I’m getting confused replies.
In the UK red means stop, green means go, no exceptions.
UK Pedestrian crossings are only green when it is safe to cross because no traffic is even attempting to drive in your direction.
In most of America that I’ve visited, all 4-way intersections have the pedestrian phase at the same time and same direction as the vehicular traffic. This means when you cross, turning traffic can be attempting to drive down the road you’re crossing.
As a driver in America this means that turning left/right on green means there could be pedestrians directed to cross the road, wonderfully obscured by your car’s frame.
In most of America that I’ve driven except NYC and Washington DC IIRC, you are allowed to drive right if the traffic light is red, if there are no cars coming.There may be pedestrians crossing in front where easily visible but they’re not being told to cross around the corner where they’re not visible.
And we know these massive streets don't work. We've known about this for decades, but Americans (and sadly Canadians) would rather build more roads and roads with more lanes than have more public transit.
These days there are very few things I believe the UK does well, but road safety is one of them.
Pedestrians have right of way over all else. Eg. Drivers should stop if there is a pedestrian waiting to cross.
All other road users have right of way over those bigger than them.
Doesn’t always work like that in practice especially in bigger cities where there are more bellends. And London specifically where I suspect there are more drivers who learned abroad. But still.
@mattgrayyes I tend to find traffic in London is "better" then where I live, but I suspect it's more down to the traffic moving a little slower on average then driver actions.
@mattgrayyes Next door in Nevada (and Utah, I think?), their custom is to attach a road name sign to a bridge or viaduct if it is flying overhead, even if there's no junction from one road to another. Also apparently applies for trail systems, which often cross underneath highways.
I enjoy navigating via landmarks and natural features -- aviation people call it pilotage? -- so identifying roads overhead when on foot is fun for me.
@mattgrayyes I don't even think we do road safety well - it's just that most of the world is even worse. America is wierd because it's so over-designed and heavily regulated but with dangerous design built in. It feels deliberately dangerous where other places just seem to have not tried.
@mattgrayyes The squishability hierarchy in the UK Highway Code (the H clauses) introduced a couple of years ago were not well communicated to road users.
In the UK, only Northern Ireland has a jaywalking law, IIRC.
@mattgrayyes this is a huge issue and seems to be an even bigger issue in walkable areas / my current area. It would even be fine if the pedestrian signal was advanced by a few seconds so they had a head start before the cars were told to start, but it happens at the same time and so yes at many intersections they're literally hidden behind my A-pillar until I'm exposed as an asshole driver. I have to physically lean my head left and right to check that blind spot when downtown and I'm scared
@mattgrayyes France and most European places I've visited are kinda in-between. Pedestrians can cross at the same time as cars in the same direction, like in America, but there's no authorization to turn right when it's red. (there's a sign that allows bikes to turn right but it's pretty rare)
UK is definitely the safest, and makes sense especially for a busy intersection. I think the French one is still reasonable for low traffic areas.
@mattgrayyes In Germany we have regular fatalities from turning traffic. Sometimes there might be a separate phase for pedestrians, but that's not guaranteed and I don't know if it's even common. Can't remember how it is in the rest of Europe.
@mattgrayyes this is part of why I frequently prefer to jaywalk. There are too many times that I've had scares with turning traffic. Crossing away from intersections means I'm more visible, probably centered in the windshield instead of hidden behind the A pillar airbag.
@mattgrayyes wait, how exactly does this work? Do all crossings have separate straight and turn traffic lights for cars? Or are there three phases, cars one direction, cars other direction, pedestrians all directions?