On 2011\11\01 00:44, Nightjar wrote:
On 31/10/2011 22:12, Basil Jet wrote:
On 2011\10\31 21:50, Clive D. W. Feather wrote:
In message , Roland Perry
wrote:
Near where I live there's an old set of traffic lights with three
lanes for left, right and ahead, which has the same directional
control of lane markings and green arrows, but no "forced left/right"
signs (by which I assume you mean the blue arrows).

You could argue that you're not forced to use the lanes for any given
direction. So long as a leftwards arrow is lit and you drive with
appropriate care, you can turn left from any lane.

Under the new method, if you're approaching a crossroads where one turn
is banned, but you don't know whether it's the left or right which is
banned, and the road splits in two just before the lights, and both
branches are showing a red light, how can you work out which side to use
to go forward? I suppose the answer is "use the lane markings", but in
snow or even in night-time rain these can be hard to see.

If one turn is banned, then there is a traffic order in place and there
will be a sign to indicate that. With that, it should be obvious which
of the two lanes to choose.

No. The old rules would mean that the light in the left side slip would
have a blue left arrow or a blue forward arrow, and the right side slip
would have a blue forward arrow or a blue right arrow. Under the new
rules, neither slip would have any blue arrow at all, and you couldn't
tell which slip was for forward until the green arrows came on.