A 3-minute lesson from the Pennsylvania course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Some signals flash, some hang over individual lanes, and some sit at the end of highway ramps. Each works like a sign with a single message. The big trap: a flashing yellow arrow lets you turn, but it does not protect you.
Flashing red light
Know the rule
A flashing red light means the same as a STOP sign: come to a complete stop, look both ways, and proceed only when the intersection is clear.
A flashing yellow arrow lets you turn in the arrow's direction with caution after yielding to oncoming traffic and pedestrians. The turn is NOT protected: oncoming traffic has a green light.
Ramp meters at the end of some entrance ramps alternate steady green and red, usually in peak rush hours. Wait for green. On a single-lane ramp only one car enters per green; multi-lane ramps have a meter for each lane.
Lane-use control signals hang directly over lanes at toll booths, on bridges, in tunnels, and on city roads where a lane's direction changes during rush hour.
Lane-use control signals
Lane-use control signals
Signal over lane
Meaning
Steady downward green arrow
You may use this lane
Steady yellow X
Change lanes; direction is about to reverse
Steady red X
You may not use this lane
White one-way left-turn arrow
Left turns only from this lane
White two-way left-turn arrow
Left turns only; shared with opposite left-turners
You're driving across a bridge and a steady yellow X lights up over your lane. Signal and move safely into a lane with a green arrow: your lane is about to carry traffic the other way.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
How should a non-functioning traffic light be treated?
As a yield sign
As a signal to proceed with caution at normal speed
As a sign that the intersection is closed
As a four-way stop sign
Answer: As a four-way stop sign
A non-functioning signal should be treated like a four-way stop.
