The Left-Turn Gap at a Flashing Yellow Arrow
You are stopped in a dedicated left-turn lane at a large intersection at 4:50 p.m. on a rainy Tuesday. Your signal is a flashing yellow left arrow. The cross street has two oncoming through lanes plus a dedicated oncoming left-turn lane. Traffic is heavy and steady. You have already crept forward twice to improve your sight line past a stopped box truck in the oncoming left-turn lane. A gap appears: the first oncoming through car is about 3 seconds away, and behind it is a second car roughly 1 second behind the first. Your light has been flashing yellow for about 20 seconds, and you can see cross traffic queued at the far signal. You are running 10 minutes late to pick up a child from daycare.
1. Should you take the gap and turn in front of the first oncoming car?
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No. A flashing yellow left arrow means you may turn left only after yielding to oncoming traffic and pedestrians; it is not a protected turn. The relevant judgment is not just the first car's 3-second gap but what happens after you commit.
- Your vehicle must clear the opposing through lanes, and you are already angled forward from your earlier creep, so you start from a slower speed and a poorer angle than a clean stop.
- The second oncoming car is only about 1 second behind the first. Once you begin the turn, the first car masks you from the second driver's view, and the second driver has no reason to expect you to cross.
- Wet pavement extends your time to clear and shortens everyone's stopping ability.
A 3-second gap with a close-following second vehicle is not a safe gap. The right move is to wait for a gap that lets you clear all oncoming lanes with margin, or wait for the arrow to become a protected green. Being late is not a legal justification for an unsafe turn.
2. The light changes to a solid green ball (no arrow). What changes about your obligation, and does your earlier creep forward affect it?
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On a solid green ball you may still turn left, but you remain required to yield to oncoming vehicles and to pedestrians in the crosswalk. The protected-turn phase has ended, so oncoming through traffic now has a green too and will be moving at full speed.
Your earlier creep forward matters in two ways:
- Position. You are now partly into the intersection, which can block cross traffic or the crosswalk if you misjudge the gap. If you cannot complete the turn, you must not stop where you block pedestrians or opposing lanes.
- Visibility and expectation. Other drivers see a vehicle angled in the intersection and may assume you are about to go. That cuts both ways - it does not give you the right of way.
If you have already entered the intersection legally on a green and the light changes, you may finish clearing the intersection when it is safe. But you should not enter on a gap you cannot complete.
3. A pedestrian steps into the crosswalk on your left as you are about to turn. What is the correct sequence of actions?
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- Stay stopped / do not complete the turn. The pedestrian in the crosswalk has the right of way over a turning vehicle, regardless of your signal.
- Keep your wheels straight while waiting, so that if you are struck from behind you are not pushed into the pedestrian's path.
- Wait until the pedestrian has cleared your path - not merely stepped past your bumper, but far enough that your turn will not bring you near them.
- Then re-check oncoming traffic before completing the turn, because the delay may have consumed your gap.
The exam-tested point: a pedestrian in the crosswalk cancels your turn opportunity. You re-evaluate from scratch after they clear.