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I want to question the premise of this question.

In the title, you wrote:

> Is it okay to ask a question because you're too lazy/bored to figure it out yourself?

but in the question body, you wrote among else:

> * A quick skim of these answer(s) elsewhere would immediately tell you exactly what the answer is, *if you are proficient in the subject matter*
> * The asker is not proficient, and finds the material hard to understand or difficult to read. Perhaps they have spent some reasonable, short amount of time trying to read it (like 30 minutes), failed to comprehend it, and decided that figuring it out would likely take considerable effort (hours or days). Besides mere effort, the asker may also find the material *too boring* to attempt to get through (don't laugh - people ask sometimes about laws and standards!).

I would say that **not being able to understand something pertinent which you've found trying to find an answer, and asking for help in clarifying that, is entirely acceptable.**

That's not being lazy.

**However**, the question you ask should show that you have put in some effort yourself before asking of others, *and* in order to avoid [the XY problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_problem) should preferably also state something close to the ultimate goal.

In your example of Elbonian traffic lights, an asker might plausibly write something along the lines of:

> For a fiction story I'm writing which is in part set in present-day Elbonia, I really need to get the traffic light colors right. I checked the Elbonian Road Transportation Authority's web site (link), but found nothing browsing it or doing Google searches for "traffic light" restricted to it. This was especially difficult because the site seems to be available only in the Elbonian language which I can't read, so I had to rely on online translation services. I then checked Wikipedia, but the "list of traffic light colors internationally" article (link) lists several neighboring countries but not Elbonia, and the neighboring countries all seem to use different colors so not even that helped. I then tried a broader search but everything I found was about how to cope if you are a color-blind tourist visiting Elbonia; examples: link link link link. The borders are closed so I can't even travel there myself. What color lights are used for Elbonian traffic lights, and what is the meaning of each color used? Photos appreciated.

This would clearly show that the asker has *tried* and failed to find the answer before asking for free help of others. Also, the question is *bounded* and *specific*; the set of possible answers is limited, and each answer can be judged by a subject matter expert on its correctness and on how well it addresses the question.

If on the other hand the material *is* available but difficult to understand -- say, because it's highly specialized and about all there is about the subject is in scientific journals intended for other scientists in the field, and the person asking is a high school student -- then again this can be pointed out. Another example:

> I'm trying to learn about frobnication of thromblemeisters for a 11th grade science fair school project, and everything I find says that "quantum frobnication" is really really important. I've found lots of scientific articles which seem to discuss the submolecular properties of the quantum frobnication process, but beyond recognizing that this is what they are about those go totally over my head; examples are link, link and link. The physics teachers at my school were unable to help. Just why is the quantum frobnication so important, and what would happen if one did a classical/non-quantum frobnication instead?

Again, this shows that the person asking the question has *tried* (and *what* they have tried) but failed in their efforts to find an answer on their own. And also again, the question is bounded and specific. The reference to "11th grade science fair school project" establishes the likely proficiency level of the asker, helping guide the style of potential answers.

**Both of those make perfectly valid, very much not lazy or bored, questions** to be posed on an appropriate community.