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I have never seen a red flashing arrow. If you are headed in the same direction as the other cars you are the traffic and yellow has always meant to stop also up until now.
I have never seen a red flashing arrow. If you are headed in the same direction as the other cars you are the traffic and yellow has always meant to stop also up until now.
Yellow (flashing or not) has always meant "yield" or "caution".
It's rare to see a red flashing anything. Red flashing lights are typically used at emergency intersections (i.e. in front of a fire station) or maybe at a four way stop. I've designed many intersections and a red flashing arrow typically isn't done. Simply because the solid red (or flashing) ball is the normal and expected signal.
and the left-turning drivers in the direction getting red falsely believe that oncoming traffic is also stopping, creating the possibility of an accident.
If driver stupidity is the reason for this I'm not sure putting in something new and possibly even more confusing to the already confused is going to help.
But since we seem to have some people here who actually seem to know there stuff I hope someone can answer a question about a weird intersection in my city.
A highway that is used heavily by local traffic is intersected by a side road. The highway has a left turn arrow and the side road has a green right turn arrow, both of the green arrows operate at the same time, which was not a problem as traffic doesn't cross.
However they recently decided to allow u-turns on the highway at this intersection. Which means that people turning right from the side road on the right turn arrow have the possibility that someone making a u-turn may turn into the same lane at the same time.
I was under the impression that a green turn arrow meant it was a protected turn, so this having to yield to the people making u-turns seems wrong to me. How can it be legal for u-turns to have the right of way over a lane where others are making protected right turns? I'm surprised there hasn't been an accident at that intersection yet, but I think it's just a matter of time.
Southwest burbs of Minneapolis, yes. I like them. In Chicagoland they didn't. Mostly either solid green or solid red left turn signals. Miss the green and you wait a whole round of lights before you get another green.
Washington has the yellow flashing left turn. I don't find this confusing, but one thing we do have that I find a bit confusing is that we have red arrow for right turn, but it is still legal to to take the turn, would have made more sense to have it flashing, wether that be red or yellow. Also we do have flashing red lights, not arrows though, and it's just another way of representing a stop sign.
I'm assuming you're talking about this? I've driven through every section of Connecticut within the past couple years (since it's a small state) and I never seen these yet. But apparently Virginia has them.
I thought I'd offer a bit of clarification to my post from a few months ago to this thread now that it's active again - the issue with the old "yield on green" signals was that showing a green ball to allow left turns while straight-ahead is red (when the other direction has green with left turns from there being protected) created confusion (to the straight traffic) and was discouraged if not banned in many places. A different indicator, the flashing yellow arrow, allows for such indication in an unambiguous way (so even if straight traffic has red, left turns can be allowed on a permissive basis if the other direction does have green - whereas before the left turns had to be completely stopped in many places, which additionally could create the "yellow trap" issue I mentioned previously if drivers falsely assume that oncoming traffic is fixing to stop too).
Which states have the flashing yellow arrow? 48 have it (plus DC). Only two do not.
The Maryland legislature voted to keep the flashing red arrow it had already been using instead of going to the flashing yellow arrow.
West Virginia has never considered the question.
If you have an all-arrow signal face pointing in the direction you are turning, you are to totally ignore the circular indications.
The meanings of signal indications:
- Steady circular red: Stop and stay. Some turns on red are allowed if the legislature has allowed them.
- Steady red arrow: Stop and stay if turning in the direction of the arrow.
- Steady circular yellow: The right-of-way is ending. Stop if you can.
- Steady yellow arrow: The right-of-way is ending. Stop if you can if going in the direction of the arrow.
- Steady circular green: Go. Turns must yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians.
- Steady green arrow: Go. You have a turn protected from all movements except turns on red.
- Flashing circular red: Stop and proceed if safe. This is the same as a STOP sign.
- Flashing red arrow: Stop and proceed if safe, if turning in the direction of the arrow.
- Flashing circular yellow: Caution. Turns must yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians.
- Flashing yellow arrow: Yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians while going the direction of the arrow.
Flashing green indications are never allowed under federal standards.
Circular green and flashing yellow have the same meaning if you are making the indicated turn.
They have totally different meanings if you are not turning in the direction of the arrow.
The purpose of the flashing yellow arrows is to eliminate yellow trap and allow lagging left turns.
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