I was going through pictures I had taken, and came across the ones below. For those of you who have been to Winnipeg, and realize the craziness and illogical design of some of the traffic lights there, the one below (at LaTrobe and Swanston Streets) has it beaten with no contest. I’ll explain it as best I can. In picture 1, the green arrows in the bottom corners mean cars can go left or right. The solid red light means cars can’t go straight. The white arrow on top means trams can turn right, while the red “T” means they can’t go straight. In the second picture, the red arrows and light means cars can’t go at all. The green bike means bikes can go straight, and the white “T” means trams can go straight. So if you ever find yourself driving down Swanston (from the university to the Yarra River) and cross LaTrobe, you should now have some understanding of the light. But you might not want to quote me on what all the lights mean. I could be way off. And FYI, streetcars are called trams in the local lingo.

Because of the trams, Melbourne has some odd traffic rules. One of them is that, at some intersections, a car turning right needs to pull over to left (called a “hook turn” in the local lingo). This sounds a bit backwards, but they also drive on the left, so the odd driving rules shouldn’t be a surprise. Anyway, whenever an intersection has this sign posted:

A car needs to follow the turning rule I’ll try and explain. Suppose a car is heading down street A and wants to turn right on street B. The car would pull over on the left, so that other cars driving straight on street A can pass on the right. The turning car then waits for the light to change (so that street B has a green light) before turning right and proceeding. Crazy as it sounds, it does make sure that turning cars don’t block the trams. And it probably helps ensure that tourists are less likely to drive. Hopefully the photo below clarifies. The police car is going straight. The white pickup (or “ute” in the local lingo) is turning right, waiting for the light to change.