A new traffic signal is showing up in Iowa and officials are hoping it’ll clear up confusion many motorists have with left turns across traffic. The Federal Highway Administration has adopted the flashing yellow arrow as a national standard for “permissive left turn” operations. Cathy Cutler, a transportation planner with the Iowa Department of Transportation, calls it an “enhancement” of the green arrow. “When people are going to make left turns across traffic, they get the green arrow and that means they have the right-of-way to make the left turn. The new addition is what the next phase will be and that’s the flashing yellow arrow. That indicates you can still make a left turn across traffic, but you’re required to yield to any oncoming traffic and any pedestrians,” Cutler says. Following the flashing yellow arrow, the signal will change to a steady yellow arrow indicating the left turn signal is about to turn red. Cutler says a national study determined drivers found flashing yellow left turn arrows more understandable than traditional yield-on-green indications.

“Really, the confusion came for those left turners when there wasn’t a green arrow. They didn’t really know what the green bulb meant. It means you can proceed but you need to yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians,” Cutler said. “We believe the flashing yellow arrow will help prevent crashes.” Several flashing yellows arrow signals are already in operation around Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Des Moines. More will be installed across the state at busy intersections in the coming months. “The ones that have been up…have been up for a couple months now and we haven’t had any issues or citizen complaints about them,” Cutler said. The flashing yellow arrows are also expected to reduce traffic delays as the new signals provide traffic engineers with more options to handle variable traffic volumes.

(Radio Iowa)

The former Mills County Deputy Treasurer arrested Friday afternoon for stealing more than $36,000 in vehicle registration transactions, was released by a judge today (Monday), under a pre-trial agreement. 43-year old Tammy Gammon, of Glenwood, was held over the weekend in the Pottawattamie County Jail on $65,000 bond, on charges which included 5 counts of forgery, ongoing criminal conduct, 1st degree theft and Felonious Misconduct in Office.

A report by State Auditor David Vaudt says the theft dated back to 2005 and included more than 180 transactions. Auditors say Gammon would enter the vehicle registration information into a state database but later void the transactions and pocket the fees. Gammon was fired in April , 2011. The theft was uncovered by the Iowa Department of Transportation as it was reviewing registration data from various counties around the state.

Gammon admitted during an interview with investigators that she did not deposit some fees and kept them instead to pay daily expenses, particularly when a lot of money was in her cash drawer, the report said. She said she believed she took less than $10,000. Auditors say the scheme started to unravel after a routine review by DOT in January 2011 questioned an unusual transaction in which the office reinstated a registration that had been voided months earlier without explanation.

A complete copy of the Special Audit report can be found at: http://auditor.iowa.gov/specials/1010-0065-BE00.pdf