Flashing amber arrows

VG31

I was at a junction turning left with a flashing amber arrow. I went just through the light and waited at the line until there was a gap in the traffic as you are supposed to.
There was a pedestrian waiting to cross the road at the junction and as I passed it they shouted something. I thought I might have done something wrong. I could see clearly that the light was red for the pedestrian crossing.
I know at pelican crossings where a flashing amber light comes on you have to yield to pedestrians but there would be a flashing green or amber pedestrian light rather than a red one.

Should I yield to pedestrians at flashing amber arrows? I could see clearly that the pedestrian light was red. As a pedestrian it would not occur to me that I had right of way at a crossing like this since the pedestrian light is red.

wally79

VG31 wrote: »

I was at a junction turning left with a flashing amber arrow. I went just through the light and waited at the line until there was a gap in the traffic as you are supposed to.
There was a pedestrian waiting to cross the road at the junction and as I passed it they shouted something. I thought I might have done something wrong. I could see clearly that the light was red for the pedestrian crossing.
I know at pelican crossings where a flashing amber light comes on you have to yield to pedestrians but there would be a flashing green or amber pedestrian light rather than a red one.

Should I yield to pedestrians at flashing amber arrows? I could see clearly that the pedestrian light was red. As a pedestrian it would not occur to me that I had right of way at a crossing like this since the pedestrian light is red.

You were right

me_irl

As long as you had no traffic coming from your right. You were free to maneuver (once it's safe to do so!). The pedestrian was in the wrong (seeing that the crossing light was red for them).

spurious

For Dublin folk, the left hand turn at Raheny Church (going towards Donaghmede) is dreadful for this.

Driver 1 correctly waits to allow pedestrians cross at flashing amber.
Pedestrians dither, not knowing they have the right of way.
Gombeen drivers 2 and 3 start blowing driver 1 out of it.
Driver 1 figures pedestrians are not crossing, so goes to take the left turn, whereupon
pedestrians make a mad rush for it, narrowly avoiding getting hit.

Don't get me started on the fun bad drivers cause when the filter right hand turn arrow changes to solid green, coming from Donaghmede direction and turning right at Raheny Church towards town.

VG31

spurious wrote: »

For Dublin folk, the left hand turn at Raheny Church (going towards Donaghmede) is dreadful for this.

Driver 1 correctly waits to allow pedestrians cross at flashing amber.
Pedestrians dither, not knowing they have the right of way.
Gombeen drivers 2 and 3 start blowing driver 1 out of it.
Driver 1 figures pedestrians are not crossing, so goes to take the left turn, whereupon
pedestrians make a mad rush for it, narrowly avoiding getting hit.

Don't get me started on the fun bad drivers cause when the filter right hand turn arrow changes to solid green, coming from Donaghmede direction and turning right at Raheny Church towards town.

I had a look at the place you're talking about on Google Street View. It's fairly similar to the traffic lights I was at so in that case pedestrians don't have right of way.

spurious

When I did the test, my instructor specifically said the Yield sign immediately following that set of pedestrian lights was to allow the traffic going up the hill have right of way. He said to treat the flashing amber on the pedestrian crossing as what we used to call a zebra crossing. It only comes on when traffic is being allowed up the hill, so chances are a driver would have to stop at the Yield sign anyway.

Why not just have a green arrow if the flashing amber gives cars the right of way through the pedestrian crossing?

punisher5112

spurious wrote: »

When I did the test, my instructor specifically said the Yield sign immediately following that set of pedestrian lights was to allow the traffic going up the hill have right of way. He said to treat the flashing amber on the pedestrian crossing as what we used to call a zebra crossing. It only comes on when traffic is being allowed up the hill, so chances are a driver would have to stop at the Yield sign anyway.

Why not just have a green arrow if the flashing amber gives cars the right of way through the pedestrian crossing?

It is a warning to yield to traffic coming from left or right depending on direction of travel not all are for traffic from your right.

Only pedestrian crossings and not all have a flashing orange after green to allow pedestrians already crossing to reach the other side but anyone just arriving at the crossing must wait for the green man next time round.

ohnonotgmail

if you are turning left at a junction should you not always yield to pedestrians? The RSA seems to think so

http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-driving/junctions-roundabouts/junctions.html

To avoid doubt and in the interest of road safety a vehicle should always yield to pedestrians.

punisher5112

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

if you are turning left at a junction should you not always yield to pedestrians? The RSA seems to think so

http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-driving/junctions-roundabouts/junctions.html

It's also advised and correct to let a pedestrian crossing already do so.

VG31

punisher5112 wrote: »

It's also advised and correct to let a pedestrian crossing already do so.

I'm still somewhat unclear if what I did was correct in the situation I was in. The pedestrian was not yet on the road and the pedestrian light was red for them.

ohnonotgmail

VG31 wrote: »

I'm still somewhat unclear if what I did was correct in the situation I was in. The pedestrian was not yet on the road and the pedestrian light was red for them.

were they about to cross the road? if so you should have let them proceed.

VG31

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

were they about to cross the road? if so you should have let them proceed.

They were waiting to cross but the pedestrian light was red.

Alanstrainor

OP, you were right. Approach the amber flashing light and yield to vehicles on your right.

This is not a zebra crossing, and you do not have to stop for people at the side of the road waiting to cross. Of course, if some muppet steps onto the road in front of you, you must stop and yield to said muppet. But otherwise what you did sounds fine.

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

were they about to cross the road? if so you should have let them proceed.

Good luck driving through Dublin city if this was correct. You cannot stop, and beckon a pedestrian across the road.

nikkibikki

Alanstrainor wrote:

Good luck driving through Dublin city if this was correct. You cannot stop, and beckon a pedestrian across the road.

This behaviour is what confuses pedestrians IMO. There's a school crossing in my local town, on a major national road. It is manned at school times but it is not a pedestrian crossing outside of these times. Even tho it's about 30m from a set of traffic lights with pedestrian crossings, ppl still insist on crossing the road there and the traffic that stops and beckons them across the road is confusing the situation and IMO dangerous.

VG31

Alanstrainor wrote: »

OP, you were right. Approach the amber flashing light and yield to vehicles on your right.

This is not a zebra crossing, and you do not have to stop for people at the side of the road waiting to cross. Of course, if some muppet steps onto the road in front of you, you must stop and yield to said muppet. But otherwise what you did sounds fine.



Good luck driving through Dublin city if this was correct. You cannot stop, and beckon a pedestrian across the road.

This is exactly the kind of clear reply I was looking for. Thanks!

punisher5112

Open you are fine happy motoring and keep an eye out for pedestrians and cyclists.