Turn-Only Arrow, Then Two Tracks: Lane Choice and a Crossing That Stays Red
You are eastbound at 7:20 a.m. on a two-lane state highway posted 45 mph, heading for a small-town intersection and a rail crossing just past it. The pavement is dry; frost is on the grass. Approaching, you pass a black-on-yellow pennant sign on the left, then reach the intersection, where the left of two lanes is marked with a white left-turn arrow and the word ONLY, and the right lane carries a combined straight-and-right arrow. You want to go straight through. Two hundred feet beyond the intersection is a crossbuck with a '2 TRACKS' plaque and flashing red lights, but no gate. A box truck towing a long flatbed trailer is ahead of you in the right lane, and the trailer is long enough that it may still be on the tracks when the truck stops for the signal.
1. Which lane do you take to go straight, and why does the pavement marking control the decision rather than habit or convenience?
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The right lane, because it is the only lane marked with a straight arrow. The left lane is a left-turn-only lane: once you are in it, the marking obligates you to turn left, and continuing straight from it is an unlawful maneuver that also puts you on a converging path with traffic in the right lane that has no reason to expect you.
Riders get hurt here for a predictable reason: the left lane looks emptier, so the rider drifts into it while planning to go straight, then either turns at the last second or cuts across the right lane at the intersection. Decide early. Check the mirror, signal, and move into the right lane well before the arrow begins rather than straddling the line to keep both options open - straddling denies you a clear space in either lane and hides you between two columns of traffic.
The pennant sign matters here too: it confirms that the stretch you are on is a no-passing zone, so the correct move is to settle in behind the truck at a proper following distance, not to overtake it before the intersection.
2. The red lights begin flashing as the truck ahead slows. What do you anticipate, and where do you stop?
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Anticipate that the truck will stop before the stop line, and that its long trailer may still occupy the crossing when it does. That is the trap: the space immediately behind the truck looks like a normal stopping spot, but it is or will shortly be fouled by the trailer, and following into it puts you on the tracks.
So stop well short - far enough back that you can see the truck's rear wheels and the crossing surface, and far enough that you have room to move if the trailer rolls back or the truck stalls. Never enter a crossing unless you can clear it completely, and never stop on the rails. Do not pass the stopped truck on the shoulder or squeeze around it; the shoulder is where the debris and the flare of the crossing hardware live, and the driver has no reason to check for you.
Flashing red lights mean stop, full stop, and remain stopped. Treat them with the same force as a gate, and scan both directions as you approach rather than trusting the signal alone.
3. The train clears and the truck moves on, but the red lights keep flashing. What do you do, and why is that the correct reading of the situation?
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Stay stopped, and keep your feet down and your eyes on the tracks. The '2 TRACKS' plaque is the whole answer: after one train passes, a second train on the far track can arrive immediately and will be hidden behind the first one for most of its approach. The lights continuing to flash is consistent with a second train approaching, and it is also what a signal that has not yet reset looks like. Either way, you wait.
Do not take a green light, a waving pedestrian, or another driver's movement as permission - other drivers are precisely the ones who misjudge the second train. Do not go around anything, and do not creep forward onto the near rail to "get a better look."
The release condition is the signal itself: red lights stop flashing and, where gates exist, the gate is fully raised. Once that happens, look both ways anyway, cross at a steady speed without stopping or shifting on the rails, and clear the crossing before you do anything else.