When approaching a steady yellow traffic light, drivers should:
- Accelerate to avoid a red light.
- Continue driving, as they have the right-of-way.
- Slow to a stop, unless they are already within the intersection. ✓
- Check to see what the cars next to them are doing.
Answer: C. Slow to a stop, unless they are already within the intersection.
Slow down and come to a stop for a steady yellow light, unless you are already inside the intersection.
Why this is the answer
The handbook describes a steady yellow light as a warning that the signal is about to turn red, and it tells you to stop if you can do so safely. It also points out that being in an intersection when the light turns red is very dangerous, which is the reason the warning exists. So the yellow light is your chance to stop before the red, not a signal to speed up — and if your vehicle is already in the intersection, stopping there is not the point of the rule.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. Accelerate to avoid a red light. — Speeding up to beat the light is the opposite of what a warning signal asks you to do; the handbook wants you to stop when you safely can, not to push through before the red.
- B. Continue driving, as they have the right-of-way. — A yellow light gives you no right-of-way to keep going — it warns that the light is changing to red, and the handbook treats being in the intersection at that moment as extremely dangerous.
- D. Check to see what the cars next to them are doing. — Watching what drivers beside you do is not a rule for a yellow light; your own ability to stop safely is what decides whether you stop.
Remember it
Yellow is a warning, not a green — if you can stop safely, stop; the only reason to keep rolling is that you are already past the point of stopping.