The No Right Turn Sign at Osu: Time Plate Versus a Police Officer's Signal
It is 07:40 on a Tuesday and you are driving south along a two-lane street in Osu, Accra, intending to turn right into the cross street that leads to your office car park. On the near-side kerb stands a circular 'No Right Turn' sign, and bolted below it is a rectangular white supplementary plate reading '6.00 am - 9.00 am, Mon - Fri'. Fifty metres past the junction the road ahead is closed by red-and-white barriers and a 'Road Works' sign, so the right turn is the only practical route to your destination. In the middle of the junction a police officer in uniform and a reflective tabard is waving your lane through the right turn so that the queue behind does not build across the previous junction. A tro-tro with a faulty indicator sits close behind you; a woman with a small child is waiting at the corner to cross. Opposing traffic is light. Your licence, insurance and roadworthy certificate are all current.
1. At 07:40 on a Tuesday, is the 'No Right Turn' restriction actually in force, and what exactly does the supplementary plate change?
Read the worked answer
The restriction is in force. The circular sign creates the prohibition; the rectangular plate does not soften it, it narrows it in time. Read together, the turn is prohibited only between 06:00 and 09:00, Monday to Friday. At 07:40 on a Tuesday you are inside that window, so the default position is that you must not turn right.
The plate also tells you the sign is not a permanent, all-hours prohibition: at 10:00 on the same day, or at 07:40 on a Saturday, the sign would not apply and the turn would be lawful. Two practical points follow. First, always read the plate as part of the sign - a sign obeyed outside its stated hours is just as much a misreading as ignoring it inside them. Second, the sign is only one of the instructions in the junction; a live instruction from an officer is a separate layer.
2. The officer is waving you through. Which instruction governs, and what would you do if the officer's signal were ambiguous?
Read the worked answer
The officer's direction governs. A police officer in uniform directing traffic may override signs, signals and markings, because the officer can see things the sign cannot: the road closure ahead, the queue spilling back across the previous junction, and how much space remains. Following the officer here is not a breach of the sign; obeying the sign against a clear signal would leave you stationary in the mouth of the junction and block traffic.
The permission is conditional on the signal being clear and aimed at you. If the arm movement could be meant for oncoming traffic, or the officer is beckoning generally, hold at the line, make eye contact and wait. Do not creep forward and hope. And an officer's wave never authorises you to drive into a pedestrian - the woman and child at the corner still have to be given the road.
3. Describe how you would physically make the turn, given the tro-tro behind and the pedestrian at the corner.
Read the worked answer
Mirror, signal, manoeuvre, in that order, with extra time because the tro-tro's indicator is faulty and you cannot assume it has seen your intentions.
- Check the left mirror and left blind spot before you slow. The tro-tro may pull out to pass on your left the moment your speed drops, and a right-turning car that drifts left first is a classic collision in Accra.
- Brake early and progressively so the vehicle behind has warning, rather than a late, sharp stop.
- Position close to the centre line for a right turn - not out in the opposing lane, but not hugging the kerb either.
- Give way to the woman and child, and to any oncoming traffic.
- Turn into the corresponding lane of the new road without cutting the corner or swinging wide into the far lane, and only accelerate once the car is straight.