Left Turn on Red With a Posted Prohibition
At 5:40 p.m. you are southbound on a one-way, three-lane downtown street in Tampa, stopped in the left-turn lane and waiting to turn left onto a one-way street that runs eastbound. Your signal is a steady red ball. Mounted on the mast arm directly beside your lane is a white rectangular sign with black lettering and a red circle-and-slash symbol showing a left-curving arrow: NO TURN ON RED. The cross street is one-way with three lanes, and a ONE WAY sign with a left-pointing arrow confirms its direction. Traffic on the cross street is heavy and continuous. Your passenger says, 'In Florida you can turn left on red from a one-way onto a one-way, so just go.' You have been stopped for several seconds, and the nearest cross-street vehicle is about two car lengths away. In the adjacent right-turn lane, a separate sign reads RIGHT TURN ON RED AFTER STOP.
1. You are stopped at the red ball with the NO TURN ON RED sign beside your lane. May you legally turn left on red? Explain the default Florida rule, how the sign changes it, and what you should do.
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No. Start with the default rule: after a full stop, Florida allows a right turn on red, and also allows a left turn on red when both streets are one-way, unless a sign or signal prohibits the turn. That default is what your passenger is recalling. The sign beside your lane is a regulatory sign: white rectangle, black legend, red circle-and-slash. It specifically withdraws the turn-on-red permission for the movement it faces. Because it is mounted next to the left-turn lane and shows a left arrow, it governs your lane, not the adjacent right-turn lane. A red ball alone would have permitted the left on red after stopping and yielding; the sign removes that permission. Action: remain stopped until the signal turns green or a green arrow appears, then turn when clear. Do not treat the one-way-to-one-way rule as overriding a posted prohibition.
2. Assume the red ball is replaced by a flashing yellow left arrow while the same NO TURN ON RED sign remains posted. What does the arrow allow, and does the sign prohibit the turn?
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A flashing yellow left arrow is not a red indication. It means left turns are permitted but unprotected: you must yield to oncoming traffic and to pedestrians in the crosswalk. The sign's legend is NO TURN ON RED; by its terms it applies to a red signal, so it does not by itself prohibit a turn made on a flashing yellow arrow. Read the sign carefully, though: if the legend instead read NO LEFT TURN, or used a symbol covering all turns, the analysis changes. Proceed only when there is a safe gap, and remember the arrow does not give you the right-of-way. If a large vehicle blocks your view of oncoming traffic, wait for the green arrow rather than guessing. The conservative choice is always available.
3. The right-turn lane has its own sign reading RIGHT TURN ON RED AFTER STOP. What does that tell you about how these signs operate, and why does the left sign's location matter?
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It confirms that turning on red is a default permission that signs can restrict, clarify, or condition. The right-lane sign restates the legal requirement for that lane: stop first, then yield. Regulatory signs are lane- and movement-specific. A sign facing the right-turn lane does not govern the left-turn lane, and vice versa. The left-turn sign's placement on the mast arm beside your lane is therefore significant: it is the sign that applies to your movement. A sign across the intersection or in another lane may not control you. The practical method is to identify which lane the sign faces, read its exact legend, and apply it only to your movement. Where placement is ambiguous, choose the action that cannot cause a violation: wait for the green.