Not parituclarly relevant to the gridlock violation at issue here, but left on red from a one-way street to a one-way street is legal in the same conditions as right-on-red generally in a large majority of US states, a few of which also allow left-on-red from a two-way street to a one-way street. Left-on-red is only completely illegal in a few states.

Yeah, I've seen tickets written for this in Emeryville, CA for cars that entered on green and weren't going to clear the intersection in the next ten minutes. (I don't know if the intersection is still that bad.) Bicycle cop, because there was no way they'd get a car in there.

> Left on red is never legal

I recall that this was legal in Michigan, where I grew up, but it either had to be onto or off of a one way street. I could never remember which, so I didn't try it.

But I did see someone make a left on red on market street in SF from the rightmost lane, which is very illegal.

I believe it requires two one-way streets.

Although searching for this now, it does appear to also be allowed from a two-way,[0] which sounds vaguely familiar but isn't really the same as turning right on red.

[0] https://www.michigan.gov/msp/services/traffic-safety/traffic...