Massachusetts’ new red light is so confusing you might not understand it, and one in four drivers run it

One in four drivers is struggling to understand Massachusetts’ new red light rule, which might be one of the most confusing in America.

The state recently launched new traffic lights that they call ‘pedestrian hybrid beacons’; however, they have left many road users completely baffled.

The new lights are found at some crosswalks, and a huge number of people have driven right through them or simply stopped when they didn’t need to.

While a diagram has been released to try to explain it, there are still plenty of road users who don’t understand.

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What are Massachusetts’ new red light rules?

Rather than simple red, yellow, and green lights, there are five different phases to them.

These phases include off, flashing yellow, solid yellow, red, and flashing red.

While yellow and red are self-explanatory, the rest have proven to be too much for Massachusetts drivers.

Solid yellow means slow for pedestrians, but flashing yellow means prepare to stop.

Solid red means stop, and flashing red means stop and then proceed when the crosswalk is clear.

With so many variants of red and yellow, drivers have been left scratching their heads.

Even a diagram from the New Jersey DOT has failed to clarify the situation.

It is even more unusual than the blue traffic lights in Japan.

A huge number of drivers are passing through red lights

A study from the University of Massachusetts Amherst has found out just how confused drivers have been.

According to the study, 25 percent of them have driven through solid red lights.

But a staggering 65 percent have driven through the flashing red lights without stopping.

Then, nine percent have stopped when no lights were on, and 19 percent have stopped at flashing yellow lights.

When it came to a solid yellow light, the number jumped up to 30 percent.

Clearly, the new rules have left a huge number of road users utterly bewildered by how to follow them.

While there may have been good intentions behind the lights, it doesn’t appear drivers feel the same.

In fact, the best solution might be to replace Massachusetts’ new red light rules with traditional traffic lights.

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