Winter is approaching and the Isabella County Road Commission wants drivers to know the procedure for dealing with blacked-out traffic signals.

“You have to come to a stop and yield to the person on the right,” said Commissioner Jaclyn Conrad.

The refresher in basic right-of-way driving procedures was part of the commission’s regular meeting last Wednesday, where they approved a new official policy to respond to blackened traffic lights.

Public Weighmaster Clare Fox suggested during a work session that the commission establish a written policy to avoid any potential lawsuits from drivers involved in an accident.

According to the new policy, in the event of a blacked-out traffic signal, the road commission supervisor will contact the local power company to determine whether the outage is the utility’s fault, and not an equipment malfunction.

If a utility issue, a police officer will direct traffic, or the commission will take no action and drivers will follow standard right-of-way procedures.

Michigan right-of-way rules state that a driver approaching an intersection must yield the to a vehicle crossing the intersection from another roadway. If two vehicles arrive at the intersection at the same time, the vehicle on the left must yield to the vehicle on the right.

For a long-term outage, the commission argued the legal and safety issues surrounding the placement of temporary stop signs near the intersection.

Commission Manager Tony Casali said the commission will not place temporary power generators at failing lights because it would be cost-prohibitive.

Casali said the lights must be switched to flashing red because the traffic signals will automatically default to normal “stop-and-go” functions within seconds of receiving power, which could create confusion by conflicting with posted signs.

“When the lights come on unexpectedly is when I lose the court case,” he said.

Commission Chairwoman Kathie Elliott said the policy should be more about broadening public safety and eliminating confusion, rather than protecting the commission from legal trouble.

“If someone gets into an accident in an intersection, we may have a policy in place to save our butts, but what about the person who gets hurt?” she said.

Elliott said drivers have to yield the right-of-way in a blackened intersection regardless of the size of the conjoining roadways.

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E-mail the author: Eric Joyce