Amber light, a blocked yellow box and a hotel on the other side
21:15 on a two-lane road approaching a signalised junction. Your passenger wants a hotel that is now 200 m behind you on the other side of the road; the nearest legal U-turn opening is 400 m ahead. A 'No U-Turn' sign stands on the central divider, and the centre line is continuous double white. You are 8 m from the stop line at about 50 km/h when the light turns amber. Beyond the junction, the yellow box junction area is already covered by a queue of cars waiting to exit, and the road past it is full.
1. The light is amber and you are 8 m from the stop line. Do you stop or proceed?
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Amber means stop, unless you are too close to stop safely.
- At about 50 km/h you cover roughly 14 m per second, and 8 m is well inside normal stopping distance once reaction time is added - braking hard here risks a rear-end collision from whoever is behind you.
- So: proceed through the stop line without accelerating, having checked the mirror first. Amber is not a signal to speed up, and it is not a discretionary 'go' either.
- Do not do the thing that causes most amber-light crashes: accelerate, then change your mind and brake mid-junction.
Say the rule the way the examiner wants it: stop at amber if it is safe to do so; if stopping would itself be dangerous, clear the junction steadily and legally.
2. You are committed past the stop line, but the exit beyond the junction is blocked by a queue covering the yellow box. What now?
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Do not enter the box.
- A yellow box junction must not be entered unless your exit is clear (the standard exception is a right turn waiting for oncoming traffic to clear). A green or amber light does not override this - the light tells you the junction is yours, not that the space beyond it is.
- Entering now leaves you stopped in the box, blocking the cross traffic when their light turns green, and that is exactly the offence the box exists to prevent.
- Practical action: stop before the box (that position is legal even though you are past the stop line), keep the wheels straight, and wait for the queue ahead to move and create a clear exit before you commit.
- Do not creep forward and do not sound the horn at the queue - the blockage is not theirs to fix.
Judgement point: two rules are in play and they do not conflict - you may lawfully cross the stop line on amber, and you still may not occupy the box without a clear exit.
3. The passenger now insists you U-turn immediately, or reverse 50 m to the hotel. How do you handle the manoeuvre and the passenger?
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The manoeuvre
- A 'No U-Turn' sign plus continuous double white lines is a double prohibition: you may not U-turn there, and you may not cross the double white lines to do it. Reversing 50 m along a live two-lane road at night is worse - it is illegal and blind.
- The lawful option is the U-turn opening 400 m ahead. Take it, come back, and drop him at the hotel entrance on the correct side.
Handling the passenger
- Explain at the moment it happens, not at the destination: 'I can't U-turn here - there's a no-U-turn sign and double white lines. The next legal U-turn is about 400 m ahead, so it's a short loop.'
- Give him the choice if there is one: he can alight at a safe, legal kerbside point on this side and walk, or stay for the loop.
- The meter keeps running for the loop; that is normal, but tell him before you take it so it does not look like a trick.
Never: U-turn across the double white lines because the road looks empty, and never reverse to save the loop.