The Dos and Don’ts of Flashing Light Intersection Behaviors

If you approach an intersection where you have a flashing light facing you, you’ll probably remember what you learned in driver’s education classes. A flashing red means one thing, while a flashing yellow means something else. You’ll need to act in the correct way to keep you and your passengers safe, as well as any other drivers, pedestrians, or cyclists around you.

If you get in an accident at an intersection because you or someone else acted incorrectly while approaching a flashing light, you must follow protocol after that. Typically, you should file an accident report within 10 days if injuries occurred. If possible, you can also tell the police what happened at the scene.

It is worth talking about what you should do when you’re facing a flashing light at an intersection. Let’s discuss some of the most prominent dos and don’ts right now.

Do Approach a Flashing Yellow Light with Caution

First, you should understand what a flashing yellow light at an intersection means. If you took driver’s ed, then presumably, they covered this. However, maybe you won’t necessarily remember what you’re supposed to do when you’re in that situation while on the road.

When you approach a flashing yellow light, that means you have the right of way. As a driver, you don’t have to come to a stop when you’re facing one. 

You may have the right of way, but you’re still supposed to approach the intersection cautiously. You can go, but keep your eyes open to make sure nobody around you goes out of turn. 

Do Stop Fully at a Flashing Red Light

If you approach a flashing red light in your car when coming to an intersection, that means you have to stop. You can regard a flashing red light more like a stop sign than a light that’s solid red.

 The flashing red light means you have to stop fully. In other words, you don’t want to do the rolling stop that many drivers do when they approach a stop sign. 

By stopping fully, you’re completely assessing the intersection and the drivers around you. When you make that full stop, you’re following traffic laws, but you’re also making sure there’s nobody on foot trying to cross in front of you or anything similar that demands your attention.  

Do Look to Either Side of the Intersection as You Approach

You will also want to look to either side of the intersection when you approach a flashing traffic light. That mostly applies if you’re coming up on a flashing red, but you should also do it when approaching a flashing yellow.

If you have a flashing red, you need so stop fully, and as you do, you should look at the vehicles to either side, if you see any. You can look at a flashing red light like stop signs on each corner of a four-way intersection. Having one means that you need to stop and let anyone who arrived before you go first. 

Luckily, you will almost never have a situation where you have four flashing red lights, one facing in each of the four directions. That’s because, if you have two flashing reds facing each other, you will almost always have two flashing yellows to the left and right.

Any two vehicles approaching the flashing yellow lights can go without stopping when they approach. They should do so with caution, but they need not come to a stop. 

The two vehicles and drivers that have the flashing reds must stop, and that is when you need to look to either side as a driver. When you do, you are making sure that you have nothing and no one coming that might impede you when you press down on the gas and enter the intersection. 

Don’t Go Through a Flashing Yellow Light Heedlessly

You should also never go through a flashing yellow light heedlessly. Yes, you should have the right of way when you approach an intersection and see a flashing yellow light facing you. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should go straight through the intersection without at least slowing down.

Slowing down when you approach an intersection with a flashing yellow light facing you means you’re exercising the proper amount of caution. This might save you from getting in an accident if you have someone on either side of you who decided to go when it wasn’t their turn.

That can happen more than you might think. Some drivers don’t realize if they have flashing red that it means that they need to stop. If you have a driver on your left or right who drives straight through a flashing red without stopping, then slowing down and proceeding cautiously when you’re coming up on an intersection with a flashing yellow light facing you might save your life.

Don’t Go Out of Turn 

You need to do one additional thing when you’re approaching an intersection and you have a flashing light facing you. Try not to go out of turn.

Remember that the flashing yellow means that you have the right of way, so you can go before any driver who has the flashing red. If you have a flashing red, realize that the law states that you must come to a complete stop before driving forward into the intersection.

By not going out of turn, you make a car crash much less likely. That applies whether you have either a yellow or red flashing light facing you.

Flashing lights usually turn on late at night, so when you approach an intersection with them, that probably means you won’t have much other traffic around. That makes accidents less likely.

If you see a red or yellow flashing light during the daylight hours, though, that often means you have an unusual traffic situation happening. In such instances, you will want to approach the intersection cautiously, regardless of whether you’re got a flashing red or yellow.

By ML staff. Image courtesy of Pexels.