Traffic lights: solid, arrow and flashing

Red, yellow and green are the easy part. What separates a confident driver from a hesitant one is knowing that the same colour means different things depending on whether it is solid, flashing, or shaped as an arrow.

Solid:

• Red — stop. After a complete stop you may turn right, or turn left onto a one-way street, unless a sign forbids it.
• Yellow — slow down and stop before the intersection, unless you cannot stop safely in time.
• Green — continue, if the intersection is clear. "Clear" is a condition, not a formality: a green light does not remove the vehicle still sitting in the middle of the box.

Flashing:

• Flashing red — stop, then continue only when it is safe.
• Flashing green — a pedestrian-controlled light. Go only if the intersection is clear.
• Flashing yellow — slow down and proceed with caution.

Arrows point where the permission applies. A green arrow means turn in that direction. A flashing green arrow with a steady green means you may turn or continue; with a steady red it means the left turn is allowed while through traffic waits. A yellow arrow warns that an advance left-turn phase is ending — stop before the intersection unless you cannot do so safely.

A steady white rectangle is a transit priority signal: only buses go on it.