Subtle change yields big dividends for local drivers

The traffic light for eastbound traffic on Indianapolis Road now has a flashing yellow light for turning left onto Fawn View Lane following a recent upgrade. The intersection has also seen the removal of the “No right turn on red” signs that had been in place there ever since the opening of the Deer Field Estates subdivision.

Banner Graphic/ERIC BERNSEE

A seemingly minor change is having major driving dividends for Greencastle motorists, one city official notes.

The addition of a yellow flashing arrow that allows drivers to make a left turn even after the traditional green arrow has elapsed. And that has made the traffic flow at Indianapolis Road-Fawn View Lane/Percy Julian Drive better and has residents of the area applauding the change.

“It’s the best thing that’s happened in my neighborhood,” Second Ward City Councilor Stacie Langdon, who lives just north of the intersection in Deer Field Estates, told the Banner Graphic.

“Traffic is moving through there so much better,” she added, noting that the elimination of no right on red has been perhaps as significant at the flashing yellow arrows.

“Some people don’t even know until they see someone else do it,” Langdon added.

The Council member said she approached City Attorney Laurie Hardwick about the intersection change last winter. “I said, ‘I want a Christmas present,’” Langdon recalled. “So Laurie researched it and got it OK’d.”

After that Department of Public Works Superintendent Andrew Rogers and his crew installed the new lights and removed the superfluous signage.

Greencastle even seemed to be ahead locally of the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), which has now installed the flashing yellow arrows at several state intersections around the community.

Across Indiana, over the last few years, traffic signals at the end of their service lives have been upgraded to a flashing yellow arrow signal, INDOT officials noted on their Facebook page.

Reportedly, a study from the National Cooperative Highway Research Program showed that severe crashes were reduced by 25 percent when compared with traditional yield-on-green lights. While reducing crashes, the flashing light also delivers greater efficiency for traffic, INDOT noted.

A solid green arrow is known as a “protected” turn, and these flashing yellow arrows allow for what is known as a “permitted turn.”

“These traffic lights can be programmed by engineers to handle variable traffic volumes,” INDOT explained “During higher traffic periods of the day, drivers may see solid green arrows for ‘protected’ left turns, and during those less-busy times, drivers may see a flashing yellow arrow for ‘permissive’ left turns.”

The flashing yellow left-turn arrow has been adopted as a national standard by the Federal Highway Administration, so implementing the new lights keeps the Hoosier state consistent with other states that have adopted the signal.

The flashing yellow arrow indicates to motorists that they must proceed with care and decide if there is a sufficient gap in oncoming traffic to safely make a left turn. And that is where the efficiency comes in — traffic can move more easily when there are more opportunities to make a left turn.

And, of course, a solid yellow arrow retains its same meaning, INDOT says: The left-turn signal is about to change and drivers should be prepared to stop.