Q3. In a congested road, if a vehicle has mostly passed a yellow box marking (e.g., 2/3 of its length has passed), is the driver in breach of any traffic laws?

Q3. In a congested road, if a vehicle has mostly passed a yellow box marking (e.g., 2/3 of its length has passed), is the driver in breach of any traffic laws?

According to regulation 10(1) of the Road Traffic (Traffic Control) Regulations (Cap. 374G), “no person shall drive a vehicle into a boxed junction unless he will be immediately able to drive the vehicle wholly out of the boxed junction”. Therefore, it appears that the vehicle having 1/3 of its length trapped in the boxed junction is in breach of the said Regulation 10(1).

However, regulation 10(3) prescribes that regulation 10(1) does not apply if a vehicle is driven from a traffic lane marked with a right turn arrow to a position where the vehicle can conveniently wait to make a right turn, and is prevented from being driven out of the box junction by other stationary vehicles in or near the box junction waiting to complete a right turn, or by vehicles moving in the opposite direction.

For the same token, regulation 10(3) prescribes that regulation 10(1) does not apply if a vehicle is driven from a traffic lane marked with a left turn arrow to a position where the vehicle can conveniently wait to make a left turn, and is prevented from being driven out of the box junction by other stationary vehicles in or near the box junction waiting to complete a left turn, or by vehicles moving in the opposite direction.

Therefore, depending on the actual circumstances, the vehicle having part of it prevented from being driven out of a box junction may not have breached regulation 10(1).