Apart from what some commenters already pointed out (about the orientation of the roads there), I’m not sure how it’s going in the US, but in Europe, we have a hierarchy, where the sign on a pole takes precedence over the sign painted on the road.
The hierarchy is:
- Police officer’s hand signs
- Traffic lights
- Signs on a pole
- Signs painted on the road
According to this, you cannot turn left, even though it looks like a left turning lane.
Is there such a thing in the US?
in Europe, we have a hierarchy
This is definitely not true for all of Europe. In Germany, for instance, signs on roads have equal precedence to signs on poles.
What do you do if they contradict?
That’s the neat part: They don’t. At least I have never seen confusing signage/markings.
You sure have a lot of faith in people.
In Germany we actually test people before we let them drive cars. If you’re from the US, this concept might be unfamiliar :D
I’m pretty sure it’s saying you can’t turn left onto the road to the left of the intersection. Looks like some pretty bad road design.
I understand the intent from your graphic, but given the signage, I would not have known what they expected of me.
