Traffic signals — Georgia Permit Test

A red light means a complete stop before the crosswalk or the intersection, and you wait there until the light turns green.

The cross traffic has a green at that moment, and it is not slowing down for anybody.

A red light means you must make a complete stop before entering the crosswalk or intersection and wait until the light turns to green before proceeding.

A yellow light is the warning that the light is about to turn red: slow down and get ready to stop.

Drivers who speed up for a yellow arrive in the intersection just as the other side pulls away.

A yellow light warns that the light is changing from green to red. Slow down and prepare to stop.

A green light lets you go on if it is safe, after you have stopped for people on foot and let vehicles already in the intersection clear it.

A green tells you what the signal is doing, not whether the intersection in front of you is empty.

A green light means you may proceed if it is safe to do so after stopping for pedestrians and yielding to vehicles within the intersection.

Where a signal is dead altogether, every driver has to treat the intersection as though a stop sign were posted for all directions.

Nobody at a dead signal knows whose turn it is, so the rule makes everybody stop and sort it out.

If a traffic signal is not functioning at all at an intersection, all drivers must treat the intersection as if a stop sign is posted for all directions.

A flashing red light means stop completely, the same as a stop sign, and go on with care only after letting people on foot and other vehicles clear.

A flashing red is a stop sign made of light, and drivers who read it as a warning roll straight through.

A red flashing light means you must stop completely (treat as you would a stop sign). Proceed with caution only after yielding the right-of-way to pedestrians and to other vehicles at the intersection.

A flashing yellow light means slow down and take care before you go through the intersection.

The flashing means the cross traffic is not being held for you, whatever it looks like.

A yellow flashing light means you must slow down and exercise caution before proceeding through the intersection.

A green arrow lets you go only the way the arrow points, and only after stopping for people on foot and letting vehicles already in the intersection clear.

The arrow is a protected movement in one direction, and nothing about it protects any other.

A green arrow means you may proceed carefully only in the direction the arrow is pointing after stopping for pedestrians and yielding to vehicles within the intersection.

A flashing yellow arrow lets you turn left after letting oncoming traffic and people on foot go first, because the oncoming traffic still has a green light.

The arrow says the turn is allowed, not that anything has been stopped to let you make it.

A flashing yellow arrow means you may turn left after yielding to oncoming traffic and pedestrians (oncoming traffic still has the green light).

What does a steady red light require of a driver?

A full stop before the crosswalk. The cross traffic has a green at that moment, and it is not slowing down for anybody. Georgia Driver's Manual, p.93: “A red light means you must make a complete stop before entering the crosswalk or intersection and wait until the light turns to green before proceeding.”