Oregon left turn arrow law I wish we had here. (Thousand Oaks: dangerous, shopping center)

[V8 Vega]

You can turn on a yellow arrow provided there isn't any oncoming traffic. Slim chance that will ever happen here.

[luv4horses]

Not 100% safe but convenient.

Oncoming traffic assumes you won’t dart out in front, while the left turner assumes the oncoming traffic has yellow or red and is stopping. Both are opportunities for misjudging.

[marcopolo666]

What I'd like to see is a law that all red left-turn arrows can be treated as stop signs ONLY when the 'drive straight' light is GREEN. I.e., you have to stop but can turn left WITHOUT RIGHT OF WAY - any accident would automatically be the fault of the person turning LEFT.

[Tulemutt]

What I’d like to see is a return to mule and horse transportation. Pretty sure we’d get by without traffic lights, circles and fewer deaths on the roads.

[PNW-type-gal]

There are something like 11 [edit: it's actually closer to 25] states that have these style lights since the Feds approved them, not just here in Oregon.

Personally, I don't like them. They are, essentially, the same thing as a solid green in a left turn lane, but apparently the "traffic powers that be" decided that people weren't dealing with the concept of a solid green well.

But the problem with the blinking yellow is that a car advances to turn left and, in between watching oncoming cars and watching the light, often gets "caught" in the intersection when the light goes from blinking yellow to solid yellow to red. The change between blinking yellow and solid yellow isn't always as clear as the change from green to yellow to red.

The intersection I see the most trouble with is the left turn lane on a busy street in to a particular shopping center. The left turning driver has to watch oncoming cars AND pedestrians in the very wide entry (6 lane) AND the signal. I always thought it was easier to see, in the corner of my eye, the change from green to yellow than the change from flashing yellow to solid yellow.

The funny thing is that Federal Dept of Transportation approved the signaling change to stop the "yellow trap" that occurs when a car gets stuck in an intersection as the light progresses to red, but I see MORE cars caught in "yellow traps" since the change.

[DKM]

Where is "here"? We have these in Thousand Oaks.

[citizensadvocate]

It appears I seen some of them in CA too as well as other states.

It appears luv4horses is right though it causes confusion. As flashing solid yellow ball in some states/countries often means that your road has priority but to beware that there may be cross-traffic who are supposed to give way to you in the intersection as well, as opposed to a solid green where conflicting traffic would always get a solid red and would not proceed until the light changes. Though I don't see flashing yellow intersections much if at all in California where cross-traffic gets flashing red or essentially a two way stop. People may get dangerously confused when a flashing yellow arrow means dramatically different. In some intersections in parts of CA we already have left turn yield on green ball but sometimes with a combination of protected green arrow phrases as well which seems a better alternative than the confusing flashing yellow arrow.

Its interesting though I heard that in Oregon a red arrow does not automatically mean no right turn on red unlike in California. Its interesting how this varies drastically from state to state.

[DonSJ]

I went to Fort Collins, CO and loved the yellow left turn arrow (changing from green to yellow then red) means you can turn but yield to traffic when it's yellow.

[Jude24]

Originally Posted by V8 Vega

You can turn on a yellow arrow provided there isn't any oncoming traffic. Slim chance that will ever happen here.

Yellow left turn arrows are being installed in CA. You don't see many yet, but they are "here". I just wish local municipalities would do a better job of "smart" traffic control, where you are not sitting at red lights for long periods when there is no cross traffic. The time/fuel/emissions savings is considerable in areas where it is well controlled. Many areas have the infrastructure in place for this, it is just not programmed.

[futbol]

In Colombia (South America) they have, just like here, yellow lights that warn you that a red light is next.

However, they also use the yellow light to let you know that a green light is next (after a red light). That is convenient. It tells drivers: Hey, you're next. Get ready to go.

I wish they had that here.