| This is
all well-and-good in theory, but at large multi-lane
intersections it usually results in chaos: some drivers don't
even notice that the lights are out and just sail through the
intersection; others (the vast majority) can't keep track of
who turned up when, and just try to slowly barge their way
through.
It's a
mess, and if it's anywhere busy -- and you're lucky -- the
police usually show up to direct the traffic manually until the
lights are back.
Blocking intersections -- don't move into an
intersection in such a way that you end up blocking it after
the lights have changed.
This is just common sense, but it's also illegal to block an
intersection after the light has changed, and you can be
heavily fined whether or not you think you were directly at
fault for not being able to get through. Some intersections
have large "Keep Clear" signs painted on the road to remind you
of this), others have smaller signs somewhere around the
intersection; in any case, it's always illegal to block an
intersection, whether it's explicitly marked or not.
Pedestrians -- you must stop for pedestrians who have
entered a crosswalk. Pedestrians have the right of way at
uncontrolled pedestrian crosswalks (i.e. those without traffic
lights), but (and this is somewhat new), pedestrians can not
legally just cross whenever they want -- they must wait for a
safe time to try to cross.
In
California (as in the rest of the U.S.A.), a pedestrian
crosswalk can be either explicit or implicit; quoting from the
Department of Motor Vehicle's handbook, "Every intersection
where streets meet at right angles has a crosswalk for
pedestrians to cross the street. [...] Many pedestrian
crosswalks are marked by solid white lines. Some crosswalks,
especially in residential areas, are not marked."
Metering lights -- freeway and major bridge on-ramps
sometimes have "metering lights" to regulate the flow of
traffic off the ramp and onto the freeway or bridge. These are
special red/green traffic lights, often at the side of the ramp
at driver level; when they're in use (usually during commute
rush hours) they let one car through each cycle, then wait a
few seconds, then let another one through, etc. There is
usually one metering light per on-ramp lane.
Bicycle lanes -- some cities like Berkeley or Palo Alto
have bicycle lanes painted onto selected streets. These are
usually marked by a continuous thick white line on the
right-hand side of the road, about a meter or so out from the
curb or the parked cars. There's usually also some sort of sign
painted in the lane every so often saying something like
"Bicycle Lane" on the road's surface.
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