Listen. Laying on your horn and flipping me off is not going to make me move faster. The light, when nonfunctional, reverts to being a stop sign. That means that the two cars who stopped at their respective lines before me get to go before I do. I know you want to just jet out in the middle of the intersection and be about your obviously vastly important business, and truthfully, there’s a small part of me that wouldn’t mind seeing you rush out and promptly get T-boned by a delivery truck. But unlike you, I didn’t receive my driver’s license in a McDonald’s Happy Meal.
Thanks for making my afternoon commute that much more unpleasant. If you’d care to step out and back up your blustering, I’ll be happy to make yours even more so.
What these assholes must not realize is that their behavior inevitably leads to people in front of them slowing down a bit because they are being made to feel nervous. When I get a jerk like this behind me, I usually make my stop last a bit longer and look around to make sure I’m safe. It’s not because I want to be a jerk back - rather it is because the honker/fingerer is making me feel like I don’t want to rush things, and get into an accident.
If there aint a reason for the honking, I’ve been known to actually stop the car for a bit. Made one guy sit through a complete light cycle (he was the only one behind me btw).
OK, now that I’ve calmed down, let me apologize for all the internet-tough-guy machismo. There was a time in my life when I might have seriously considered following though with it, but these days, I just vent on the internet instead.
While we’re here, can we review the law on what those flashing red/yellow lights mean?
Flashing red - treat it as a stop sign. All stop sign rules apply.
Flashing yellow - Slow down but otherwise treat it like a green light. You don’t have to stop at a flashing yellow light, unless, you know, there’s a pedestrian in front of you or something.
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It took me a while, but I’ve finally managed to impose a “no flipping people” off rule on Mrs. Giraffe. Her argument was that she only flipped people off when they were being assholes. My argument was that Bay Area rush hour traffic turns people into sociopaths and that road-raging assholes are really not worth antagonizing just because you have Truth on your side. I suspect she still does it and just doesn’t tell me about it, but at least she’s doing it less.
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Oh, and screw you, OP. Just because you’re following the traffic rules doesn’t mean I don’t get to honk at you and flip you off. That’s my god-given right as an American, goddamn it.
