You don’t have to worry about the other lanes turning in front of you or anything, and if you are turning you don’t have to worry about turning in front of the lane going straight. Light flashes green and as long as the intersection is clear you go. If the light was solid on your side you would hesitate because you wouldn’t have any way of knowing the opposite lanes were still looking at red. We always call it the ‘advance’ or ‘advanced’ green but I have seen it at the tail end of the light sequence as well. When I travel to places that don’t have the advance I always notice how much more I see cars edging out to turn left. Then they have to dart through traffic. We don’t get that quite so often here; not every intersection has the flashing green so it does still happen. With icy roads it’s a very big help having the lights set up that way.
I (in the US) would think it’s due to some sort of power/controller problem, so I’d slow down.
In at least parts of Ontario a flashing green means it’s an advanced turning signal, so I picked keep going, assuming I was turning. I suppose I would slow down a little so I didn’t round the corner on two wheels, but that’s about it.
I’d slow down to assess the situation.
I think I recall seeing this in Canada, outside Winnipeg. I can’t remember if it was the arrow that flashed or the light itself, but it confused me something awful. I had no idea what to do with it except follow what everyone else was doing. Apparently it worked; we survived.
I also think I remember seeing the “flash green before changing to yellow” somewhere, but again, I can’t remember where.
I said keep going, because there was no option to turn left, but I assume I’d be in Canada because that’s the only place I’ve ever seen such a thing.
If I saw it in the U.S. I’d slow down enough to try to see what kind of signal the cross traffic had because it would indicate to me that something is extremely wrong with the signal. For all I know, it might be flashing green in all directions.
I have encountered a flashing green several times in Massachusetts. I have always checked the lights for the cross traffic and they have always been flashing red. I assumed this meant the lights were malfunctioning and the people who designed them weren’t idiots.
I got a ticket for not coming to a complete stop at a flashing red that is new in town. It used to be a merge.
Flashing green, I have only seen them when the roads are icy and it is a hill. The other side usually has a flashing yellow so they have to wait. It is actually a good idea because nobody can stop on ice.