Arrow Encounter

I sat there with my turn signal clicking away, and really had no clue as to what the procedure for what I was staring at entailed. I was waiting to turn left at an intersection, and before me was a flashing yellow arrow. I expected a green arrow, a red arrow, any of the normal traffic signals. But no. I was looking at a flashing yellow arrow. And wondering to myself: Exactly how long have I been licensed to operate a vehicle? (Let's just say that it's been a while... a long while, at least a respectable amount of time!) So, in theory, I should know what to do when given a flashing yellow arrow. Not knowing was making me feel increasingly dumb.

Thankfully there was a sign positioned next to this anomaly that would enlighten me on the subject: "Yield when yellow arrow flashes." Ah, yes. So that is the meaning behind the flashing yellow arrow... Still confused I continued home musing about the odd arrow encounter. It seemed so superfluous! One is taught to yeild a turn on green, yes? Presumably the traffic control people had engineered a specific arrow for this specific intersection, (as there are normally no such occurrences as a yellow arrow altogether) that seemed like over doing things a tad.

I still feel semi-confident in my automotive operating prowess... I think.