Traffic lights/rules of the road question

gaiscioch

Can somebody clarify the legal situation here. If you are coming from a side road and turning right on to a more important road, and the cars on the more important road have all been stopped by a red light at the right of the junction (as you're coming on to it), do you also stop at that same light? Logic would say that you should never break a red light, but if you don't go through it the long queue of traffic behind you on the less important road will not be able to progress beyond a couple of cars (your green light would effectively have been for about 25 metres). On the other hand, DCC could have placed the traffic lights to your left as you enter the junction, but it didn't. As you'll notice from the example below there's also a pedestrian crossing on the right, but their light is red when your light has gone green.

Here's an example of a junction I'm talking about (but they are all over the place). It's Connacht Street coming on to Phibsboro Road in Dublin, and you'll be turning right for the quays.

Connacht Street to Phibsboro Road junction

ED E

As it stands, 1-2 cars should enter the box and queue. Really though the sequence shouldnt give the secondary road a green for the right turn until the ped crossing has flipped back to red.

ohnonotgmail

in the example you gave if you have a green light then you go. if the pedestrian light is red after you turn then you stop at the pedestrian light. Generally they sync the traffic lights with the pedestrian lights so if pedestrians have a green man then both your light and light for traffic coming from your left will be red.

seamus

No, you don't stop on the right, that light is not for you.

I have never encountered a junction like the above where both I and the pedestrians have green lights. The pedestrians are required to yield to you when their light is red, because they have a set of lights.

If there were no ped lights there, or it happened to be green for them, you would be required to yield to pedestrians.

ohnonotgmail

seamus wrote: »

No, you don't stop on the right, that light is not for you.

the light on the right is a pedestrian light and is set back from the junction. if the pedestrians have a green man then that light will be red. you would drive through if the pedestrians have a green man?

seamus

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

the light on the right is a pedestrian light and is set back from the junction. if the pedestrians have a green man then that light will be red. you would drive through if the pedestrians have a green man?

I edited my post there to clarify.

If the peds have a green, you stop. But the lights would be synced up so that when right-turning traffic has a green, the peds have a red. I've never encountered a junction (in Ireland) that did it another way.

ohnonotgmail

seamus wrote: »

I edited my post there to clarify.

If the peds have a green, you stop. But the lights would be synced up so that when right-turning traffic has a green, the peds have a red. I've never encountered a junction (in Ireland) that did it another way.

i think we're saying the same thing.

seamus

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

i think we're saying the same thing.

The thing is, when the peds have a red and you have a green, that light will also be red. Because it's for traffic coming from your left.

Just to clarify what I think we're talking about:

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/4091/421653.png

When the lights highlighted green, are green, the light highlighted purple, will be red.

The OP is asking if he should stop at this light, but no he shouldn't. It's a mistake I've often seen people make.

I too think we're saying the same thing, but I wanted to clarify.

gaiscioch

Just to clarify: when you have the green to go on to the more important road, the pedestrians crossing that important road have a red light - i.e. they cannot cross and therefore the red light on your right is not because there are pedestrians who have a right to cross at the same time. I had always assumed that red light was for the traffic on the main road only, but the fact that it is located immediately after traffic turns right onto that same road has raised doubts (that, and the fact that when I stopped at one of those lights coming from the side road I was beeped at, and when I went through one of those lights I got flashed at)

gaiscioch wrote: »

As you'll notice from the example below there's also a pedestrian crossing on the right, but their light is red when your light has gone green.

challengemaster

Can't make any sense of the question or the example the way you've worded it. But if you've started a turn and moved ahead of traffic lights / into a turn box / into a yellow box, you complete the turn even if the light changes to red assuming it's safe to do so. If you're in a turn box you're already passed the point where you're indicated to stop for the light by initiating the turn procedure.

BeardySi

Where is the stop line associated with the red light to your right? If it's to your left, the light doesn't apply to you, if it's after your right turn it does.