe then red. There is a space at the other side of the box big enough for one car after the yellow box and before a pedestrain crossing. The pedestrian crossing did not go green. The a realised the road from the right now had a green light and they were all crossing and I was blocking the road . Should I have stopped/ not?

ADIDriving

Sound like the lights are controlling the junction. So if the lights are green when you go into the juction you should continue through the lights on the far side to clear it. As I understand, from your description, you should not have stopped.

Sala

But what is controlling the pedestrain crossing then? There were pedrestrian lights there.

But it didnt show the green man so when the people from the right got a green I moved through eben though I wasn't sure if it was a red for me, and they all followed. I suppose it wouldn't make sense to give them a green and a red after the box as they are all stuck in the box, but still doesn;t explain the space after the yellow box that I was in, or where the pedestrian light is?

Sala

When they all started coming from the right up behind me I crawled through the red light as I thought I had made a mistake and they all followed. However, that means there is no way of telling if the red on the other side is controlling the junction, or if it is because the green man is about to light up? The only was to know would be if you stopped and then realised the other road had a green.

Thank you for the reply by the way

ADIDriving

The simple answer is, don't stop in a junction. If you go in, you are allowed to leave, before anyone else starts driving in or crossing the road. (An exception is if you are waiting to turn right. Even then you clear the junction first chance you get)

Sala

I understand that, but I felt technically I had cleared the junction (as there was a space at the other side for me) and that I was in fact stopping for the pedestrian crossing. It just didn't make sense then that the other road would get a green and not be able to go (as they couldnt cross the box without having to stop) I asked a few people who reckon you ca't go through a red light on a crossing, but again weren't familiar with the junction I was talking about.

ADIDriving

It sounds, from your description that the lights that allow the pedestrians to cross are part of the same lights that control the junction. There for you have not cleared the junction until you have got past the lights. If they are sepperate features, then it is just messy.

DrivingTestTips: Brian

The red light at your stop line applies to you. After you cross the stop line you should be able to clear the junction.
If you are turning right in this case you move across your stop line, move into the junction and when the road is clear you turn.

DO NOT cross the pedestrian crossing if the green man is showing.

SORRY just to add....
If this is a local issue which is outside the norm it may need a local ADI to advise you.

Sala

SORRY just to add....
If this is a local issue which is outside the norm it may need a local ADI to advise you.

Thank but I have actually got a full licence so my driving instructor and me are no more That said, we are always learning and that's why I posted here. The lights are new so it confused me. I have to drive here everyday so I suppose I'll walk down, press the pedestrian crossing button and wait and see what happens!

**Timbuk2**

You could post up a link/picture from Google Maps (or similar), describe where you are coming from and where you are going to, and we might have a better idea of what is the correct thing to do.

Sala

Google maps in outdated (new lights) but I posted this over in motors and a guy from Wicklow confirmed I should have crossed the junction, and the space is only if you get stuck if the pedestrian lights go. He reckons it's bad design!

a_ominous

I treat the pedestrian crossing like a junction box i.e. don't stop on it either. It's a requirement of ROTR to not endanger pedestrians, and since peds should only cross at designated crossings, then you should also keep ped crossing clear. Note: this does not give drivers permission to run over peds who do not use ped crossing