Flashing Yellow Arrow, a Dark HAWK Beacon, and a Two-Way Left-Turn Lane
You are eastbound at 8:40 p.m. in mid-October on a four-lane arterial in Billings. Traffic is moderate and the pavement is dry. You are in the left-turn lane at a signalized intersection, and the signal for your lane shows a flashing yellow arrow; a sign beside it reads LEFT TURN YIELD ON FLASHING YELLOW. Oncoming traffic includes a pickup towing a utility trailer. A pedestrian in a dark hooded jacket is stepping off the curb on your right into the crosswalk you would drive through. Two blocks ahead, a pedestrian hybrid beacon (HAWK) sits over a mid-block crossing and is currently dark. Beyond that, the center of the road is marked as a two-way left-turn lane - solid yellow on the outside, broken yellow inside. Your passenger has 12 supervised hours and asks what each of these means and how your answer would change if the arrow were a steady green arrow instead.
1. What does the flashing yellow arrow require of you here, and how would your decision change under a steady green arrow or a steady green ball?
Read the worked answer
A flashing yellow arrow means the left turn is permitted but unprotected: you may enter the intersection and turn only after yielding to oncoming traffic and to pedestrians lawfully in the crosswalk. The arrow shape identifies which movement the signal controls; the flashing mode tells you that movement is not protected. On these facts the pickup and trailer have the right-of-way, and so does the pedestrian already in the crosswalk. You wait behind the stop line with your wheels straight, and turn only into a gap you can clear without forcing anyone to slow. A steady green arrow would give you a protected turn - oncoming traffic would be held at red - but you would still yield to anyone already in the crosswalk. A steady green ball while turning left leaves you unprotected again, with the same yield duty as the flashing yellow.
2. Two blocks later the HAWK beacon is dark as you approach, then it activates. Explain the phases and exactly what you do in each.
Read the worked answer
Dark means the beacon is inactive; drive normally, but stay aware that it can activate at any moment for a pedestrian. The sequence is: flashing yellow (someone has activated it - slow and prepare to stop), steady yellow (stop if you can do so safely), steady red (stop and stay stopped), then alternating flashing red on both lenses. That last phase is legally a stop sign: come to a complete stop, then proceed when the crosswalk is clear and it is safe. The alternating red exists to release traffic before a normal green would appear, so the classic failure is treating it as a rolling 'go.' Watch for a second pedestrian who may be behind the first, hidden by the stopped vehicle in the next lane.
3. What do the two-way left-turn lane markings permit, and what would misuse of that lane look like?
Read the worked answer
The lane is bounded by solid yellow lines on the outside and broken yellow lines inside. It may be entered from either direction only to begin or complete a left turn, using the portion nearest your turn, and it functions as a holding area rather than a travel lane. Crossing the broken inner line is what makes entry legal; the solid outer lines mark the boundaries you may not cross casually. Misuse looks like using it to merge into traffic, to build speed before merging, to pass a slow vehicle, or to travel any real distance in it. Nothing about the flashing arrow or the beacon authorizes you to wait in it for the light - your turn is made from the marked left-turn lane.