In which directions is traffic allowed from the mentioned zone?

Explanation

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

Above each lane a "direction of travel in the lane" sign is mounted. Your vehicle is in the leftmost lane — immediately to its left is the double solid marking separating the two directions — and the sign above this lane has two arrows: straight ahead and a left turn. The sign for the next lane permits only straight ahead and the sign for the right-hand lane only a right turn.

The key rule on which this question is built is: a lane-direction sign that permits a left turn from the leftmost lane permits a U-turn from that same lane as well, even if no U-turn arrow is drawn on the sign. So you have three permitted movements: straight ahead, left and a U-turn.

The safety reason: a left turn and a U-turn are both carried out from the leftmost lane and both cut across the opposing flow at the same point; so separating them would add nothing to safety. What is genuinely dangerous is a U-turn from the middle lanes — the driver would have to cross the width of the carriageway diagonally and cut across the path of vehicles going straight. That same rule closes off that movement. In the picture a motorcyclist is travelling in the lane to your right; he is the one going straight, and if you turned round from his lane you would appear right in front of him.

Worth memorising: left ⇒ U-turn, but only from the leftmost lane.

• "Left only" ignores the straight arrow drawn on that same sign. • "Straight and left" is correct but incomplete; the very fact that a left turn is permitted from the leftmost lane makes a U-turn permitted too, and that is precisely the point the question is after.

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