I have also wrote the Road Commission of Macomb County on the intersection of 21 mile and Heydenreich road the new traffic signal concern. (Note: Before you read, please note I disagree with her traffic engineer's evaluation. The traffic camera's are not setup correctly and the light time is to short. Also, this interesection has a high reports of accidents in the local area.)

This is her response, "Our traffic engineer visited the intersection and observed it yesterday morning during the rush hour and found the signal to be operating properly.

The State of Michigan publishes a very good booklet entitled "What Every Driver Must Know. We have hard copies available here at the Road Commission and you can also download it from their website. I have included a link to the webpage:
http://www.mich.gov/sos/0,1607,7-127-1642-103522--,00.html
On page 78 of the booklet is a nice description of the arrow signals. The description of the flashing arrow states: "A flashing yellow arrow allows you to turn left when oncoming traffic, which has a green light, is clear. Be sure that there is an adequate gap in the oncoming traffic and that there are no pedestrians or bicyclists crossing before you make your turn."

He further suggested that when making a left turn, wait behind or near the wide, white stop bar until there is an adequate gap in oncoming traffic. If you don't ever get the gap, you will get a green arrow. If you arrive at the stop bar after the signal has already served the left turn phase with a green arrow, you will have to wait for the next cycle. If you creep too far out into the intersection, the camera won't see you and will assume you have already made your turn and cleared the intersection. Also, if there are no cars behind you in the left lane and the camera can’t see you, the signal will skip the green and go to solid yellow, then red. The logic is that if there are no cars waiting, there is no point in wasting valuable green time. Creeping out to the middle of the intersection is an unsafe driving habit considering the possibility of emergency vehicles approaching the intersection from your right or left.

I hope this information is helpful. "

Sue VanSteelandt
Road Commission of Macomb County
E-mail address GenInfo@rcmcweb.org