What does the following road sign warn about?

Explanation

Entering the junction area where the queue ahead would force you to stop inside the junction.

The yellow square with a cross marks the junction area, and its message is one sentence: do not occupy this square with your vehicle unless you are sure you can get out of it. That is, before entering you must see the empty space on the far side of the junction, not merely the green light. If the queue ahead is such that you would come to a stop in the middle of the junction, you must stop before entering and wait.

The safety and traffic reason for this rule is the phenomenon of junction gridlock. A vehicle stuck in the middle of a crossroads keeps the path of the perpendicular flow blocked when their light turns green; they in turn get stuck, and within a few signal cycles the junction stops working altogether. Worse than the delay is the blocking of the route for ambulances and fire engines.

The key point, and the main trap of this question, is the qualifier "would force you to stop". The mere existence of a queue in your direction does not prohibit entry; if the queue is moving and you judge that you will clear the junction before the light turns red, passing is permitted. The criterion is the outcome of your manoeuvre, not the appearance of the traffic.

• This marking says nothing about stopping at the kerb; no stopping has its own separate sign (a blue circle with a red cross). • It is very close to the correct answer and is a trap for exactly that reason: it has dropped the decisive qualifier "such that you are forced to stop" and extended the prohibition to any queue at all.

Sources and content coverage · Report a content error