A steady yellow traffic light is telling you what?
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A.
Speed up to clear the intersection before the light turns red.
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B.
Come to a full stop and wait until the signal turns green.
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C.
Cross traffic has been stopped and you now have the right of way.
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D.
The light is changing to red, so stop if you can safely do so. Correct
The answer is "The light is changing to red, so stop if you can safely do so."
A steady yellow warns that the light is about to turn red, and the manual calls for a stop whenever one can be made safely. Drivers who learned yellow from street habit as a cue to get through before it turns red pick A, but Florida makes the safe stop the default and clearing the intersection the exception.
The traps in the wrong answers
A. Speed up to clear the intersection before the light turns red.
The manual makes a safe stop the required response, not acceleration; being in the intersection when the light turns red is dangerous. This answer applies the street habit of treating yellow as a cue to get through before it turns red rather than Florida's rule that a safe stop is the default.
B. Come to a full stop and wait until the signal turns green.
A steady yellow requires a stop only when one can be made safely, not in every case; it is not treated like a steady red. This answer carries the steady-red rule over to yellow, reading any non-green signal as a mandatory full stop rather than a warning that only calls for a stop when one is safe.
C. Cross traffic has been stopped and you now have the right of way.
Yellow does not grant the right of way; it warns that the driver's own signal is about to turn red, not that cross traffic has already been stopped. This answer confuses the yellow phase with the brief pause before cross traffic gets green, reading it as a countdown into the driver's turn rather than out of it.
This question tests your knowledge of Traffic Lights in Florida. Source: Florida Driver Manual, "Traffic Signals: Steady Signal Lights, Yellow Light," p.51..
Related Florida questions
- You approach an intersection with a steady red traffic light and intend to go straight through. What must you do? →
- A green arrow shows at the same time as a red light and you are in the proper turn lane. Whom must you yield to before making the turn? →
- After coming to a full stop at a red light, when may you turn right? →
- You approach an intersection controlled by a flashing red traffic light. What are you required to do? →
- You approach an intersection showing a flashing yellow traffic light. What does it require of you? →
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