It especially bothers me that people don’t understand a traffic light flashing amber (check the Driver’s Handbook!). For some reason they think they must stop.

This gets especially annoying because engineers designed the amber flashers for lower volume intersections, where a main thoroughfare crosses a lower volume side street, with the full intent of keeping the main street flowing. In other provinces and states, the cities puposefully change the lights to this mode on off-peak hours; consequently, drivers there are fully used to not stopping at a flashing amber — they see it all the time and know what to do. It’s something Ontario cities should try. It would even save energy.

Someday soon an Ontarian stopping at a flashing amber will be rear-ended by an out-of-province driver.

Wouldn’t it be better to say the following? “If the lights are completely off or if they are flashing red in all directions, treat the intersection as an all-way stop. However, traffic approaching a flashing amber light always has the right of way [over traffic facing a flashing red] [and can proceed with caution without stopping].”

Please NEVER say: “If the traffic lights aren’t working…” because people misinterpret “aren’t working” to mean any intersection light that is flashing red or amber.

Put another way: Always stop when facing a traffic light that is flashing red or that is completely off. Then, to determine whether you can proceed, first check all the lights to see whether cross traffic has flashing amber. If they do, let them all pass, then proceed only when the way is clear. If they do not, then treat it as an all-way stop.