Driving tips during monsoon season power outages

Monsoon season has the potential to cause several power outages, even affecting traffic lights, causing safety hazards for drivers.

Yuma Police stressed the Arizona statute that tells drivers what to do in that situation.

“You’re supposed to come to a complete stop before going through it. If multiple drivers arrive at the same time, you treat it like a four-way stop. The person to the right has the right of way to go first,” explained Sargent Lori Franklin, Yuma Police public information officer.

They want drivers to understand the statute because they do not have enough officers on hand to send an officer to direct traffic when a light is down.

“We’ve had times where like half the town is out, so there’s a lot of intersections that are out. We would never have enough officers to put one at everyone and then handle calls for service,” said Sargent Franklin.

YPD wants residents to stay safe in this situation. They say most do, but some do not.

“You have those other drivers that’ll just zoom through it, or they’re not going to take their turn and they just get mad and go through it and that’s what causes trouble for everybody,” said Sargent Franklin.

Drivers should also yield to pedestrians in all marked and unmarked crosswalks, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.