[jwestbury]

Honestly, confusion here is just poor driver education in the US. HAWK signals follow normal patterns: Amber is caution/be prepared to stop. Red is stop. Flashing red is "stop until clear," i.e., use as a stop sign. This is true for all traffic lights in the US.

Having originally gotten my license in the US -- in what is apparently the hardest state to get a license in (WA) -- and now in the UK, I can say emphatically that US driver education is severely lacking.