How To Handle Traffic Lights | Learn to drive: Highway Code

[Music] traffic lights may appear easy to understand but they are unpredictable and are one of the top 10 reasons for failing a driving test handling and traffic light safely is more difficult than it looks and an inexperienced driver can easily find themselves in your tricky situation and put themselves at risk of an accident in this video we will show how to deal with traffic lights safely so you can prevent any unnecessary danger or test fails [Music] before we start make sure you subscribe to our channel and click the bell so you are alerted when we upload a new video also we'd love to read your comments so please scroll down and let us know what you think let's start with the basics what the colors mean when we see a red light we must stop and wait at the stop line red and amber lights mean that we should continue to stop and wait we can't go until the green light shows once we see the green light we can go if the way ahead is clear when the amber light shows we should stop unless we have already crossed the stop line or are so close to it that pulling up might cause an accident the lights always change in this set cycle so we will always know what the next light will be this is important as it allows us to anticipate what could happen and be ready to stop or go if we see a flashing amber light at a pedestrian crossing we must give way to any pedestrians on the crossing if the amber light is flashing and there are no pedestrians we may proceed with caution as always we should look well ahead up the road so that we spot the traffic lights as early as possible this will then allow us the maximum amount of time to approach the traffic lights safely if there is a choice of lanes at the junction then we should get into the correct lane in good time we try to anticipate what might happen and prepare to stop if needed putting ourselves in a position where we are forced to brake hard is dangerous so if the lights have been green for some time then we may even reduce our speed in case the lights change never be tempted to speed up to try and beat the lights as it could develop into a dangerous situation we should use the mirror signal maneuver or MSM routine when approaching traffic lights the same as we would for any other Junction the benefit of knowing what is behind us is that if there is another vehicle very close we can choose to break earlier and more likely to reduce the chance of being hit from behind breaking smoothly will give following traffic more time to react and reduce the chance of skidding when the road is slippery the exact moment that a traffic light changes its lights is unpredictable so we will sometimes notice the light change to Amber just before we pass the lights in this situation if it is too late to brake smoothly to a stop then we are committed to passing the traffic light so we should keep going and cross the junction many larger junctions have a secondary traffic light on the other side but if we see this turn red once we are in the junction we must continue to cross it essentially once we cross the stop line and enter the junction the traffic light should be ignored a green arrow in a traffic light means we can filter in the direction the arrow is pointing even if the main light is not showing green filter lights can point left right or straight ahead we shouldn't enter the filter lane unless we want to go in the direction shown by the arrow at some traffic lights there are advance stop lines to allow cyclists to position themselves ahead of other traffic when the lights are amber or red we should stop at the first white line and avoid encroaching on the marked area which is reserved for cyclists only however if we have crossed the first white line at the time that the signal changes to red we must stop at the second white line even if you are in the marked area we should allow cyclists time and space to move off when the lights change to green once we have stopped for a traffic light we have several options whilst waiting if we know we will be stopped for some time or if we are several cars back from the traffic light then we may as well select neutral apply the handbrake and relax or park if you are in an automatic vehicle alternatively if we know that there will only be a short pause before we go or if we are the first car in the queue then we might want to stay in gear so that we are ready to go this will save us having to rush when selecting a gear which might lead to a mistake take extra care on turning right in case we need to give way to oncoming traffic even though we have a green traffic light to allow us to enter the junction oncoming traffic might also have a green light just as at a normal right turn Junction without traffic lights we must give way when necessary some junctions even have extra signs to remind us to do this if there are any pedestrians crossing the new road before we enter it they have priority over us and should be allowed to finish crossing the road if we find a set of temporary traffic lights there won't be a permanent stop line painted on the road instead we must stop behind the red sign placed before the traffic light this is sometimes placed well before the actual traffic light but we must wait behind it until the green light shows [Music] so remember to learn the sequence of traffic lights look ahead and use the MSM routine once committed keep going and take extra care when turning right [Music] [Music] if you found this video interesting then please visit our channel as there are over 100 more tutorial videos to help you improve your driving if you would like to help us make new videos then please consider becoming a member or patron of our channel thanks for watching

Channel: Advance Driving School

Views: 67,532

Rating: 4.9042902 out of 5

Keywords: New, UK, World, Driving, Test, Learning, to, drive, manual, stick, auto, automatic, DVSA, safe, traffic lights, signals, highway code

Id: 2yfSfxACZWU

Length: 8min 41sec (521 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 31 2019