Making a left turn is allowed

Explanation

At the very place the picture shows.

The overhead panel with a cross and an arrow is a reversible-lane light, and the double broken line on the carriageway marks the boundary of the reversible lane. That marking has a strict rule: you may cross it only when it is on your right. In the position shown, this line is on your left; that is, along the reversible-traffic section you have no permission to slide left and therefore none to turn left.

So the left turn must be made where the marking is interrupted and the junction permits the manoeuvre — the very place ahead of you in the picture, whose light is green. The safety reason is exactly that: in a reversible lane the direction of travel changes with the hour and the traffic load, and the very lane you are tempted to enter may at this moment be allocated to the opposing flow. Crossing the double broken line in the wrong place means driving into the mouth of the oncoming traffic.

Worth memorising: before any manoeuvre on such a road, read the reversible-lane light first. Until the green downward arrow is lit for that lane, the lane does not exist for you; and even with a green arrow, a left turn is made only at the permitted place, not at any point along the section.

• "From the reversible-traffic lane" is precisely where you must not cross the double broken line; that marking is on your left and crossing it is not permitted.

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