Many busy intersections in Minnesota have arrows that allow people to make left turns. At certain times of day these arrows are imperative to allow people to make the turn. You would wait forever as traffic heads in the other direction. But, what of the cases where the arrow is red, the forward light is green and there is no oncoming traffic? The red arrow still means stop.
Many people see the open traffic as a way to make the arrow a yield arrow. In Eagan, technology is being added to stop these turns. The plan is to add a blue light , so that police officers down the street can see that the red arrow is being violated. So the officer can be on the left side of the street and monitor who is breaking the law.
The lights will be installed at three of Eagan’s busiest and most dangerous intersections: eastbound Yankee Doodle Road at Denmark Avenue, westbound Yankee Doodle at Pilot Knob Road and southbound Pilot Knob at Duckwood Drive. There have been over 300 accidents at these intersections in the last four years.
It’s an interesting idea. Although it seems that education and maybe a yellow light at certain times of the day might make for less violations. It will be helpful to see if writing more tickets will reduce the collisions.
A founding partner with Bradshaw & Bryant, Mike Bryant has always fought to find justice for his clients—knowing that legal troubles, both personal injury and criminal, can be devastating for a family. Voted a Top 40 Personal Injury "Super Lawyer" multiple years, Mr. Bryant has also been voted one of the Top 100 Minnesota "Super Lawyers" four times.
2 Comments
Daniel 8791
I'm very familiar with these intersections in Eagan as I used to work right in that area. I think that could easily employ flashing yellow arrows during certain hours of the day (9-3) and maybe from 9pm to 6am. I've seen that method of traffic flow (control) in many towns across the country but none in Minnesota from what I recall. We'll have to see what the City of Eagan reports come up with.
Mike Bryant
Hope it makes a difference. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
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