New York allows one kind of left turn at a steady red light. Under the manual, when is it permitted?
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A.
When the intersection is clear and no vehicle is approaching.
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B.
When you turn from a one-way road onto another one-way road. Correct
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C.
Never. New York permits only right turns on red.
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D.
After a full stop and yielding to oncoming traffic, at any intersection.
The answer is "When you turn from a one-way road onto another one-way road."
The manual permits a left on red only from a one-way road into another one-way road, and only after a full stop and yielding to oncoming traffic and pedestrians. Two limits ride along with it: a NO TURN ON RED sign, signal, or pavement marking cancels it, and in New York City no turn on red is allowed at all unless a sign posted there permits it. Drivers who apply the right-on-red conditions (stop and yield) to a left turn land on D, treating those conditions as sufficient when the road configuration is what actually unlocks the rule.
The traps in the wrong answers
A. When the intersection is clear and no vehicle is approaching.
A clear intersection is a condition of the turn, not the permission for it. Without the one-way-to-one-way layout there is no left on red to make in the first place. This answer takes the yielding requirement as the whole rule, treating the road-layout prerequisite as background detail.
C. Never. New York permits only right turns on red.
New York does allow the one-way-to-one-way left on red, so a blanket 'never' is too broad. This answer carries over a blanket no-left-on-red rule from states that bar every such turn, unaware of the New York exception.
D. After a full stop and yielding to oncoming traffic, at any intersection.
Stop-and-yield is what the right-on-red rule requires. A left on red requires those conditions and also that both roads be one-way; the manual does not extend the right-turn version to left turns. This answer carries the right-on-red conditions over to a left turn as a driving habit, without checking road direction.
This question tests your knowledge of Turning in New York. Source: New York State Driver's Manual, "Traffic Signals: Traffic Lights," p.31..
Related New York questions
- How far ahead of a turn or lane change must you signal? →
- Where does the manual tell you to position your vehicle before making a right turn? →
- Why does the manual tell drivers to take special caution for motorcycles when turning? →
- You are turning left from a one-way road onto another one-way road that has two lanes. Which lane must you turn into? →
- You will turn left from a one-way road onto a two-way road. From which lane should you approach the turn? →
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