idiot traffic engineers cause death and injury!

 Most left turn collisions with oncoming traffic occur at green lights-
which are found in abundance in Florida! Few left-turn collisions
occur at blinking red arrows.

In Michigan and most NORTHERN states where traffic engineers seem to
display more intelligence and are quick to react to injury and death
statistics:

A blinking red left-turn arrow (as well as a blinking left-turn yellow
arrow)is well understood by all drivers to mean: oncoming traffic has
the green light and does not stop!

It's time for Florida traffic engineers to WAKE UP and standardize
with the rest of the country!.

Left-turn carnage is EPIDEMIC in Florida!

The man in a position to correct all the left-turn carnage is:

Florida Dept of Transportation:

Ken Bass
ph (863) 519-2495 (Barlow, Fl)

Mt suggestion: Call him and:
Politely YELL BLOODY MURDER!

ALSO EMAIL DOT: fdot.pio@ dot.state.fl.us

Cindy.Clemmons-Adente@dot.state.fl.us



Mike Corman


misterfact@yahoo.com

  On Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:51:48 -0700, "misterfact@yahoo.com"


I no longer drive, but blinking red used to mean you have to stop,
then procede when safe. Is that still the case?

--
Zilbandy

 
  Blinking red full round circle light means stop and proceed when safe.
You have a legal requirement to fully stop before proceeding when safely
doable, though in many jurisdictions meaning is close to that when you
have a stop sign and the cross street does not - as in sometimes local
road culture "largely" allows "stopping" only to extent necessary to avoid
crashing into those that the law requires you to yield right-of-way to.

  I live where blinking arrow signals are not legally defined, and I never
saw such things despite driving experience in a few US "states" and a
province of Canada.

  (Free legal advice:  Crashing while breaking the law or breaking the law
in view of a police officer who is behind on any ticket quota is a
"Bad Thing"!)

  Red arrow means "Stop and stay stopped if you are going that way".

  Green arrow means go that way when safe to do so, and if other green
options become available do so when safely able to do so when such signal
is present.

  Separate traffic light with a nearby sign "left turn signal" or "right
turn signal" means if you are going that way, do that way when safe to
do so on green from that associated traffic light, whether arrow or full
green, and stay stopped if you want to go that way and that separate
traffic signal is red either full round or arrow.
  Green arrows mean green only in the direction indicated by arrows.

  If the traffic light has both full green and arrow green options
at various times, go when safe in the arrow direction when the arrow is
lit, otherwise yield to oncoming traffic if turning left (in nations where
left turners crossthe path of oncoming traffic).

  Blinking green light is sometimes found in some nations, and means that
if you are making a turn through the path of oncoming traffic then the
oncoming traffic is required to either stop unconditionally or yield to
you if you are not turning.

 - Don Klipstein (don@misty.com)

 
Show me.


Not all drivers. Only the competent ones.

All competent drivers understand that on-coming traffic has the right
of way over someone making a left turn, unless they specifically have
a green turn signal.


Since most intersections in the country do not have specific left turn signals.
Florida is probably in compliance with the standards of the country.

Don

 

And therein lies the problem.  How do you uniquely signal the following
two situations?

1) A protected left turn across traffic.
        IE: Oncomming traffic has a red light.

2) An unprotected left turn across traffic.
        IE: Oncomming traffic has a green light.

In both cases a green arrow or a green ball could
be used to signal both situations.