The signal on your approach to a junction is showing a flashing yellow light. What behaviour does this display call for?

Why B is correct

A flashing yellow means the junction is live but not stopping you: proceed, while yielding to pedestrians and to any conflicting traffic the flashing mode implies, and stay ready for the unexpected that caused the display. It is the yielding counterpart of a flashing red, which is the stopping one. Together they cover the two modes a signal can fall back to, and the whole distinction rests on colour: yellow flashing slows and goes, red flashing stops and then goes. Neither mode restores a protected green, so neither removes the duty to scan.

Why the other options are wrong

A. Stop fully, then proceed when clear, as with a flashing red

Full stop before proceeding is the flashing red behaviour. A driver who stops at a flashing yellow creates a surprise for the queue behind in a situation that called for flowing attention, not halting.

C. Stop and wait for a steady green before entering the junction

Waiting for a steady green misunderstands the mode: the flashing yellow may persist for an hour or the rest of the day as the signal's operating state, not as a transition on its way back to normal.

D. Increase speed to clear the junction before the display changes

Accelerating is the exact inversion of the instruction. The flashing yellow asks for heightened attention at a junction where something has changed; meeting that with more speed gambles the whole intersection on the assumption that nothing hazardous is happening.

On the road

The junction by the fire station runs a flashing yellow overnight for cross street flow, and you pass it most mornings before the timers wake up. You hold speed, cover the brake, and look left-right-left as you roll through — the display never asks you to stop, only to keep proving the junction is empty as you cross it.

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