My cabbie ran a red light, almost got hit... but I don't think it was his fault

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

The strangest thing… I hit the snooze alarm one too many times this morning. Had to take a cab to work. Near my office the cab wa driving down the street, the light at the intersection was red. We slowed down. We stopped and we both sat there in the cab waiting for the light to change. Waiting… Waiting…

The cabbie was gazing out the front window. I was gazing out to the front and right a bit. We waited and waited… Then the light popped into green, we entered the intersection, then --VRRROOOOM! – big black SUV flies into the intersection at an excessive rate of sped (seriously speeding), the cabbie slams on the brakes, lays on the horn, the SUV missed us by inches.

Just as the cabbie was going to start a tirade about how stupid the SUV was, we both look up – our light was red!!!

Crayons (quietly): “Whoa.”

Cabbie: " Gasp! Look at me!.. looks at our position in the intersection, horrified*… I… I… I am so sorry. So, so, so very sorry. It’s my fault, it’s my fault. It was me, it was me.*"

Poor guy was mortified, embarassed, and tremendoulsy apologetic.

Crayons: “…I don’t think it was you. I saw the light turn green.”

Cabbie: “No, it was me. It was me. (shakes his head) * I am so sorry, SO sorry!*”

He was horrified.

Dopers, I swear to Og, I also saw that light turn green. I would say I’m 94% sure that light turned green, if only for two seconds.

WTF??

Are there ever little traffic light glitches? Could the light have flipped to green momentarily? Or were we both daydreaming? Was it some kind of “follie à deux” and we both happened to mistakenly “see” the light turn green? Same brain cramp at the same time?

Totally weird. Woke me up better than my morning coffee though.

2

I’ve seen a traffic light cycle excessively quickly. So, it happens. It sounds, from your description of the apparently long red light, like the light might’ve been experiencing some cycling problem.

I’m glad you didn’t get hurt {b}Crayons**.

3

Clearly THEY were trying to kill you.

A big black SUV?
A traffic light controlled by the government?

You are a marked man, congratulations on beating them, this time.

4

It also could have been a mobile infrared transmitter (MIRT). These are designed to transmit a series of infrared pulses from an emergency vehicle, triggering the light green in its direction.

However, these have become available on the gray market… although they proably aren’t illegal to own, they might be to use, depending on your jurisdiction and local interpretation of traffic laws. If that SUV triggered it, his light would have gone green, immediately turning yours red.

5

Dammit, I knew I should have been wearing the metal vegetable collander! The tinfoil beanie just ins’t good enough!