A solid (circular) flashing yellow light means proceed through the intersection with caution, but do not stop. It means you have the right of way; the other road has a flashing red (which is the same thing as a stop sign). This may be unfamiliar to some drivers, but some of us are used to it. (E.g. I’ve seen it often in military bases on weekends and at night - the major road has a flashing yellow, the intersecting road has a flashing red.)
A flashing LEFT ARROW, on the other hand, means you do not have right of way. It means left turn allowed, but you must yield to oncoming traffic.
Am I the only one who sees this as an inconsistency? Why not a flashing red arrow for left turns? Flashing red has always meant “stop, and proceed when clear.” Which is what you’re supposed to do in the left-turn lane if the oncoming traffic has a green light. Either that or stop using the solid flashing yellow, because in practice it doesn’t really mean anything different from a solid green.
I’d never seen the flashing yellow arrow until a couple of months ago, but more and more intersections are getting them. The first time I saw one I had no idea what it meant, but logically the only choice seemed to be “you don’t have the right of way but you can go if it’s safe”.
It’s not at all intuitive.
Where I’ve seen it is for the left turn lane when traffic going straight in both directions has a green light.
I suppose we’ll get used to it.
we’ve gone to those 4-element left turn signals in my area; they replaced ones which worked as you described- flashing red ball for “left turn allowed if no oncoming traffic,” green arrow for protected left turn, yellow arrow for light about to turn read, and steady red ball for “stop.”
the new ones make perfect sense to me, having a separate indication (the flashing yellow arrow) for “non-protected left turn” seems better than using another element to indicate two separate things (flashing red ball/steady red ball.) Plus the second yellow arrow provides a transition to make it clear when the light is about to turn red.
the last part is similar to the “emergency” signals Wayne County uses for exits from fire stations; it’s a 3-ball red/yellow/yellow signal. The bottom yellow flashes most of the time, then when the fire department needs clear exit for trucks it shows the center yellow steady for a few seconds, then turns red.
Not quite. Driver’s manuals say a flashing yellow light means “slow down and proceed with caution” but, in practice, this really means “slow down and watch out for cross traffic. You don’t want to hit them.” In practice, a flashing yellow arrow means “slow down and watch out for oncoming traffic, stop if necessary. You don’t want to hit them.” Not much of a difference.
Isn’t the difference between flashing yellow left arrow and flashing red left arrow that you have to stop at the red, even if totally clear. Yellow arrow you can roll on through if it is clear.
Yes, that is the difference. The OP seems to be more concerned that flashing yellow lights indicate and imply right-of-way, and I guess that makes some sort of sense, since usually a flashing traffic yellow at an intersection has a corresponding flashing red on the intersecting street. But I’ve always just learned that it means “no need to stop, but proceed with caution.” After all, in an intersection with no turn signals, if you’re turning left on a flashing yellow light, you have to yield to oncoming traffic so, to me, it actually is consistent and logical that flashing yellow turn arrow would have the same rules.
OK, thanks for the correction. I still think it is an inconsistency though. Since I was used to flashing yellow (circle) meaning I have right of way, I was confused when I first encountered a flashing left arrow, and thought it may mean “slow down, go ahead and turn left but watch out for other traffic.”
actually, what all flashing lights mean to me, is “we’re to lazy and or cheap to set up this intersection competently, so we set the lights to flash to make whatever happens, your fault.”
Personally, I think flashing lights make a shitload of sense for less traffic-y parts of day, and I wish certain parts of this city would go to flashing yellows on main road intersections with corresponding flashing reds on the crossroads after, say, 9 or 10 p.m. or something (as they do in other parts of the world). I live near a warehouse and trucking area, and there’s just a shit ton of lights that operate through their normal traffic cycle when there is almost zero cross street traffic, since there’s no trucking activity going on at that time.
I think the distinction is that a plain flashing yellow or red signal is a single-purpose indicator. in that mode it doesn’t do anything but flash. a left turn signal has multiple indicators, and the new style simply tries to separate out two indications (unprotected left turn, and stop) instead of using one indicator for two functions.
Yellow always means that you might need to stop. What do you think “proceed with caution” means? You’re cautious about the possibility of some danger. And if that danger does arise, then what do you do? Most likely, you stop.
If the intersection is really so busy that you always have to stop before making a left turn, then a flashing yellow is the wrong sort of signal to use, because they really should have it giving green arrows for protected turns.
The ‘traditional’ design for a protected left-turn lane is: left green arrow = proceed (you have right of way), green circle = proceed if clear (oncoming thru traffic has right of way), red = stop.
The flashing yellow left arrow replaced the green circle. It means the same thing, apparently. There’s actually a little sign next to it that explains it (something like “yield on flashing yellow”).
So, wait, is this flashing yellow arrow on a normal 5-light design (Green arrow, yellow arrow, green circle, yellow circle, red circle)? I was assuming this was on a three-arrow traffic tree, where it’s specifically for the turn lane and the only three lights are green arrow, yellow arrow, and red arrow. There’s never been a green circle on those (not as far as I’ve seen around here, anyway.) If it was on a 5-light design then, yes, I might be a little confused by a flashing yellow arrow, as I’ve never seen that on one of those before.
that’s got to be a regional thing; up in MI we never had a green ball for left turns. previously it was green arrow (proceed, you have RoW), yellow arrow (signal is about to turn red,) and red ball (steady for “stop,” flashing for “proceed if clear.”) We’ve since moved to the type you linked in your OP.
IMO this- like roundabouts- is one of those things which is ultimately a better idea, but transportation departments have been piss-poor at getting the word out to people on how to use them.
The intersection where my apartment building is located in Panama is incredibly accident-prone. It’s on one of the major avenues of the city, with two way traffic. There’s another one-way street with significant traffic that crosses it here. I have seen literally dozens of accidents at the intersection. I’ll hear a crash as I’m having my coffee in the morning and look out the window (I’m on the 15th floor) and see two cars smashed in the intersection. Since I’m often out during the day I’m sure there have been hundreds of accidents at the intersection during the time I’ve lived here.
Years ago this was because there was no traffic light at the intersection. For traffic on the side street to get across, they had to dash across when no cars were coming on the main street. Visibility of the main street is poor from the side street (there’s a big building on the corner) and cars on the main street also can’t see cars on the side street waiting to get across. It doesn’t help that cars on the main street are going downhill as they approach the intersection so they tend to speed up.
About 10 years ago they finally installed a traffic light. That helped on the weekdays but there were still lots of accidents on the weekends. Why? On the weekends, they put the signal on as a flashing yellow light on the main intersection and red flashing on the side street. The problem is, when a light is about to change from green to red, it also changes to a flashing yellow light before turning to red. So the normal reaction of Panamanian drivers when they see a flashing yellow light is to speed up to beat the light.
Now as drivers approach the intersection on the main street on weekends they see a flashing yellow light and immediately speed up to go as fast as they can through the intersection. This means cars trying to cross from the side street misjudge how much time they have to cross and regularly get T-boned. :smack:
Where I live a flashing green left arrow means you do have the right of way, that opposing traffic has a red light. A solid green left arrow (or no light at all*) means left turn is allowed but only if clear.
In some cases there will be a sign that says “Left turn on green arrow only”. So no light in this case means you cannot turn left.
And I think this highlights the other reason for the “new” signal types- to standardize this across the country. we don’t do flashing green arrows where I live, and what you describe is half opposite of what I’m familiar with (steady green arrow gives you right of way.)