What do these traffic lights mean??

SouthLondonUser

This is outside Battersea Park tube (not train) station in London.

Note: this is just curiosity, I didn't get any fine there.

What do these lights even mean??

The one on the right has a no left turn sign, while the one on the left tells you you can turn left!

Also, imagine if the one on the left is red, while the one on the right is green!

Is this even legal? Am I missing something?

user1977

You're missing that there are two lanes on the approach and the lefthand one is for left turn only, with the right hand one for straight ahead or right. So the lights are for the respective lanes.

If left is red and the right is green, you're allowed to go in any direction except left. But you should be sitting in the left lane anyway, awaiting the left light turning green.

View from slightly further back: https://maps.app.goo.gl/5b1z5Ypt73RXmCKk6

MikeJXE

Cristal clear now we can see a wider view 

facade

They are a bit confusing if they are all that you can see, which is why I always stop before the stopline where I can still see the lights on my side of the junction and know for sure which one to watch. Sometimes they don't even bother with the lights on the other side of the junction.

(Then you get people posting "Why do some drivers stop nearly a car's length short of the stopline?" .......)

Goudy

It's your typical half arsed road layout you find all around London.

Instead if using a green arrow for straight ahead, they've used a normal green signal and thrown up a no left turn sign under it yet there's a separate green arrow for the left turn.

Mix and match and confuse seems their plan but I'm in a kind mood so maybe they used whatever traffic signs and furniture they had knocking about the place!


Not far away is this beauty.
180 A3203 - Google Maps

The traffic lights and the blue arrows on the right are actually for the cycle lane (not that most bother) but they all face the oncoming traffic.

In the dark it's even worse as when you approach the junction and don't know it, you can't really work out which set of lights match with which.
To make matters worse the nearest two lamps closest to the stop line are always different colours, one red and one green though the one on the right has a no left turn sign on it??

TFL rushed to introduce all these cycle lanes and if you drive around London enough you start to spot all the dodgy laid out junctions.
They go to show they weren't designed or laid out to help anyone, they were just "fitted in" to make do.

SouthLondonUser

@user1977 Is that even legal?

Why not put a forward arrow instead of just a green light? Why not put the lights to turn left on, you know, the left side of the road? Surely the cost wouldn't have been greater.

I think the luck is that the road turning left is a very minor one but, had it been a busier one, I could see the potential for more confusion and even collisions..

@goudy I wasn't aware of that one, that surely is something!!!

daveyjp

The no left turn sign gives powers to penalise drivers who ignore it, a green straight ahead arrow doesn't.

Goudy

Not far away is this beauty.

180 A3203 - Google Maps

As you can see, the cycle lane lights are a normal set of traffic lights at an angle facing all traffic but the next set of traffic lights on that same cycle route have cycle specific lights. (shaped as a bicycle).
4 Hercules Rd - Google Maps

No matter where to go around London, all these junctions and roads that were modified because of cycle lanes are just badly executed with a mix match of signs and traffic furniture, cobbled together on the cheap.

It's no wonder all traffic gets frustrated and I doubt you'll find anything remotely similar in places like Holland and Belgium, they seemed to have put some thought into their schemes.

 

user1977

SouthLondonUser said:

Why not put a forward arrow instead of just a green light?

Because you can also turn right. Perhaps they could do both green forward and right turn arrows. I'm not sure which option is more "legitimate" though.

sevenhills

Goudy said:

It's your typical half arsed road layout you find all around London.

Instead if using a green arrow for straight ahead, they've used a normal green signal and thrown up a no left turn sign under it yet there's a separate green arrow for the left turn.

Mix and match and confuse seems their plan but I'm in a kind mood so maybe they used whatever traffic signs and furniture they had knocking about the place!


Not far away is this beauty.
180 A3203 - Google Maps

The traffic lights and the blue arrows on the right are actually for the cycle lane (not that most bother) but they all face the oncoming traffic.

In the dark it's even worse as when you approach the junction and don't know it, you can't really work out which set of lights match with which.
To make matters worse the nearest two lamps closest to the stop line are always different colours, one red and one green though the one on the right has a no left turn sign on it??

TFL rushed to introduce all these cycle lanes and if you drive around London enough you start to spot all the dodgy laid out junctions.
They go to show they weren't designed or laid out to help anyone, they were just "fitted in" to make do.

Here in Yorkshire, I have just reported a brand new set of traffic lights, where the post was put in the path, leaving a gap of 31 inches between the post and a wall!

SouthLondonUser

@user1977 , using the street view you have linked, I still don't quite understand.

1 is the traffic light for those on the left lane, waiting to turn left

2 is the traffic light for those on the right lane, waiting to go straight or turn right.

So far so good.

But then what are 3 and 4 for? That's what I don't get. Why repeat the signs after so few metres?

Are 2 and 4 the same lights? Or does 4 become green only when you can turn right, so 2 can be green while 4 is red?

Surely you'll agree it's at least a tad confusing...