Flashing Yellow Arrow With a Blocked Sight Line
You are northbound at 5:15 p.m. on a six-lane arterial, stopped in the outside of two left-turn lanes, waiting to turn west onto a major street. The left-turn signal is a four-section vertical head; at this moment it displays a flashing yellow arrow, and it has been flashing for several seconds. The through signal for your direction is green. Oncoming traffic is heavy in three lanes, and a box truck beside you in the inner left-turn lane blocks your view of the nearest oncoming lane. The driver behind you taps the horn. A pedestrian has just stepped into the crosswalk across the street you intend to enter. The pavement is dry, visibility is good apart from the truck, and there is no officer present.
1. What does the flashing yellow arrow permit and require, and how does it differ from the other arrows in that four-section head?
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A flashing yellow arrow is a permissive left turn.
- Flashing yellow arrow: you may turn when it is safe, but you must yield to oncoming through traffic, to pedestrians and cyclists in the crosswalk, and to any vehicle already lawfully in the intersection. You have no protected right of way.
- Green arrow: protected. Oncoming traffic is held by a red and conflicting pedestrians are held by DON'T WALK; you still yield to anyone already in the intersection.
- Steady yellow arrow: the protected movement is ending - stop if you can do so comfortably, and do not enter on it to beat the red.
- Red arrow: no left turn from that lane.
- The green through light is irrelevant to your movement; your lane is controlled by the arrow.
The practical consequence: at a flashing yellow arrow you are making the same judgement as an unprotected left on a green ball, so everything you can see - or cannot see - matters.
2. The box truck blocks your view of the nearest oncoming lane, the driver behind honks, and a pedestrian enters the crosswalk. What do you do?
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The horn is pressure, not information. Another driver's impatience never makes a lane empty.
- The truck is the real problem. It blocks the nearest oncoming lane, so you cannot see whether a vehicle is in it. Never turn across a lane you cannot see into.
- Creep forward a few feet, wheels straight, to buy a sight line past the truck. If the near lane is still hidden, wait for the green arrow, for the truck to move, or for a gap you can verify yourself.
- The pedestrian takes priority. Wait until your path through the crosswalk is clear; a permissive arrow never overrides a pedestrian lawfully crossing.
- Hold your lane through the turn. Dual left turns run parallel arcs; drifting toward the inner lane is the classic dual-turn collision.
- A short wait costs seconds. A blind left across three lanes costs far more.
If the honking rattles you, the correct response is still to sit still with your wheels straight.
3. After turning, you are on a road whose center lane is bounded by solid yellow on the outside and dashed yellow on the inside, and your driveway is 40 feet ahead. How may you use that lane?
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Use it for the turn, not for travel.
- That center lane is a two-way left-turn lane: solid yellow on the outside, dashed yellow on the inside. It exists so left-turning vehicles can leave the through lane and wait, and opposing traffic uses the same lane for the same purpose.
- You may enter it to decelerate and wait for a gap to turn left into the driveway - entering about 40 feet out is exactly the intended use. Signal your entry and your turn, and keep the wheels straight while waiting.
- You may not use it to pass slower traffic, as an acceleration or merge lane, or as a travel lane down the block. That misuse causes head-on crashes because the opposing turner is using the same strip.
- Before committing, check the opposing turner already sitting in the lane.
Short version: it is a shared turning refuge, not a passing lane.