Flashing Yellow Arrow: Helpful or Harmful?
By: Alexandra Sutter WMBD/WYZZ
Updated: February 11, 2013
83-year-old Margie Duhs looks healthy
and happy, but she's far from it.
The lifelong dance teacher said a car
accident last April has forever changed her life. Duhs said, " I was going down
to Northmoor on a green light. She came across on a flashing yellow arrow and
hit me head on. She demolished my Buick and she sent me to the hospital with
two broken legs, broken ankles, broken knees and my femur bone sticking out of
my leg here."
According to the police report, the
driver who hit Margie was ticketed for failing to yield at the flashing yellow
arrow. Duhs said that blinking arrow confuses drivers and is doing more harm
than good. She said, "What purpose is there to it? I mean you got these people
thinking, 'oh what am I going to do?' Some say I'm going to go, or no I'm not going
to go and they just sit there."
The Illinois Department of Transportation
said this flashing yellow light has actually reduced the amount of car
accidents. So much so, that it said it plans to install more of these lights
across other parts of the state."
IDOT Spokesman Brian Williamsen said, "It's
just giving drivers another opportunity to turn left safely so that's the point
of the safety aspect of it and again, also it increases the traffic flow at the
intersection, so there are a couple of positives to it."
The flashing yellow arrow went into
effect in 2011 - to let drivers know they can turn left after yielding to
oncoming traffic.
Williamsen said, "Just talking to
people about them, getting the word out through the internet, letting people
know that these are here and they'll be here to stay."
Margie said the accident has left her
under mounds of medical bills and constantly relying on her daughter's care.
She said she's living her golden years in a way she never imagined... but she isn't
giving up hope. "After this is all over, I want to go back to my dancing again,
if I can walk well enough."
Margie said she plans to keep sharing
her story to shed light on the dangers the flashing yellow arrow can have. For
more information on the arrow, you can view IDOT's education video here:
