Would you run a red light in this situation?

[Just_Asking_Questions]

@leftfield6

Well, the Buick Regal pulled over on the shoulder behind you obviously made it through the intersection, so it can be survived!!

I think he just turned around and parked. A dangerous move itself - what if someone was walking behind him? But it was safer than leaving the car at the stop sign. Maybe the cops can come and block traffic while he has someone drive it home.

[gigi]

@kanicbird

Why wouldn’t you go, there is no moral reason to wait. Only if you wanted to.

@Channing_Idaho_Banks

This is just an argument about the difference between the letter of the law and the intent.

This OP brought back memories of being in religion class in high school and the teacher posing the question of waiting at a red light at 3 AM with no one in sight. He said it was OK to go through the light. :eek: I couldn’t believe it was a priest telling us it was OK to break the law! ::boggle

[Zsofia]

Never. The only time I’ve done it is when I used to ride a moped and sometimes there would be sensors that just would not read you - after I waited enough to realize it wasn’t turning I’d go. That’s specifically legal here and in many other places.

[Gatopescado]

@Flyer

Good luck getting a cop to agree with you.

There are no cops in this scenario. If there was a cop, that would constitute “traffic”.

@Senegoid

Never seen or heard of this. If one road has a flashing red, then the other road will have a flashing red or flashing yellow, never a green.

They just put in a light on my highway with this exact set up. (A “Tee” intersection on a east/west highway with a road going off to the north) West bound traffic gets a red to allow cars to turn left/eastbound, into the new merge lane. Eastbound gets a green light at all times. Its only been in a couple weeks and I already hate it. We didn’t need this.

@Zsofia

Never. The only time I’ve done it is …

So… never, except that one time?

[Mangosteen]

@Gatopescado

I wouldn’t have even stopped if there was no other traffic. The purpose of stop lights is to keep cars from hitting each other. In the absence of other traffic, they are meaningless to me.

Motor on!

This.

[aceplace57]

@Just_Asking_Questions

I wonder if some of you people have ever driven in the country. Most intersections have a stop sign, and that’s it. You’re on your own with regard to cross traffic, and you know what? Death and mayhem does not occur with every car that passes through the intersection. People manage to check traffic and pull out into a 65 mph road safely every day. Sometimes several times a day! Why, every day I pulled out of my rural driveway that doesn’t even have a stop sign, and never hit a pedestrian, not even once!

Plus, there’s farm machinery and Amish folk going slowly in the day, and deer at night, and somehow the roads are not death highways.

I mean, would you crossthis intersection? No traffic light! And nearly a blind corner to the left, with the turn and the hill. And at night? Not a street light to be found for miles in either direction. Best just park the car and walk away. It’s too dangerous!

+1 That was the point I was trying to make earlier. Most intersections I deal with in the rural areas near my old hometown use stop signs. Drivers are responsible enough to wait and go when the intersection is clear. Traffic lights are supposed to be a convenience. Some intersections are so busy there’s never a safe time to cross with only a stop sign. A traffic light is the only answer.

So at 2AM with no cars in sight, why can’t we treat the light like a stop sign? I know the law says we must stop and sit there until green. But there are times it gets frustrating.

[Mudshark]

I would most likely wait. Even in the “bad side” of town at night, I usually wait.

Most of the time around here, unless it is a major intersection, after 10 pm, the stoplights turn to red/yellow flashers, with the road with the higher speed limit having the right of way.

[foolsguinea]

If there is a car behind you, you stop. It will be a cop. I learned this the hard way.

Why do they have a light on a timer instead of having a flashing yellow at this hour, though? Oh, wait, it’s only 11 pm. OK, that’s believable.

[TBG]

@MoonMoon

I’d sit and wait, because if 9 times out of 10 it’d be fine, with my luck I’d be the one to get caught by a cop.

Yep. Only way I might even consider otherwise is if I had to go to the bathroom really bad.

[BigT]

I’m not entirely sure if no one was there. There are ideas in my head that conflict. But, with someone coming up behind me? That’s enough to push it into “just wait.”

[Cheesesteak]

I wait. And I lived with this exact scenario for a while. The route home from a good friend’s house had a light like this. Every time I’d come home after a card game or whatever at 1am, I’m sitting at this red light, a loooooong red light. I’d sit and watch zero cars come through the whole time then head on my way when it turned green.

[Nema98]

Yes I would wait, I am pretty patient when it comes to driving and my life and the lives and safety of others.

Only reason I would run a red light is if someone came up on the side of the car and started shooting or attempting to get into my car. But for this reason, yeah totally I would wait.