What are the clues that tell  you the green light is stale?  steady yellow light  — yellow means that the signal is about to  turn red. You must stop before entering the intersection unless  you can’t safely stop in time.  Sometimes drivers panic if they are in an intersection waiting  to make a left turn and the light turns yellow. In this situation,  remember that you are legally allowed to complete your turn.  But watch carefully for other vehicles, especially oncoming  drivers trying to beat the red light. flashing green light  — watch for pedestrians, who may activate  the pedestrian traffic light to change to yellow and then to r ed.  Even if the pedestrian traffic light is not activated, traffic on the  side street is facing a stop sign, and may be waiting to move  into the intersection when it is clear and safe to do so. Some intersections have turn signals with green arrows, or  designated lanes controlled by their own set of traffic lights, to  allow you to turn left. These are called protected turns. As long  as the green arrow is shown, you are protected from through  traffic — they are facing a red light.  separate left signal  — some intersections have designated left- turn lanes controlled by their own set of traffic lights. A green  arrow at the bottom of a separate set of traffic lights will tell you  when to turn left. Traffic in the straight-through and right-turn  lanes will be stopped by a red light on a different set of lights.  • fresh green light — a fresh green light is one that has just  turned green. Don’t move forward until you’ve scanned the  intersection to make sure it’s clear.  • making a left turn on a steady green light — when you are  making a left turn, you must yield to oncoming traffic and  wait for a safe gap before you turn. Left-turn signals  developing your smart driving skills 44