Flashing Yellow Arrow

[TeeDub]

Scenario;
Traffic coming the other way has a green.  Left turn green on your side implies you have a right of way.  Flashing yellow left arrow means the same thing, but can go if the oncoming is clear.  Yellow left arrow implies about to change, I guess - also means yield but go.    The ones I have seen, the yellow left turns solid yellow arrow when it is ready to change.   Probably an extra level of 'training' needed, but looking at the sign and the flashing yellow arrow, it is (should be) a quick learn.  Well, for most...

So rather than train people the way it has always been done - let's spend a bunch of money to both change the system and retain everyone.

[heironymouspasparagus]

So rather than train people the way it has always been done - let's spend a bunch of money to both change the system and retain everyone.

Yep.  Seems to be the way...   Anytime 'new' person comes into a place, they gotta put their 'stink' on whatever it is.  Regardless of how well it works already.


This particular one works pretty well for me, when the oncoming  has a green light, but light traffic - I don't have to sit through an entire other cycle.  That's the big benefit I see for it.

[patric]

So rather than train people the way it has always been done - let's spend a bunch of money to both change the system and retain everyone.

We do it all the time.  How much taxpayer money went to buy and shrinkwrap-decal the EnDUI van despite the main spokesman's statements that it actually accomplishes nothing?

I have no idea how we could compare the cost to 'train people the way it has always been done' (however long its been done that way) versus the cost of providing another traffic control option.  The feds gave their blessing to it years ago, so there might be some money attached to it.
We just wont know till we give it a try, and im thinking one or two signals and not the whole county.

[cannon_fodder]

Yeah, I don't buy the reasoning.

If there is a large number of people who don't realize you have to yield to turn left with a green light we'd have hundreds if not thousands of left turn related crashed in Tulsa everyday.  I simply don't see people thinking green means the same thing as green-arrow.  I don't think that is a real problem, so there isn't a need for a new "solution" to it.

And we are also going to install them for right turn on red?  Basically adding a light to make sure people know basic rules of the road?

My God.  Maybe we just need to start revoking licenses instead.  If people are so ignorant of the basics, they shouldn't be driving.

/and get off my lawn

[heironymouspasparagus]

In general, they are that ignorant.  It's Oklahoma...where we have gutted education by 30%.   Missing 1/3 of the education they should receive.

[TeeDub]

Rather than forcing people to be accountable and responsible for their actions, we just need more multicolored lights and flashy signals.   

[patric]

Rather than forcing people to be accountable and responsible for their actions, we just need more multicolored lights and flashy signals.   

Maybe to save money we could go back to 4-way stop signs and let nature take its course, but there will be collateral damage.

[Hoss]

Maybe to save money we could go back to 4-way stop signs and let nature take its course, but there will be collateral damage natural selection.

FIFY.

[cannon_fodder]

Oh dear God no!  One light was out on my way to work and people either sit there like a bird that's just run into a window or drive frantically through the intersection like a scared cat.  I acquiesce the point that many people are simply not capable of figuring out four way stops. Here's a work around for people having issues:

If you are approaching a 4 way stop and feel either panic or exhilaration, are utterly unprepared, or otherwise don't understand a 4-way stop:  pull your vehicle over somewhere safe.  Exit the vehicle. Locate the nearest bus stop and walk there on an approved pedestrian corridor.  While waiting for the bus Google "how do 4-way stops work" and review (data rates may apply).  If you figure it out before the bus arrives, go back to your car and proceed.  If the bus arrives first, remember where your car is, pay the fair, and get on the bus. Continue to study for as long as necessary while riding the bus and NOT driving anywhere. 

Sadly, the damage is as likely to be to people following the rules as it is to people just winging it.  So I don't think we can let this one sort itself out.

[patric]

Oh dear God no!  One light was out on my way to work and people either sit there like a bird that's just run into a window or drive frantically through the intersection like a scared cat.  I acquiesce the point that many people are simply not capable of figuring out four way stops. Here's a work around for people having issues:
Sadly, the damage is as likely to be to people following the rules as it is to people just winging it.  So I don't think we can let this one sort itself out.

I thought about just writing "natural selection" but decided against it, but yes.

The point being a signalized intersection is much more complicated than four metal signs, yet people seem to have better luck adapting.  Maybe a flashing yellow arrow is more useful as a prompt? 

Tulsa has left-turn lanes that only have an arrow and no green light.  You can sit at a red light there with not another car in sight.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Tulsa has left-turn lanes that only have an arrow and no green light.  You can sit at a red light there with not another car in sight.

That is the circumstance I really like about the flashing yellows....don't have to wait an extra full light cycle.

[cannon_fodder]

I was recently in a city where the stoplights are timed to pedestrians.  At a normal if not semi-fast walking pace a pedestrian will hit every light as they walk down the street. 

[rebound]

I was recently in a city where the stoplights are timed to pedestrians.  At a normal if not semi-fast walking pace a pedestrian will hit every light as they walk down the street. 

San Francisco has been that way for years.   You have to walk pretty quickly, but you will hit every green.  The city is timed for pedestrians, not cars.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Went through 4 of them in Moore and Norman today and 1 out in Broken Arrow this afternoon.   Still liking it.

[patric]

Went through 4 of them in Moore and Norman today and 1 out in Broken Arrow this afternoon.   Still liking it.

Tulsa is beginning to phase in new traffic signals with a flashing yellow arrow for permissive left turns. The first four of these new traffic signals will begin operating on Tuesday, October 1, at the following intersections:

    East 46th Street North and U.S. Highway 169
    East 46th Street North and 125th East Avenue
    East 36th Street North and Garnett Road
    West 81st Street South and Olympia Avenue

Also, soon to follow will be another flashing yellow arrow signal at West 71st Street and Tulsa Hills.

The flashing yellow arrow directs traffic in the left-turn lane in the same way as the green "ball," which indicated that a driver must yield to oncoming traffic or pedestrians before turning left.

On these new traffic signals, the arrow for the left-turn lane will be either steady red, steady yellow, flashing yellow or steady green. "Red" will continue to mean "stop." Steady yellow will mean "prepare to stop." Flashing yellow will mean "proceed with left turn after yielding to oncoming traffic or pedestrians;" and green will mean "proceed with left turn."

Signals with flashing yellow arrows for left turns have been included in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices since 2009, the version which Oklahoma adopted in 2012. The new signals improve traffic flow and safety. They are most helpful at intersections with frequent traffic congestion, high traffic volumes and above-average accident rates.

https://www.publicradiotulsa.org/post/tulsa-begins-phasing-new-flashing-yellow-arrow