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Old June 16th 09, 11:38 PM posted to uk.legal,uk.transport.london
Basil Jet Basil Jet is offline
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Jun 2009
Posts: 400
Default Staggered stop line and odd box junction

Alex Heney wrote:
On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:38:23 +0100, "Basil Jet"
wrote:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&...00603&t=h&z=21

Since the stop line for turning right into Earls Court Road is a
couple of car lengths before the stop line for going forward, you
can cut right from the middle lane to the turning right line and
turn right while the traffic light is red without passing over any
stop line. Could you be prosecuted, and for what?


For not obeying the road markings which show straight on only for
those lanes.


Those arrows are advisory and have no legal force. After all, a bus shooting
down a bus lane will drive straight over a left-turn arrow at nearly every
junction.

It is also obvious (look at streetview to see this) that the right
hand turn traffic lights only apply to that lane, while the others are
still at red (the streetview image happens to have been taken when
that was the case).


But if you weave between the two halves of the stop line, how can any
traffic light be said to apply to you?

Changing the subject slightly, at this junction in Finchley
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&...24. 01,,0,7.6
the left lane is for forward or left, and the right hand lane is for forward
or right. The lights have filter arrows for forward and left. (It doesn't
look like that on the streetview, so it might be a new thing). When the
filter arrows come on, traffic in the right lane going forward has the green
arrow but can be held up by the car in front which can't turn right yet.
While traffic wanting to go forward being held up by traffic wanting to turn
right is hardly a rare thing, surely a multilane junction where arrows
encourage traffic which is allowed to go in a particular phase to share a
lane with traffic which is not allowed to go in that same phase must be
breaking some rules.