Dark Signals, a Raised Hand and a Waiting Pedestrian
At 6:40 p.m. you are driving south along a main road in St George's in heavy rain. Ahead is a four-way junction where a side street joins from your left. The traffic lights are completely dark: a power cut took out the whole block an hour ago. A police officer in a reflective jacket is standing in the middle of the junction, facing your direction with his right arm raised, palm towards you. Two cars are already stopped inside the junction, waiting. Just before the junction the centre line changes from broken to solid white, and on the left corner a red circle with a white horizontal bar faces the side street. A pedestrian holding an umbrella is waiting at the zebra crossing a few metres in front of you. The surface is slick and your wipers are on their fastest setting. Behind you, a minibus is sitting close to your rear bumper.
1. Three things are telling you what to do at this junction: the officer, the dead lights and the road markings. Rank them and explain how each affects your next few seconds.
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The officer comes first, then the signals, then the signs and markings. A police officer directing traffic is a live instruction from someone who can see the whole junction; his raised palm means stop, and it overrides everything else, including the fact that the lights are dead. The dead lights do not mean there are no rules; they mean the junction has become uncontrolled, so you fall back on the ordinary rule: approach slowly, be ready to stop, and give way to traffic already in, or approaching the junction from, your right. In left-hand traffic that is the stream crossing your path. The solid white centre line tells you not to cross or straddle it, so no overtaking or swinging out around the stopped cars. The red circle with the white bar is a No Entry sign governing traffic coming out of the side street, not you. Obey the officer, then apply the uncontrolled-junction rule defensively.
2. The officer lowers his arm and waves you forward. What do you check before you move, and why is his signal not the end of your responsibility?
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A wave forward is permission, not a guarantee. You still have to check that the way is actually clear, because the officer is managing several streams of traffic at once and someone, often a driver impatient after an hour of dead lights, may be creeping through against his direction. So: ease off the brake, check the mirrors because the minibus behind is close and may anticipate your move, look left and right again, then move off slowly. Choose a speed that lets you stop within the distance you can see to be clear, and do not accelerate through the junction. Keep watching the officer until you are through, in case he changes his signal, and keep watching the pedestrian at the crossing. In rain, allow extra room all round, because your stopping distance is longer and the minibus behind needs more room too. If anything is unclear, wait. Hesitating is safer than guessing.
3. A pedestrian with an umbrella is waiting at the zebra crossing in front of you. Do you stop, and would you wave them across?
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A zebra crossing gives pedestrians priority once they have stepped onto it, so you should already be slowing, covering the brake and preparing to stop. Whether they step out is their decision, but the safe assumption in rain and failing light is that they will: the umbrella blocks their view of you and the rain drowns your engine noise. Do not wave them across. A wave is a promise you cannot keep. The minibus behind is close and may not have seen the crossing, or may pull out to pass, and the officer's control of the junction may conflict with your invitation. Instead, stop short of the crossing, leave a clear gap and let the pedestrian decide. Keep your foot on the brake so your brake lights are showing, and do not edge forward while they are on the stripes.