Crowley, LA (KPEL News) - You roll up to a traffic light, and it's blinking red. Or just blinking. Even worse, you roll up to a traffic light at a busy intersection in Lafayette, and it's not working at all. Cars are either blowing through or frozen in place.

Several customers in Lafayette, Carencro, and other towns and cities in south Louisiana are without power, and lights may be out as well.

Louisiana driver's education classes teach us how to navigate in each of these situations but, the older we get, the less we remember. Fortunately, we don't have to deal with these sorts of situations very often. When a light malfunctioned at a Crowley intersection recently, drivers handled the situation very differently from one another and prompted a message from the mayor.

Crowley Mayor Chad Monceaux, a former firefighter and reserve police officer, expertly schooled his Facebook community about the proper way to deal with such and occurrence. He went on to explain that the malfunction couldn't be fixed because the main cross street is a state highway, and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) had been notified that the light was not working properly.

The comments under Mayor Monceaux's post clearly indicated that his message was warranted, as you'll read later in this article.

The light for the main road was flashing yellow, while the light for the cross street flashed red.

Here's how drivers should handle each situation, according to Louisiana law.

FLASHING RED LIGHT

When you approach a traffic signal and the red light is flashing, Louisiana RS 32:232.1 states:

Unless otherwise directed by a law enforcement officer, when a traffic control signal is flashing red, it shall be treated as a stop sign in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 32:234

FLASHING YELLOW LIGHT

We've all been taught that a yellow light means either it's about to change to red or, when it's flashing, proceed with caution. Another line in the same Louisiana statute applies:

Unless otherwise directed by a law enforcement officer, when a traffic control signal is flashing yellow, it shall be treated as a "caution" sign in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 32:234.

LIGHT NOT WORKING AT ALL

You may have guessed by now that Louisiana RS 32:232.1 addresses each of the traffic light malfunction issues. If a light is completely out, as we in Crowley, Lafayette, Abbeville, New Iberia, and towns across south Louisiana have seen during and after storms, treat it as a 4-way stop.

Unless otherwise directed by a law enforcement officer, when a traffic control signal is not functioning at an intersection, and the signal lights are completely dark, the intersection shall revert to an all-way stop and traffic shall proceed in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 32:121(A).

WHAT PEOPLE DID AT THE INTERSECTION WITH THE FLASHING LIGHT

Without sharing names, you can read below that quite a few drivers who commented under the mayor's Facebook post weren't sure what to do about the flashing traffic light in Crowley.

Thanks for the info. I didn’t know what to do this morning when in the area.

I’m guilty!! I guess I thought I had to treat it as a 4 way. So I apologize if I did upset any people behind me.

I literally just went through this and nobody was doing the right thing.

I stopped at the caution because the red light people kept going.

Thanks for explanation, Chad Monceaux! I thought it was to be four way stop. I guess that’s just when it’s broken completely.

Whether drivers will correctly navigate a light malfunction remains to be seen. You may want to share this article with friends and neighbors so we can all move more smoothly and safely.