Michigan Drivers Left Turn Signals Will Soon Change

Michigan drivers are used to their traffic lights going from red, to green, to yellow over and over. Some intersections have either yellow blinking lights and red blinking lights. Soon however, Michigan drivers will have to learn a new combination of lights if they are going to turn left.

The federal government, Federal Highway Administration, has issued a mandate to discontinue use of the blinking red lights if you are going to turn left in several states. The mandate is being put in place to better the safety of drivers at intersections as most accidents occur while turning.

The new left turn arrow signals will go from red, to blinking yellow, to green, to yellow. But drivers need to be warned that when the light is blinking yellow, the light will be green still for on coming traffic, so it is advised to follow yellow light guidelines or an accident is possible. When the left arrow is green, oncoming traffic is stopped on the other side.

The change will not happen all at once. Road Commission in each county will install these arrow lights as they replace and add new signals. It is then up to each county to replace the lights one by one as there is no set date that this must be completed by. The Bay City area and Lansing are the first to start seeing these lights already going up.

However, though the Federal Highway Administration may state that blinking yellow lights have proven to benefit safety, drivers are concerned that others may not catch on to the new change without knowing.

"Our light system is simple and people understand it, they just don't abide by it because they're driving too fast or in a hurry to go places," says Flint resident Caitlyn Blackbyrn.

"I'm a newer driver and just learned all these light systems. I follow them all. The lights clearly state what they mean. But really all you have to do is keep focused on just the left arrow that blinks yellow, the rest is the same."

Contradicting that statement, drivers from other states are easily confused when coming to Michigan as they don't encounter those turn signals. Another concern is the cost of changing the existing lights. The road commissions will have to add the changeover into their budgets.