Editorial: PennDOT should have shined a light on traffic signal

Red lights mean stop. Green lights mean go. Yellow lights mean be careful. Use caution. Slow down. Yield.

It is probably the one part of learning to drive that no one really needed to learn. It’s a message that we have been taught forever. It’s a shorthand used for diets and film projects and backyard games. Kids in preschool have their behavior measured on the same traffic light spectrum.

So when someone throws a wrench into it, things can get confusing in a hurry.

PennDOT did that at the intersection of North Greengate Road and Route 30. That’s where a new light was installed. A really new light.

Beside the two traditional signals with their three colorful circles, there is a new one with four circles filled with four arrows in three colors and two patterns. Turning lane signals with left arrows are nothing new. Even blinking lights aren’t uncommon. The new lights combine all of those in a way that might require some adjustment for drivers.

PennDOT started implementing the new lights with both a solid and flashing yellow arrow in 2016. The pattern goes from solid green to yellow to quick stop at red and back to a flashing yellow that indicates to turn if you can but yield if it’s necessary.

The light that polices turning onto Route 30 might be the first of its kind in the area, but there’s a reason for the new style. The Federal Highway Administration says the lights can reduce left-turn crashes by 20%. The intersection in question has seen plenty of those over the years. In June, Michael J. Yatsko of South Connellsville died, and another person was injured in a crash there.

However, does that make this the right place to test-drive a new style of signal without giving people an opportunity to become accustomed to it? While some appreciate the new light, others are reporting delays on social media.

It also seems as though PennDOT missed an opportunity to educate the public about the signal before putting it into play.

No one needed to learn how to stop and go and yield at the old-style lights. That might have made PennDOT underestimate the learning curve. It shouldn’t have.

Tunnels. Car crashes. A police car’s lights flashing. Anything unexpected can be a bump in the road that impacts traffic. The only thing that ever helps is making sure people are prepared.