Can you turn?

Question

You are driving along a busy London road and approaching junction with a traffic light hoping to turn right.

You are in the right hand lane of a 2 lane carriageway. A similar 2 lane carriageway goes in opposite direction . As light goes to green you move ahead ready to turn, but cars from the opposite direction still flowing. You obviously wait at the junction already ahead a bit of the traffic light. In the mean time the traffic lights turn to red and shortly afterwards you find a gap and opportunity to turn but light now behind you is red. Can you turn or do you have to wait for green again? The traffic lights in question here flash green for going straight or right at same time so no arrows or special one for the right turn.

Answer 1

That's perfectly fine.

If you waited for the lights to turn green again you have two problems:

1) you can't see them as you are sitting in front of them.

2) once they're green again the cars are once again travelling in the opposite direction thus preventing you from turning once more.

Answer 2

If you are blocking traffic you need to turn however you should never move up until the traffic has cleared before you start your turn.

Rules of the road.

Answer 3

If you have crossed the stop line and the lights change you should make effective observations and if safe go

Answer 4

You have to go. You can't be hanging around in the middle of a junction after the lights have changed. Waiting traffic will give way to you until you've moved off.

Answer 5

If you are not in the way of other cars and the light is red you stop.

Answer 6

Once you passed over the stop line you are no longer controlled by the traffic light but by common sense as to when you can continue. DO NOT stay in the middle of the road as you will be accused of obstruction.

Answer 7

That's fine. You move forward on green, and wait for a gap in the oncoming traffic, which is perfectly correct.

Answer 8

Yes, what you're describing is a perfectly normal right-turn manoeuvre.  No worries.

Answer 9

Yes, it's normal practice. If there is no-one else there you should move up to the normal right-turn position and wait for a gap. If no gap occurs before the light changes to red, move off as soon as you see the on-coming traffic is stopping. Traffic from your left & right should not move until you have cleared their path.