Maybe its just my learned driving habits, but a Permissive Left Turn phase should coincide with your "Thru" traffic having a Green Signal for the straight movement
There is no way it is safer for Left Turners than it is for Straight/Through traffic in this situation (if the Opposing direction has Protected Green Left Turn combined with Green for Straight/Through traffic.) At worst, it should be "Flashing Yellow" for Left Turning AND Straight/Through Traffic
It is pretty easy to dream up a scenario where Oncoming/Opposing Traffic has a Green Ball with Green Left Arrow, and there is traffic going straight but not turning. Why shouldn't the "Other" direction's straight movement have a "Permissive" Straight movement with a Flashing Yellow Ball, if Left Turning movement can have a "Permissive" Left movement with a Flashing Yellow Arrow
I'm looking for consistency here
Its important to remember that any flashing yellow signal ultimately means proceed using the rules of the road as if there was no signal here (but with caution). A yellow flashing ball would seem to have priority for those approaching it over the green arrow (that they can't see), as its not the normal rule of the road.
Since when and in what universe does a yellow traffic signal have any priority over a green traffic signal??? A good traffic light setup doesn't allow you to see what the other directions have anyway. You're not supposed to approach a signal and decide what you want to do based on the colors of the other directions.
For what it's worth, here's the 'normal' law: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0300-0399/0316/Sections/0316.076.html
I'm not sure what you mean by normal laws and not normal laws. I guess traffic light colors fall under not normal laws to you, and red, yellow and green don't mean anything?
Again, I don't know what your talking about. It seems your simply not reading my posts and then calling me crazy. The post I replied to asked about a flashing yellow ball and why can't we have that opposing a green arrow. I replied explaining why that wouldn't make sense. The perception of the driver of the flashing yellow ball is that nobody else is going to have a green signal to go in front of them. Someone else who has a flashing yellow signal and is turning in front of them would be expected to yield to those going straight, just as if there was no signal. Traffic from the side streets is expected to have a flashing red signal, and be the lowest priority of them all. We don't have a flashing yellow ball in one direction and have the perpendicular street having a green ball for this reason. The flashing yellow would assume they have priority over the green ball as they DON'T KNOW the other direction has a green ball, and those facing the green ball would assume they have priority over the yellow ball, but even that is unclear.
The Florida statute you linked to is completely consistent with what I said. The only modifier from the normal traffic rules of a flashing yellow light is "with caution".
Quite interesting interpretation, makes a quite a bit of sense. Does not address traffic on perpendicular road, though.
Is that spelled out in MUTCD, or that is your own wording?
A perpendicular road shouldn't be presented with any signal that isn't colored red (whether flashing or solid) when there is any green or yellow (whether solid or flashing) for the original road.
And yes, thats my own wording.
Looks like issue is with meaning of flashing yellow.
Solid green for northbound +FYA for southbound is a meaningful combination, southbound left turn yields, northbound straight has right of way.
Flashing yellow ball for northbound + green arrow for southbound is NOT a meaningful combination since it grants right of way to two conflicting moves.
Yes,that combination would be equivalent to have a flashing yellow ball for northbound, southbound, eastbound, AND westbound at the same time. Because it appears to be a controlled intersection, but its entirely uncontrolled. Only part I would disagree with is the word "grants" because the yellow signal technically does not do that, the ONLY meaning of it is "use caution"
It may be important to send the message to each and every driver that flashing yellow has somewhat different meaning for an arrow and a ball....
It doesn't though. Here's the "consistent" way to think of the signals:
Solid red: Stop and wait for signal to change (unless a specific law grants proceeding on red after stop, which varies by state)
Flashing red: Treat as a stop sign
Solid yellow: The previous indication is ending and a new one will soon appear, that likely requires you to stop.
Flashing yellow: Use caution. Follow all laws and rules on proceeding through the intersection as you don't have any traffic control device changing any meaning for you.
Green: Proceed after yielding to anything already in the intersection. You have the "protected" right of way for entering the intersection.
The arrow modified the signal to become more specific then the ball, so if an arrow indication faces in your direction, you should follow that over any ball. Just as if there is a bus signal sign and you are operating a bus in a bus lane, you should follow that over any other signal.
Its extremely consistent. Infact, the only real inconsistency is on the solid GREEN BALL, which really has the meaning of a straight green arrow, as right turns have to yield to pedestrians/bikes and left turns have to yield to both pedestrians/bikes and oncoming traffic.