5.1 Traffic Signals and Pedestrian Beacons

5.1 Traffic Signals and Pedestrian Beacons

Quick Answer: Green means go if the intersection is clear — you have the right of way. Steady yellow means green has ended and the signal is about to turn red; your right of way is ending, but if you are too close to stop safely you may complete the movement. Red means stop; do not enter until the light facing you is green and the intersection is clear. A green arrow with a red or green circular light gives you the right of way to turn if the path is clear. A circular green without an arrow lets you turn if clear, but you must yield to all oncoming traffic, and only one vehicle at a time may move into the intersection to turn left. Right on red requires a full stop, a vehicle and pedestrian check, no No Turn on Red sign, and the correct lane. Left on red is allowed only from a one-way street onto a one-way street. A red flashing light equals a stop sign. At a dark, non-operating signal, stop and then yield to traffic already in the intersection, vehicles that stopped before you, a vehicle that arrived at the same time and is to your right, and pedestrians.

Traffic control devices — stop lights, beacons, and signs — control traffic flow and indicate right of way at intersections and pedestrian crossings. On the Indiana BMV knowledge exam this is Chapter 6 material. It can appear on the traffic signs component (what the display means) and on the traffic maneuvers/rules component (what you may legally do). You must score 80 percent or higher on each component.

The color or symbol facing you is your assignment. Guessing that yellow means speed up, that a red flasher is the same as a yellow flasher, or that a circular green is a protected left-turn arrow fails the exam and fails the crash that happens when someone else actually has the right of way.

Circular lights: green, steady yellow, red

Green is not a promise that the box is empty. If a pedestrian is finishing a cross or a car is stuck in the middle, you wait even though your light is green.

Steady yellow is not a command to race the light and not a command to slam on the brakes from a distance that would cause a rear-end crash. If you can stop safely before the intersection, stop. If you are already so close that a safe stop is impossible, complete the movement. Entering on yellow just to beat red is not the Indiana rule.

Red is a closed gate. Do not creep into the crosswalk or take a head start in the intersection while the light facing you is still red.

Turning on green: arrows versus circular green

If you face a green arrow displayed with a red or green light, you have the right of way and may turn through the intersection as long as it is clear. The circular red that often sits beside a green left arrow is not telling you to wait for circular green. The arrow is your protected turn.

If you face a green light displayed without an arrow, you may turn if the intersection is clear, but you must yield the right of way to all oncoming traffic. Only one vehicle at a time may move into an intersection to turn left. Do not stack two left-turning cars into the middle of a busy Indiana intersection just because the circular light is green. The second driver waits behind the stop line until the first vehicle has completed the turn.

Yellow flashing arrows and steady yellow arrows

A yellow flashing arrow for a turning movement means you may proceed with the turn only after you have yielded the right of way to pedestrians and oncoming traffic. It is a permitted but unprotected turn. It is not a protected green arrow.

If you face a steady yellow light or arrow, your right of way is ending. Treat it like circular yellow: prepare to stop unless you are too close to stop safely.

Turns on red

If you face a red light or arrow, your right of way has ended. If you are already in the middle of an intersection, you may turn once oncoming traffic has stopped. If you have not entered, you may not enter until the light facing you turns green and the intersection is clear — unless a permitted turn-on-red applies.

Right on red, when permissible, requires all of the following:

1. Come to a full stop
2. Check that there are no vehicles and pedestrians in the path of your turn or about to enter that path
3. Confirm there is not a No Turn on Red sign
4. Use the correct lane

Left on red is narrower. You may turn left on red only if you are turning from a one-way street onto a one-way street. You must still full-stop, check vehicles and pedestrians, confirm there is no No Turn on Red sign, and use the correct lanes. Left on red from a two-way street onto a two-way street is not this Indiana rule.

Yellow flashing lights without an arrow, and rectangular rapid flashing beacons

A yellow flashing light displayed without an arrow at an intersection means slow down and use caution. If you are turning left, you must yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians. All traffic on the cross street is required to yield the right of way to you. Watch anyway — another driver or a pedestrian may still try to cross.

A rectangular rapid flashing beacon (RRFB) is a different yellow flasher. RRFBs are used at crosswalks and flash only when a pedestrian activates them. When the rectangles flash, a pedestrian is claiming that crossing. Slow, yield, and do not treat a dark beacon as proof that nobody is there if someone is clearly starting across.

Red flashing lights — equivalent to a stop sign

A red flashing light at an intersection is equivalent to a stop sign. Come to a complete stop before proceeding with caution.

• If cross-traffic is not required to stop, proceed only when the intersection is clear and you will not interfere with cross-traffic's right of way.
• If all traffic is required to stop, proceed only after you have stopped and yielded to any vehicle already in the intersection and any vehicle that stopped before entering. If you arrive at the same time, the vehicle on the left yields the right of way.

Simultaneous arrival means left yields and the vehicle on the right goes. Size, hurry, and who waved first are not the rule.

Bicycle signals, motorcycles, motor driven cycles, and transit bars

A signal that displays only bicycle symbols controls a bike lane or a separate bike path and applies only to bicyclists. As with vehicle signals, red means stop, yellow means right of way is ending, and green means go. A bicyclist may make a left turn from a designated left-turn lane on a one-way street onto another one-way street with the flow of traffic.

If a bicycle signal fails to change to green, the operator approaching that bicycle traffic signal may proceed through a steady red after a complete stop of at least two minutes and due caution.

Motorcycles and motor driven cycles (MDCs) have the same two-minute stuck-at-red rule at a traffic signal. This rule does not apply to autocycles. An autocycle waiting on a detector that never cycles does not get the two-minute exception.

Bus or transit signals display white rectangular bars. They control a bus or transit lane and apply only to bus or transit operators. A white bar is not your green.

Where to stop, yield signs, dark signals, and alleys

If you are approaching a red light or a stop sign, stop at the solid white stop line. If there is no stop line, come to a complete stop perpendicular to the stop sign or before entering the crosswalk on your side of the intersection. If there is no crosswalk, stop before entering the intersection.

A yield sign means slow down when approaching an intersection and be prepared to come to a complete stop if a vehicle or pedestrian with the right of way is approaching from another direction. Right-of-way traffic should not have to brake to avoid a collision with you.

If you approach an intersection with a non-operating (dark) signal, stop before entering. After stopping, proceed with caution only after you have yielded the right of way to:

• Cross-traffic that has already entered the intersection
• Any vehicle that stopped before you and is entering the intersection
• Any vehicle that arrived at the same time as you and is to your right
• Any pedestrian traffic

Before entering a street from an alley or driveway, stop and yield the right of way to other vehicles.

Learn both wordings of the simultaneous-arrival rule. At a dark signal, you yield to the vehicle on your right. At an all-way red flasher, the vehicle on the left yields. Those sentences describe the same result: the vehicle on the right proceeds. The exam can quote either Chapter 6 sentence.

Pedestrian signals and pedestrian hybrid beacons

Pedestrian signals alert pedestrians when they may safely cross.

• WALK or a walking-person symbol: pedestrians may safely cross. At some intersections a button near the signal or stop sign activates the walk display.
• DON'T WALK or a raised-hand symbol: it is not safe to start across. Flashing words or symbols mean the time in which to safely cross is ending.

A pedestrian hybrid beacon facilitates pedestrian crossing and may be found at a mid-block crosswalk. It is dark unless a pedestrian has activated it. Once activated:

1. Flashing yellow — allows drivers to clear the crossing
2. Steady yellow — warns that right of way is ending
3. Two steady red lights — displayed while the pedestrian walks; drivers stay stopped
4. Alternating flashing red — drivers may proceed if the crossing is clear of pedestrians
5. The beacon then goes dark until the next activation

Do not treat two steady reds on a hybrid beacon as optional because the device sits at mid-block. During the walk interval those reds are red.

Realistic Indiana scenarios

Circular green, left turn, Lafayette. Two cars wait to turn left on a circular green with no arrow. Only one vehicle at a time may move into the intersection to turn left. The second car stays behind the stop line until the first completes the turn and yields to all oncoming traffic.

Right on red, Bloomington. After a full stop you see a pedestrian stepping off the curb into your turning path. Right on red is not allowed until that path is clear, even if there is no No Turn on Red sign.

One-way to one-way, downtown Indianapolis. You are on a one-way street facing red and want to turn left onto another one-way. After a full stop, a vehicle and pedestrian check, confirmation that there is no No Turn on Red sign, and use of the correct lanes, left on red is allowed.

Stuck motorcycle, Fort Wayne. A motorcycle sits at red for two full minutes; the detector never cycles. After a complete stop of at least two minutes and due caution, the motorcycle or MDC may proceed. An autocycle in the same spot may not use that exception.

Mid-block hybrid, Carmel trail crossing. The beacon goes flashing yellow, then steady yellow, then two steady reds while a walker crosses. You stop for the steady reds. When the reds alternate and the crosswalk is empty, you may proceed.

Common traps

• Treating steady yellow as a command to always enter, or always panic-stop from a safe stopping distance
• Turning left on a circular green without yielding to all oncoming traffic
• Sending two left-turning vehicles into the intersection at once
• Treating a flashing yellow arrow as a protected green arrow
• Right on red without a full stop, or with a No Turn on Red sign still posted
• Left on red from a two-way street
• Mixing a yellow flasher (slow and use caution; left yields to oncoming) with a red flasher (stop sign)
• Ignoring an RRFB because it stays dark until a pedestrian activates it
• Using the two-minute red-light rule for an autocycle
• Stopping in the crosswalk instead of at the solid white stop line
• At a dark signal, yielding to the left instead of to the vehicle on your right
• Driving through two steady reds on a hybrid beacon during the pedestrian walk interval