When traveling in the indicated lane, traffic is allowed

Explanation

A left turn and a U-turn.

The three blue overhead signs are "direction of travel in the lane" signs, and each relates only to the lane beneath it: above the left lane only a left arrow, above the middle lane straight and left arrows, and above the right lane straight and right. Your vehicle is in the leftmost lane, so the sign governing you is that lone left arrow.

The rule on which the whole question is built is: when a left turn is permitted from the leftmost lane, a U-turn from that same lane is permitted too and no separate sign is needed for it. The reverse is not true; if a left arrow appears above a lane other than the leftmost, it grants only a left turn and a U-turn from that lane remains prohibited.

The safety logic of this exception is simple: a left turn and a U-turn both begin from the same point, both cut across the oncoming traffic and both must start from the left side of the carriageway. If the law prohibited a U-turn from the leftmost lane, the driver would be forced to change lanes inside the junction — the very manoeuvre that produces the most side impacts.

Exam trap: the eye sees only one left arrow on the sign and the hand reaches for "left only". Read the sign together with the position of the lane, not by the shape of the arrow alone.

• "Left only" is what you read from the shape of the arrow, but it ignores the permission to make a U-turn; that permission comes from the lane being the leftmost, not from the image on the sign. • Going straight relates to the signs above the middle and right lanes; the sign above your lane has no straight arrow at all, and continuing straight from this lane is an offence.

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