Tomorrow I’ll have a driving exam, hence today I asked my friend to drive me around the area while looking for traffic traps and the likes. We stumbled upon this situation where we had a green light but at the same time the pedestrian light is blinking yellow (previously it wasn’t turned on at all) and there is someone want to cross over. In this case, are we supposed to stop and wait for the pedestrian to cross or we got have the priority?
Thanks in advance!
by haydar_ai
6 comments
On right turns, pedestrians have priority and you have to let them cross. The yellow light is to warn you of a (green) pedestrian traffic light.
That blinking “pedestrian” light actually isn’t a pedestrian light. It’s a light to warn you that there may be pedestrians crossing.
In any case you’re *always* supposed to let pedestrians cross. You can enter the intersection, but you have to wait for the pedestrians to leave it. With or without the blinking light. This is a very common situation when you’re turning left or right.
As others said, pedestrians always have priority (if they also have green).
In general: Green light means you are allowed to drive but other (also conflicting) traffic can also have green.
Green arrow means that if turning in that direction you clear of conflicts.
Essen? There’s this [https://www.derwesten.de/staedte/essen/essen-nrw-aussergewoehnliche-ampelschaltung-doch-sie-kann-gefaehrlich-fuer-fussgaenger-sein-id213459081.html](https://www.derwesten.de/staedte/essen/essen-nrw-aussergewoehnliche-ampelschaltung-doch-sie-kann-gefaehrlich-fuer-fussgaenger-sein-id213459081.html)
So this light is supposed to warn you that people might still be crossing the road you may to turn into (right). Which you would generally have to yield to anyway, with or without the blinking light.
Generally, if some pedestrian is in your way, lawfully or not, you always have to stop.
Don’t forget: if you turn right or left, you have to wait always for pedestrians. With traffic lights and also without!
Be careful.
Yes, you have to give priority to pedestrians here (also without a warning light). The pedestrians will be crossing the street you are turning onto, not the one you are coming from. So you should be able to see them. You can slowly drive onto the crossing, but need to stop again before the markings for the pedestrian crossing (so before the what seems to be a diagonal line in your photo).
Since your green light is round, you cannot deduce from it that you can just go when you turn. This is only the case when the green light has the form of an arrow.
Then there’s also the metal boards with a green arrow next to red lights, in which case you can turn on red after stopping, but only if there’s nobody else to give way to first. There’s a memory rhyme to distinguish the two types of green arrows: “Ist der Pfeil aus Glas, gib Gas. Ist der Pfeil aus Blech, hast du Pech”. Also helps to remember the right behaviour in this situation here – there’s no arrow to begin with, so you’re out of luck as well.