After almost half a year in Cyprus I encountered a traffic light with a dedicated *left* arrow signal for the first time and I’m confused.

I know that, unlike some other countries, it’s legal to turn *right* even when there’s a right arrow and it’s off, you just need to give way to oncoming vehicles.

But what about *left* arrows? The way I understand, on this specific intersection [(between McDonalds and the new mall in Paphos)](https://goo.gl/maps/CGYY7cCJyxpKsBwG9) it’s there for pedestrians, so that they can cross the road on your left when the green arrow is off, so you can only turn right, yes? (It’s a T-intersection, so you can only turn left or right there.) This makes sense, but what if there are no pedestrians? Can you just continue then, assuming that the main light is green? Or must you wait for the arrow signal, standing behind the stop line?

So, in other words, is it “turn carefully, giving way to pedestrians” or “don’t fucking move until the arrow is green”?

4 comments

  1. Not a driving instructor but I think it depends on what the other traffic lights facing you are.

    If it’s left arrow + full green + right arrow, the arrows mean you have priority to all other traffic/pedestrians. Full green means you can go but normal traffic rules apply. For your case, I am not certain but I don’t think pedestrians would ever get a green light on your left turn as the main signal for you is green, therefore you don’t stop for pedestrians (obviously don’t run them over if some are crossing).

    If the traffic light is split into left arrow + straight arrow + right arrow, that means you can only go when the arrow applicable to you is green.

    If the traffic lights are split up per lane/exit, the same rules as multiple arrows apply.

    The left arrow is usually used for traffic lights when the traffic from your left has a green light (no u-turn allowed) and you can get a left arrow at the same time. Typically with a dedicated turning lane.

  2. >So, in other words, is it “turn carefully, giving way to pedestrians” or “don’t fucking move until the arrow is green”?

    You can turn left if either the arrow is green, or the regular (circular) light is green. If what you see in front of you is just the red light then you shouldn’t move.

  3. I don’t believe the left turn is there only for pedestrians.. It seems there is a right turn traffic light on the cross road, so it makes sense that when the right turn light is on for that traffic, the left turn light will be on for the side road.

    In any case, pedestrians will have right of way even if you have a green light. Depending on the timing, it might be dedicated pedestrian green (red for all car traffic) but even if it’s a green for cars pedestrians have right of way if they’re still on the crosswalk (eg if they couldn’t finish crossing).

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