Parent comment is describing a solid green light (which is/was equivalent to flashing yellow). Never seen a green circle around a green arrow - lived in VA 20+ years
Wow that seems confusing. I know I would have been scratching my head at what a green left arrow with a circle around it meant different that a regular green left arrow. Would not have thought that it was equivalent of flashing yellow.
> In the case of a yellow traffic light, there should be a traffic light fixture and two other (unlit) lights. Without this context, it becomes apparent the yellow pixels in a circular shape (representation to the network) are not a traffic light at all.
Permanent yield signals are often only one flashing yellow light. Crosswalk signals are often only flashing yellow lights when active. Temporary construction barrier signals are often only yellow flashing lights. Fire station signals often have only red and yellow lights, no green. Even when all three lights are present, they may also be oriented horizontally, or in triangular shapes.
Which isn't to say there isn't more context to learn from, but just about the only true unifying trait among all these indicators that you should perhaps pay attention and slow down is a bit of yellow light. It need not even be circular: yellow arrows are far from uncommon, including "straight ahead" yellow arrows for intersections where turns are forbidden.
I'm pretty sure there was a light that did this in Virginia. Possibly on Route 7 North of Reston. Long stretch of road with no intersections, and a light seemingly for no purpose.
> the traffic lights turn yellow even when the yellow light has not become solid
I'm sorry, but this sentence doesn't make sense to me. Did you mean:
> the traffic lights turn yellow even when the "do-not-cross" signal is still flashing
If not, could you explain? If so, where do you live that the lights do this? I've never seen that behavior (although I'm the first to say I haven't lived many places).
I've always thought the differences between the solid light and arrow was too minor for the average driver. I mean, look at the skills of the average driver.
In Washington state unprotected lefts weren't legal maneuvers for quite a while. They were introduced gradually starting at intersections where it would be a traffic benefit, for signaling the state adopted a blinking yellow arrow that then goes solid to signify the 'almost over' meaning of a typical yellow light.
There is a green light literally right next to it. I was also initially confused as to which lane either was pointing at. They are not offset angle wise very much.
> When you drive, you don't interpret the light of the turn signal, you interpret where it is.
That is not true, you only interpret "where it is" because there is no other information encoded in the light itself, when seeing a regular car with a plain signal you do interpret where it is. But in service cars (police car, ambulances, road maintenance trucks), large truck, or static light signaling, we frequently have special purpose lights with a meaning encoded in the light itself, and in those cases the position is irrelevant, the meaning is 100% in the icon used, so all drivers are already primed to interpret an arrow shaped light as an arrow. Now, those service vehicles don't have those special purpose lights in places were they could be ambiguously interpreted as a turn signal, so there is no problem there, but that Mini turn signal is quite unsettling, it sends two conflicting messages (position vs iconography), and that is BAD in traffic.
> Modern rechargeable electricial markers that could last all night were not common at all.
Is this common where you drive? Where I drive in the US, it's all traffic cones with reflective parts, relying on cars to have their headlights on to see the temporary barriers.
> I can drive a car and I stop when the light is red and go when the light is green.
I'm also slightly colorblind and pure green light would be harder to distinguish from distance (not critical because there is also light position, but still). That's why traffic lights usually have cyan tint.
> Then again, it also boggles my mind how car makers in the US continue to use flashing red lights as the turn signal instead of yellow lights. You can barely see the red light in sunlight and it's harder to tell the red light from brake lights.
I'm also starting to see really thin - single narrow LED strip - turn signals that are barely visible next to the much larger headlight nearby.
Not quite. Yellow blinking left arrows are always for a protected left turn lane. So when blinking, it does become more like an unprotected 'turn left on green' type of light, but you don't have the straight-through traffic coming up behind you, since you're on a dedicated turn lane. And the yellow flashing arrow is usually timed so that it happens at the safest time to make an unprotected left.
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