Driving is allowed

Explanation

Only turning right.

Two commands govern this scene at once and you must read them together. First the controller's signal: his arms are lowered and you enter the junction from his side, so as far as he is concerned both straight-ahead movement and a right turn are open. Second the markings: the car is in the right-hand lane, and the arrow drawn in that same lane is a right-turn arrow, while the adjacent lane has a "straight and left" arrow.

These two commands do not conflict. The controller has permitted two directions and the marking of your lane puts only one of those two at your disposal. When two requirements do not clash, both must be obeyed; the result is that from this lane you may only turn right. If you wanted to go straight, you should have changed lanes before reaching the junction.

The safety reason for lane arrows can be seen right here: their purpose is that the drivers behind should know where the car in front is going. Someone who sits in the right-turn lane and suddenly goes straight cuts across a lane's flow that expected free passage. The exam trap is to think that a controller's presence completely invalidates the markings; the precedence of a controller's gesture is activated only in cases of conflict, not in all circumstances.

• "Straight and right" is exactly what the controller's signal permits, but the arrow of the lane you are standing in has taken straight-ahead movement away from you. • "Only straight" agrees neither with your lane's arrow nor with the single direction that remains after combining the two commands; your lane is the right-turn lane.

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