Flashing Yellow Requires You To Stop

[aronth5]

We have an interesting type of light in my area. The lights are located where walking/runner/bike trails cross a public road. When someone pushes the button the lights will flash yellow, not red. The drivers are expected to stop to allow for the person(s) to cross the road. FSD as expected just ignores them. There are probably a half dozen in my area. These are old railroad tracks that have been converted to biker/runner/walking trails. There are two lights, one on each side of the road. Most people that use them are pretty careful because not everyone stops even though you are supposed to.
I've sent Tesla this information including a video of the light flashing

 

[whoosierdaddy]

Yes but here it is illegal to stop unless the person has entered the intersection/crossing

 

[aronth5]

Yes but here it is illegal to stop unless the person has entered the intersection/crossing

That doesn't really matter here since the lights only flash when someone has pushed the button on the pole so they can cross the road.

 

[JulienW]

Just like train crossing lights, hand held direction signs, flashing school speed signs, don't right turn on red signs and on and on and on........ Beta has not been programed YET to deal with them. So Tesla doesn't need or care about a video sent to them about something they already know and is yet to be addressed. It will be added when it is programed. Lots of more important fish to fry first, like making unprotected left turn into traffic successfully 99.99%.

EDIT: Having used them 100's of times (I'm a running in the city) I can tell you that MOST humans haven't been "programed" what to do when they encounter them either. Where do you send that video to have it fixed?

 

[TresLA]

Here in California some towns have those pedestrian push button crosswalk flashing yellow lights as well. In some cases, they have flags sticking out of a canister for pedestrians to grab and hold/wave as they walk across. Edge case of an edge case!

This reminds me of Stars Hollow, CT: (how do you post a smaller thumbnail in the comment but leave the original size for viewing when clicked? This thing is huge!)

 

[nvx1977]

We have an interesting type of light in my area. The lights are located where walking/runner/bike trails cross a public road. When someone pushes the button the lights will flash yellow, not red. The drivers are expected to stop to allow for the person(s) to cross the road. FSD as expected just ignores them. There are probably a half dozen in my area. These are old railroad tracks that have been converted to biker/runner/walking trails. There are two lights, one on each side of the road. Most people that use them are pretty careful because not everyone stops even though you are supposed to.
I've sent Tesla this information including a video of the light flashing

View attachment 759362

Another oddity I saw in MA are flashing green lights. When I first moved to NE, I had no idea what that meant. It's also pedestrian-related. It simply means there's a pedestrian crosswalk where the light is, and while you don't need to slow or stop normally, you do need to treat it as a yield if a pedestrian is attempting to cross. Kinda superfluous since I thought all crosswalks were treated as yields.

What is bad about flashing green is that in relatively nearby Montreal Canada, a flashing green means something totally different.

 

[UncleCreepy]

I thought all crosswalks were treated as yields.

As far as I know they are. Those lights are supposed to alert you that a pedestrian is present, but even without the lights you must yield.

 

[aronth5]

Between these "edge cases" and the need to handle all the different types of school zone signs it will be interesting to see how long it takes Tesla to address these? If I'm state regulator I would require that Tesla proves then can and that won't be an easy task. Another reason if I'm Tesla I push for controlled access highway approval first so the driver can legally be distracted. (texting/video) That shouldn't be too difficult to do.

 

[Mardak]

the lights only flash when someone has pushed the button

Ha, not always . At least around here and seemingly elsewhere, there are some crosswalks (and other signs) that always flash their yellow lights, and of course drivers learn to ignore them. Here's a video where a transportation administrator has a saying of "Red means stop. Yellow does not." but that's probably in his effort to promote "High-intensity Activated crossWalK (HAWK)" pedestrian hybrid beacons where lights flash reds instead of the usual yellows.

 

[Mardak]

Ha ha ha… today I pressed the brake cancelling FSD Beta because I saw a pedestrian walking up to press the button for a crosswalk with Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacon (RRFB). This guy just pressed it for fun with no intention to cross; stopping 4 lanes of traffic and just kept on walking along the sidewalk.

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

I think in the OP’s situation it’s not the flashing yellow lights that require the driver to stop. Rather it’s the pedestrians in the crosswalk. The flashing lights only alert the driver that there are pedestrians in the crosswalk.

 

[Twiglett]

I have the reverse problem, flashing yellow lights to warn of an upcoming real traffic light and FSD attempts to stop for it - on a 65 mph divided highway.
Completely insane

 

[Radlaw]

There's a similar issue with overhead yellow caution lights, not related to traffic lights. These are lights that are intended to caution drivers, usually for oncoming traffic. However, my car "sees" them as the center light in a traffic lights and slows my car down thinking it will turn to a red light. This is actually a hazard because cars behind don't expect me to slow down since it is not a traffic light. Hopefully, the Tesla computer people are aware of this and will fix it. I don't know if this problem exists in version 11. Does anyone know?