Did I handle this situation correctly?

[M22s]

Dixy said:

Ok I will stick my head above the parapet.
I think you made an excellent call, it is far better to go somewhere you did not intend rather than have an accident or conflict. What this tells you is most road planners should be shot at dawn and are the cause of many of the problems.
You can only proceed in the direction of the arrow, when the other lights went green you could have gone straight on but people behind may have sounded their horns and people to your right may have tried crossing in to your lane.

I can still hear my driving instructor ‘continue the mistake safely and we will turn around when safe to do so’.

[Majorslow]

An interesting topic, I really don't understand why they don't have a "red" arrow for a right or left turn at traffic lights. There is one junction in Southampton where as soon as it goes to green for left/straight on cars waiting to turn right "react" by starting to move forward before they realise they can't

Any one know why they don't have a "red priority" light?

[Solocle]

M22s said:

I can still hear my driving instructor ‘continue the mistake safely and we will turn around when safe to do so’.

Indeed, that's always my approach with wrong turns. Although that was somewhat brought into question when I accidentally turned onto an emergency slip road onto the M40 in the middle of the night... on my bicycle

Although that's with the benefit of hindsight - I thought that I'd turned onto the A40 until I had 3 traffic lanes appearing to the right!

Revisiting the site to see what the hell happened

It was less than a mile to the next exit (signage visible in the distance), so I went with that on the hard shoulder, rather than riding the wrong way back up an unknown slip road.

[Blue BB]

If you follow the google car it goes through the RA in the left lane as does the vehicle behind. Most confusing when time to plan is short.

[Red Devil]

Solocle said:

M22s said:

I can still hear my driving instructor ‘continue the mistake safely and we will turn around when safe to do so’.

Indeed, that's always my approach with wrong turns. Although that was somewhat brought into question when I accidentally turned onto an emergency slip road onto the M40 in the middle of the night... on my bicycle

Although that's with the benefit of hindsight - I thought that I'd turned onto the A40 until I had 3 traffic lanes appearing to the right!

Revisiting the site to see what the hell happened

You only succeeded in doing so because some twonk had left the gate open.
But how did you manage to miss both of the other red prohibition signs? - https://goo.gl/maps/JxWgx3jx2Cvspr2W9
Does your bicycle not have a front light?

Solocle said:

It was less than a mile to the next exit (signage visible in the distance), so I went with that on the hard shoulder, rather than riding the wrong way back up an unknown slip road.

It is indeed 0.9 miles to the start of the off slip but the motorway doesn't end there. It continues for a further 1.4 miles to the junction with the A40 - https://goo.gl/maps/x8uBFqZQRXTTwqAFA
There is a d**n good reason why certain classes of traffic are prohibited on motorways and other special roads. Yet you continued even though you were fully aware that you weren't on the A40.

And at night too, so you wouldn't have been able to see the signage for the next exit which means two possibilities.
Either you didn't know where you were so wouldn't know how far it was to the next exit, or you did know and took the risk anyway. Madness.
Returning whence you came as soon as you saw the 3 lanes would have been the lesser of two evils with far less TED.

[Solocle]

Red Devil said:

It is indeed 0.9 miles to the start of the off slip but the motorway doesn't end there. It continues for a further 1.4 miles to the junction with the A40 - https://goo.gl/maps/x8uBFqZQRXTTwqAFA
There is a d**n good reason why certain classes of traffic are prohibited on motorways and other special roads. Yet you continued even though you were fully aware that you weren't on the A40.

And at night too, so you wouldn't have been able to see the signage for the next exit which means two possibilities.
Either you didn't know where you were so wouldn't know how far it was to the next exit, or you did know and took the risk anyway. Madness.
Returning whence you came as soon as you saw the 3 lanes would have been the lesser of two evils with far less TED.

Those other two signs both say "emergency access - no parking". They're not restriction signs.

The signage for the next exit was less than half a mile away, and was helpfully illuminated by the headlights of a passing vehicle. I couldn't read it, but I could see that there was an exit imminent. And I also knew that the A40 had a left turn in 1 mile, so I put two and two together.

As it happened, that exit is a spur, as you noted, but I don't think that you can seriously suggest that this (illegal):


Is more dangerous than this (legal):

They're effectively the same sodding road, only the motorway bit has a hard shoulder.

So the question at the time was < 1 mile on the hard shoulder of a mainline motorway, with momentum from the descent of the slip road - or turn around, risk confusing passing vehicles with my front light, then go contraflow for a bit of a distance (250m) up a slip road slogging slowly because it's an uphill struggle, which I didn't know was actually an emergency access slip.

Edited by Solocle on Wednesday 9th December 19:39

[Casino47]

I think you did everything right, because you were unsure and made the safest option for you. If I were in your place, I would also doubt and believe the sign, and would not create a conflict. And yes, the green left arrow is the left arrow