MN is passing a law to fine left lane drivers
https://blogs.mprnews.org/capitol-view/2018/03/minnesota-lawmakers-step-on-the-gas-to-pass-slowpoke-bill/ They watered it down so that it now is only going to be a 100 dollar fine.
Forum Discussion
dhull wrote:
You are right. Guess I missed seeing the removal of yield signs for an implied merge. Problem is someone needs to stand on while the other merges, just like in boating. You can't force a merge. Stupid change, when I learned to drive you were to yield upon enering a highway. But back then a yellow light meant clear the inersection not gun it.
Yield signs have not been used in decades on freeway ramps (except in rare specific situations).
If you look at the pavement markings, the Freeway lanes continue thru and the ramp lanes merge in (in most cases). That puts the burden on the ramp vehicle to find a space to merge. There is also typical a merge warning sign supplementing the pavement markings.
The meaning of a Yellow signal at a traffic signal also hasn't changed in decades. In most states (depending on the specific adoption of the Uniform Vehicle Code), it is illegal to enter an intersection on Yellow unless it is unsafe to do otherwise...of course drivers have always used the gun it approach but this goes back to cops don't like to write tickets for gray area items. They have to make a determination if it was safe to enter and they tend to err on the side of not writing the ticket unless it's blatent.
One difference you may be seeing is there has been a gradual transitions as road agencies adopted the ITE signal clearance interval methodology over the last 10-15yrs (not all have adopted it yet but it's moving in that direction).
- In the past you went from Green to Yellow to Green on the cross road. The Yellow was calculated based on the perception/reaction time plus the time to come to a stop plus the time to clear the intersection.
- With the update, it goes from Green to Yellow to ALL RED to Green on the cross road. The Yellow is equal to the time calculated for perception/reaction time plus the time it takes to come to a stop. The time to clear the intersection has been moved to the All Red. Therefore if a driver enters on yellow they probably didn't have time to stop safely but if they enter on red, it's clear cut for the cop.
