Yellow boxes, tickets & the law

jimmycrackcorm

DMC2005 wrote:

The 2007 rules of the road has clarified the matter and states :

"An exception is when you want to turn right. In this case, you may enter the
yellow box junction while waiting for a gap in traffic coming from the opposite
direction."

It also states that you may not enter the box to turn right, if it would obstruct other vehicles.

That would indicate that Flibble is correct in that he did not obstruct other traffic. The blue car in his case is obstructed from moving forward by the traffic on the far side of the box and stopped short of the box as he legally could not enter it.

Any decent solicitor can get out of this one as there is no point in having this box junction (side road) other than to facilitate side road traffic.

littlejukka

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

That would indicate that Flibble is correct in that he did not obstruct other traffic. The blue car in his case is obstructed from moving forward by the traffic on the far side of the box and stopped short of the box as he legally could not enter it.

he's still wrong. any good solicitor would know that actually blocking traffic and setting yourself up to potentially block traffic are equally punishable. if the lane on the left was held up while the right hand lane was released (by traffic lights farther ahead for example) the OP would have been holding up the right hand lane. allowing yourself get into this position is enough, whether or not you actually block traffic.

smemon

BrianD3 wrote:

Lets say you enter a yellow box while waiting to turn right into a side road. The road you wish to turn into is clear and only oncoming traffic is preventing you from making the turn. As you wait for a gap in oncoming traffic, 10 of the oncoming cars decide to turn left into the same side road that you want to turn into. The side road is now gridlocked and your exit is blocked. If a Garda comes along at this point, it looks like you entered the yellow box without having a clear exit when in fact you didn't.

Any thoughts?

which is exactly why i don't enter a box until i see a gap in traffic and a clear exit

it's happened me a few times in the past.. end up looking like an eejit and blocking other traffic from moving.

seamus

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

That would indicate that Flibble is correct in that he did not obstruct other traffic. The blue car in his case is obstructed from moving forward by the traffic on the far side of the box and stopped short of the box as he legally could not enter it.

As pointed out, he did obstruct traffic though - the right-hand lane of vehicles. I know this junction very well, if I get a chance I'll do a mock up drawing - there's a little more context to it than the picture above can show.

OldmanMondeo

My understanding of the box junction is that it is for traffic turning right off the road on which the traffic is already on. Traffic needed to turn onto the road, i.e for junction right or left, can only stop in the box if there is no other car in there. (gets ready to be shot down)

cormie

Don't fancy reading all the posts, has a conclusion been drawn on this situation yet?

And is it true that only one car is allowed in a yellow box at a time? Meaning the green car is breaking the law regardless, I never knew that was the case.

OldmanMondeo

cormie wrote:

And is it true that only one car is allowed in a yellow box at a time? Meaning the green car is breaking the law regardless, I never knew that was the case.

Could be just a rule of thumb that I was told a long time ago, but from the ticket the OP got, it could well be.

DMC2005

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

That would indicate that Flibble is correct in that he did not obstruct other traffic. The blue car in his case is obstructed from moving forward by the traffic on the far side of the box and stopped short of the box as he legally could not enter it.

Any decent solicitor can get out of this one as there is no point in having this box junction (side road) other than to facilitate side road traffic.

No it wouldnt .... Have you read my post ?

The rule is very clear : Never stop on a yellow box unless you are waiting for a gap in traffic coming from the opposite direction so you can turn right, and you are not going to obstruct other traffic while on the box. He was not waiting for a gap in traffic coming in the opposite direction, therefore he should not have been in the box.

The rule is not : you can stop on the yellow box so long as you don't obstruct someone.