Flashing Yellow Arrow, Stalled Lead Car
At 6:40 a.m. you are second in line in a left-turn bay on a four-lane suburban arterial. Your lane's signal is a flashing yellow arrow, and oncoming traffic is moving steadily at about 45 mph. The car ahead of you has not moved through two complete signal cycles; its brake lights are on and the driver is looking down at a phone. The bay has a raised concrete curb on its left and a double yellow line on its right, with a through lane beyond that. Four more cars have queued behind you. The signal timing for the through lanes is 25 seconds of green, 4 seconds of yellow, and 40 seconds of red.
1. Does the flashing yellow arrow give you the right of way to turn left? What must you confirm before you move?
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No. A flashing yellow arrow means left turns are permitted but unprotected - it is the same idea as a green ball for a left turn, not a green arrow.
Before moving you must:
- Yield to oncoming traffic; at 45 mph you need a gap of roughly 8–10 seconds, not a gap you "think you can beat."
- Yield to pedestrians and cyclists in the crosswalk on the street you are entering.
- Turn only from the marked left-turn bay. A driver behind you honking does not create a gap or a right of way.
2. The lead driver still has not moved after two more cycles. May you cross the double yellow line or use the through lane to get around? What are your lawful options?
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You may not cross the double yellow line, and you may not use the adjacent through lane to pass a vehicle stopped at an intersection - that lane belongs to traffic going straight, and swinging out of the bay puts you into their path with no right of way.
Your lawful options are to wait, and to use a brief tap of the horn to alert a driver who appears distracted. If the car is genuinely disabled, the safe response is still to wait for it to be moved or for help to arrive; the curb on one side and the double yellow on the other leave you no legal path around it. Impatience is the pressure here, not a legal justification.
3. You finally enter the intersection on the flashing yellow. While waiting for a gap the arrow goes steady yellow, then steady red. What do you do?
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A steady yellow arrow means the protected-or-permitted movement is ending: if you have not crossed the stop bar, stop. If you have already entered and are sitting in the intersection, do not back up and do not stop in the box - you must clear the intersection by completing the turn once oncoming traffic has cleared, even if the arrow has gone red.
The reasoning: a vehicle stopped in the middle of an intersection blocks cross traffic and is a collision waiting to happen. Completing a turn you already began is the expected and lawful move; the red arrow governs cars still behind the stop bar, not you.