Norman Changes Traffic Signals To Improve Safety

Emily Wood, News 9

NORMAN, Oklahoma -- If you've driven through Norman lately, you've likely noticed a change at the intersections.

Traffic engineers added new flashing yellow arrows to traffic lights. They're meant to make traffic safer for drivers who make left turns at busy intersections.

Here's how it works:

• The red arrow means stop.
• The solid yellow arrow means slow down.
• The flashing yellow arrow means you should yield to pedestrians and oncoming cars.
• The green arrow means you have the right of way.

Norman is not the first town to use the yellow-arrow system. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin studied 13 communities nationwide that are already using the new lights.

They found the communities experienced 40 percent fewer accidents in intersections with new system.