ARE YOU EXPERIENCING

FYA ACCIDENTS?

Find Out The Truth

Ask these questions

If you have an unusual number of accidents with flashing yellow arrows left turn signals, ask these questions:

1. Is the increase in accidents real?

   Check for bad statistics and unrelated causes

2. Is a reporter writing scare stories about FYA?

   Too many times a reporter does one or more of the following:

   • Rails against FYA (or roundabouts) because he doesn't understand how to drive them.
   • Latches onto a spectacular accident (usually a fatality) and blames FYA.
   • Sees a waste of tax money because he can't see the difference between FYA and circular green.

     (The difference is the meaning to drivers not making the left turn.)

   • Uses the controversy he is creating to raise his ratings or newspaper sales.
3. Is a belief circulating that all arrows indicate protected movements?

   These beliefs are usually caused by one or more of the following:

   • A layman politician officially spreads wrong information.
   • Someone who hates FYA spreads the wrong information that all arrows are protected through letters to the editors and web posts.

     (Only a green arrow has the property of a protected movement.)

   • A driver-education teacher is teaching it wrong.
   • A signal in the area used to have a flashing yellow arrow for a protected turn during night flashing mode.
   • Drivers are honking, trying to hurry others into making unsafe turns.
4. Did a signal in the area in the past ever use FYA to indicate a protected left turn during night flash mode?

   If so, an extra effort to educate drivers must be used in that area.

5. 

   Correct

   ---

   Wrong

   

    

   
   Is the FYA instruction sign being used correctly?

   The sign should say the following:

   LEFT TURN YIELD ON FLASHING YELLOW ARROW:

   There should be no image on the sign.

6. Does the left turn meet the guidelines for a permissive turn?

   Evaluate each street separately.

   If any of the following are present, FYA should not be used. Turns on circular green must not be used. The left turns must be exclusively protected:

   • Speed limit higher than 45 mph
   • Three or more lanes of oncoming straight-ahead traffic
   • Intersection geometry requires a separate signal head for the left turn
   • Two or more left turn lanes on an approach
   • The left turn shares a lane with other movements
   • Inadequate sight distance for the left turning driver
   • Left turning driver can't see through oncoming left turn vehicles to see oncoming straight-ahead vehicles
   • Unusual intersection geometry makes the left turn confusing
7. Is the FYA installed correctly?

   Correct installation includes all of the following:

   • FYA must be installed in both directions on the same road (see below).
   • FYA must always display whenever the oncoming circular green is displayed (see below).
   • FYA must not be used with single lane approaches or shared left/thru lanes.
   • The controller must be checked for yellow trap, second yellow trap, third yellow trap, green trap, little yellow trap, pre-emption yellow trap, and construction yellow trap.
   • The intersection must meet the guidelines for permissive left turns.

   Correct installation must be done by a trained engineer. The work must not be done by a politician, the police, or a local electrician.

8. Were the FYA signals installed in both directions on the same road?

   This must be done wherever exclusive left turn lanes exist in both directions on that road at the intersection.

   Only in these cases can a FYA face exist in one direction, but not the other:

   • The stem of a T intersection. No left turn exists in the opposite direction.
   • One left turn does not exist (due to side road T intersection or one-way street).
   • One leg has no exclusive left turn lane (alternate yellow-trap prevention must be used).

   Even if the green arrow is not wanted on a leg, the rest of the flashing yellow arrow face must be operating, or yellow trap happens.

   If FYA can't be used in one direction on one road, it might be better to not use FYA at all on that road at that intersection.

9. What if the green arrow is not wanted or needed on one leg?

   If the left turn lane exists and FYA is used in the opposite direction on that road, the rest of the flashing yellow arrow face must be operating or yellow trap happens.

   If that leg has no exclusive left turn lane, then no FYA signal face may be used, and alternate yellow-trap prevention must be used.

   If a leg has no exclusive left turn lane, but a green arrow is wanted, then no FYA signal face may be used (a different signal face must be used) and alternate yellow-trap prevention must be used.

10. Does each flashing yellow arrow always display at all times the oncoming traffic circular green displays?

    If this does not happen, something is wrong with the installation:

    • Protecting pedestrians by disabling FYA when a pedestrian call occurs causes yellow trap. This must not be done.
    • If the installation is done wrong, the flashing yellow arrow will end at the wrong time, causing yellow trap.
    • A railroad or drawbridge pre-emption of the display of an FYA that turns into the blocked approach must occur at the beginning of the phase, but must never force it off in the middle.
11. Is there a single-lane approach on the street?

    A flashing yellow arrow signal face cannot be used with a single lane approach. An alternate phasing must be used and yellow trap must be prevented through other means.

12. Does the street have a left turn that shares a lane with other movements?

    A flashing yellow arrow signal face cannot be used with a shared use lane. An alternate phasing must be used and yellow trap must be prevented through other means.

13. Is the signal erroneously causing yellow trap?

    The signal must be checked through observation. These observations must be made at low traffic periods as well as high traffic periods. Yellow trap often happens when the signal is unloaded and is skipping phases.

    The controller must be checked for the following:

    • Yellow trap -- Left turn green ends before oncoming green
    • Second yellow trap -- Left turn green ends, but oncoming right green arrow does not
    • Third yellow trap -- FYA ended to reservice pedestrian phase
    • Little yellow trap -- Circular yellows end at different times
    • Green trap -- Circular greens begin at different times as vehicles enter detection zones
    • Yellow trap in pre-emptions -- Not ending FYA at wrong time
    • Yellow trap in construction -- Changes in lane use as construction closes lanes
14. How do I check the signal for yellow trap?

    Look for any case where a circular green is displayed in one direction while the oncoming traffic has only steady red and/or steady yellow indications.

    

    Correctly Installed - Safe - No Yellow Trap

    

    Yellow Trap from Wrongly Installed FYA

    

    Yellow Trap from Left Turns on Circular Green

    Notice that the lower two diagrams turn all of the signals on the leading side yellow and then red simultaneously. This is the yellow trap. A left turning driver on the leading side is trapped. The correct installation (top) keeps the yellow arrow flashing until the oncoming circular green turns yellow.

    The middle image is a simulation of what happens when the FYA is wrongly linked to the adjacent circular green instead of the oncoming circular green. It brings the wrong timing of left turns on circular green to the FYA, causing yellow trap.

    Notice the middle diagram has the same indications the bottom diagram has. Both cause yellow trap.

    If the circular signals are not simultaneously showing identical indications in all three diagrams, refresh the page or open it in a new tab.