It’s the same in Aiken, as I’m sure you know. I was told when I first came here that if the traffic island was round you could continue your turn – if it was square you had to wait for the light to change.

I currently ignore all these instructions and continue my turn, after coming to a full stop, if there is no oncoming traffic. So far I haven’t been busted, but I suppose that’s just a matter of time and how many Krispy Kremes the traffic cop has consumed.

Will make an interesting trial, I expect.

Doc

In Europe stree lights are usually like this. You’re instructed when getting a driver’s license that the street light that applies to you is the closest one. Using the one across the street (or seeing when the other one turns red) is a recipe for disaster.

Mexico and the US (and I expect most of America) usually follow the route that an intersection of two streets has only two “flows” of traffic to control.

In Europe in reality there is a possible flow for every corner in an intersection.

In your typical two-street crossing this means in America (continent, not country) you’d have two sets of street lights. In Europe it means the same crossing would have four street lights, each with its own timing.

Why is this? This really is supposed to make things easier, especially for pedestrians. In America it’s common to cut-off the pedestrian light crossing time to synchronize it with the main flows of traffic. In Europe the main flow can be split and traffic sent down one way stopped while the other way could still have a green light.

In reality it makes no difference. You can drive in both. It’s true, though, that in both you’re supposed to use the streetlight you have closest to you (which is usually the one almost above you, not the one in the opposite corner). We do this wrong in all places and that’s the reason it is jarring to see this.

Paying attention to the furthest streetlight is as bad driving as starting to roll when what we think is the opposite light turns yellow.