In which direction is a passenger car allowed to drive?

Explanation

Straight ahead, to the left and a U-turn.

The sign on the right of the picture has two parts. The upper part is a blue rectangle with a white arrow pointing left: the street ahead is one-way and its permitted direction is to your left. The lower part shows a bus with an arrow pointing right: on the right, only route vehicles (buses and the like) travel in a reserved lane against the general direction. The result for a passenger car is clear: a right turn is prohibited, because it would mean entering a one-way road against its direction. But going straight, turning left (which is with the one-way flow) and making a U-turn are none of them forbidden.

The safety reason for prohibiting the right turn is exactly what these signs are there to prevent: a head-on collision on a street whose drivers do not expect an oncoming vehicle at all and, worse, a collision with a bus coming the other way in the reserved lane whose existence the newcomer does not know about.

The common trap is that bus symbol: the candidate thinks that because there is movement on the right the road must be two-way and "any direction" is permitted. But the permission for that lane is granted only to route vehicles, not to you.

• It has identified the left turn and the U-turn correctly but needlessly excludes going straight; no sign in the picture prohibits crossing the junction straight ahead. • "Any direction" includes the right turn, whereas the road to the right is one-way against your direction and a car may not enter it.

Sources and content coverage · Report a content error