Somebody behind me was honking 
I meant why do you drive on the wrong side of the road. 
As I think I’ve written elsewhere on this board, Cambodia used to drive on the left, then changed to right-side driving overnight. The switch was meant to combat the waves of stolen Thai cars entering the country. But who can afford a new car in Cambodia? So now you have all of these right-hand-drive vehicles driving on the right side of the road! A few years ago, the wife and I crossed the border and hired a taxi to take us to Siem Reap, the main town near Angkor Wat. About a two-hour drive if it hasn’t been raining much and no bridges are out, with the “highway” turning to dirt for second half, after the town of Sisophon. I was sitting on the left in the back of the taxi and often had to tell the driver if the road was clear for passing when he inched over behind another vehicle. A little hairy, especially with the dirt that was kicked up by the vehicle in front of us.
Gearstick?
How old are you that you can remember a police car with a stick shift?
Bah… you’ve obviously never tried to eat breakfast on your way to work before. Those red lights are munchy time, right turns or no! Just hold your horses and let me scarf down my egg sammich, okay?
Las Cruces has several intersections with dedicated right turn lanes but you’re turning into a lane of oncoming traffic. It also has several intersections which have a cutoff lane before the intersection marked with a Yield sign so that you don’t have to stop at the light to turn right but you still have to yield to the oncoming traffic. That still gets some of the cars that want to turn right out of the way of the traffic that will be going straight. Most intersections, however, are just your standard four-way intersections with no dedicate turn lanes or merge lanes.
Indeed, although there are a small number of intersections in the city where right on red is permitted and marked by a sign – mostly in Staten Island, although I know I’ve also seen them in Queens. At any given time, there is usually some movement afoot to get the situation in Staten Island flipped, so that signs are only used when it is prohibited, not when it is allowed. They never seem to make much progress.
And even though I try very hard not to be a complete tool while driving, because most of my driving is in NYC I have sometimes found myself nonchalantly sitting at a red light with my right blinker on while not in NYC because it’s so ingrained. [sub]Sorry.[/sub]
Being able to go against red lights was something that totally freaked me out the first time I visited the US.
That was the first and only time I hired a car in America, I’m a devout coward
I can easily think of situations where one still might not make that (safe and legal) right turn. I live in an area where it seems as though 90% of the intersections have “No Right on Red” signs, except in keeping with the usual New England indifference to decent signage, many times those signs are not particularly visible from the typical point at which you might stop your car for the intersection. And if you fail to see the sign and make your (illegal) right turn, there’s not much stopping you from getting a ticket. So even if you don’t see the “No Right on Red” sign, doesn’t mean it’s not there.
[anecdote] A good friend of mine was in one of these situations, came up to a red light and didn’t make a right on red because she figured the sign was just hidden from view or whatever. A cop was directly behind her, and started honking. She didn’t budge until the light turned green. At that point, he turned on his lights and pulled her over, and started yelling at her that she was obligated to make a right on red in that situation. I don’t remember if she ever filed a complaint with the police, but he was way beyond reasonable, and wrong about the law to boot.[/anecdote]
Different countries, different norms…and note it wasn’t a regular patrol car (which are also manuals here, I think) but a high-performance one unmarked one, which are still bloody obvious once you get close.
Is there a red left turn arrow? In Illinois, some intersections have red yellow and green turn arrows, in which case you can’t turn against a red arrow.
In a dedicated right turn lane, the driver up at the front may be trying to manuver to get to a quick left turn into a parking lot. In that case, they may not go until they have a lane or two of traffic free. I can understand that!
There used to be one in the exit to a parking lot near here in CT. Only one I’ve ever seen in this state. Of course, CT drivers need not be told to turn right at a stop sign without stopping. They do so whenever they can whether they should or not.
Can one be fined for not moving when the light is green on a normal municipal street (as opposed to a highway)?
I presume the citation would be along the lines of blocking traffic. Of course, there are times you should not move on a green light. I know of some intersections that have a tendency to get blocked at certain times and will not enter the intersection unless I am sure I can also clear the intersection.
There’s all sorts of situations where cars behind can’t see the traffic conditions as well as the first car, but honk in impatience when the lead car isn’t doing what they think he should be doing. When I’m the lead car, I just tell them, telepathically, “I’m not endangering myself for your convenience, thank you. I’ll go when It’s safe, in my opinion. You’re not paying my insurance.” Plus the lead driver may waste more precious seconds trying to determine who’s honking, and why, defeating the impatient motorist’s purpose for honking in the first place.
That said, motorists afraid to get out into the intersection to make a left on the yellow, after the opposing traffic’s passed, are fraidy cats.
Near my work there is a right-turn “keep moving” lane but if you want to turn left at the next set of lights in 100 yards, you have to cross a further two lanes of traffic, which can be very difficult. So cars stop. But what is annoying is that there is another right turn lane to the left of the “keep moving” lane. If you need to make the upcoming left, you should use the other right turn lane and wait for the light.
That’s what surprises me - that the Americans are even having the debate about the meaning of “may” in “may turn right”. In my country that would be a synonym for “MUST”. Just sitting there would be as weird as just sitting there when the light turns green because you “may” go. Here, you’d be given a ticket for “giving way unnecessarily” or “obstructing traffic”.
In New South Wales, at a bog standard light controlled crossroads with no extras like slip lanes, traffic light arrows, but rather just a typical suburban intersection, you’ll be waiting behind the stop line at a red light. Beyond the stop line are people crossing the road in front of you on a green WALK sign, and beyond them are cars whizzing by on the cross street on their turn at the green light. The pedestrians clear, the you get the green, and the pedestrians on the side street get their WALK signal. If you are turning left, you inch forward into the intersection, but you have to give way to pedestrians on the side street. This is just done visually with no lights. If there is a LEFT TURN ON RED PERMITTED AFTER STOPPING sign, the same rules apply - you’d have to give way to pedestrians on the side street. However, if your light is red, then they’d probably be facing a DON’T WALK signal at the same time. Moreover, such an intersection likely wouldn’t have the left turn permission sign - it’s usually at places with no pedestrian crossings.
More complex intersections (or busier ones) have different rules. For example, in a high pedestrian traffic area, the intersection I described above will also have left turn arrows. Normally, side street pedestrians will get the WALK signal at the same time as your traffic light goes green, but at these busier places, the council might have put left turn arrows up, so the light will go green, but you’ll be facing a red arrow (“Remain behind the stop line, don’t even inch out”) while the side street pedestrian crossing is in WALK phase (this red arrow is initiated by a pedestrian pressing the little button). As the pedestrian WALK signal changes to flashing DON’T WALK, your red arrow will be extinguished, and you may turn left, but you will still need to give way to any pedestrian stragglers.
Gonna hijack the thread for a second
In California, a single left turn lane can turn into any lane (not true in every state). Two cars traveling opposite directions hit the intersection at the same time, one turning left and one turning right. Who has the right of way? IIFC, it is the right turner but the left turner can turn into the closest lane, but what if it is a single lane? What if I’m the right turner and the left turner comes into the second lane (i.e. me). Who’s at fault?
There is only a left-turn green arrow – no red arrow. When it extinguishes, it is still visible even though not lit. I am baffled at the mind-set of a person who reasons that an unlit left-turn arrow supercedes a fully lit green light.
This is the element which seems to me essential to right/left-on-red. And a major reason it’d be very hard to implement it in Europe, where the green light for the traffic means ‘go’, and you’re not checking as a matter of course for pedestrians on the road you’re turning into.