Last year I made a post proposing modifications to Minnesota bike legislation. In that post I referenced the fact that blinking (flashing) yellow arrows were becoming more common at area intersections.

Flashing yellow arrows allow road users at an intersection to turn left when safe to do so even though oncoming traffic has a green signal. The flashing signals are replacing solid red arrows which required road users to wait through an entire cycle of the intersection signal before being able to complete their turn.

Now, the City of Minnetonka is publicly welcoming flashing yellow arrows. In a recent Minnetonka Memo article (PDF), the City is touting to newsletter subscribers that by 2022 almost all of Minnetonka’s intersections will be so equipped, and will be safer, and will no longer try drivers’ patience.

Given the direct acknowledgement that road users are often able to recognize safe conditions that allow certain traffic movements even outside the direct control of traffic signals (gasp!), it is time to recognize the truth on the ground and pass legislation implementing #IdahoStop and #ParisStop. Either the language from the original post or from HF 1991 (introduced 3/2/17 by Thissen) is suitable. HF 3925 (introduced 3/9/2018 by Bernardy and Koznick) has a small part of the language but does not fully address the matter.