So this morning I’m stopped at a red light with my right blinker on. However, there is a “No Turn on Red” sign mounted next to the stoplight.
So I’m waiting for the green and the guy behind me starts honking at me. I can even hear him yelling since both our windows are open. Normally, my rule of thumb is to ignore all obnoxious drivers; life is too short to get shot over a traffic dispute. However, checking the rearview mirror, this guy looks pretty unthreatening (he looks like Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons) and he has a handicap sign hanging from his rearview mirror. I figure he’s unlikely to get out of his car and pummel me (although you never know) so I make an exception to my rule and put my arm out the window and point to the “No Turn on Red” sign.
This is a new intersection (it’s been totally redesigned in the last year) and I figure maybe he didn’t notice the No Turn sign since they are fairly uncommon and easy to miss. However, this action only increases his honking and yelling.
Obviously, I’m not going to break the law just because someone behind me honks at me, so I wait out the red light much to his displeasure. This is a pretty busy commercial area and not in the middle of nowhere (although there were indeed no cars coming through the intersection during this incident).
So am I being an annoying stickler by not turning right when it’s prohibited by signage? I mean, I roll through stop signs all the time (when the intersection is deserted) but it never really entered my mind to disobey the No Turn on Red sign, as I figure the first time I do it I’ll get a ticket. Am I being unreasonable in this?
Just as a postscript, Mr. Guy Behind Me was not on his way to the hospital; he pulled into McDonalds after we finally went through the intersection. I guess maybe he could have been diabetic and going into insulin shock, but in that case he should have pulled around me.
What if you weren’t planning on turning right, but were planning on going straight, though? Did angry guy expect you to alter your route just so he cold turn?
Middle of the night? Turn. Daylight? Sit there. Some traffic laws were made to be broken, and this is right on the cusp. FTR, I’m cool with you rolling up to a red light and making an otherwise-legal right hand turn. “Full stop”, my ass.
ETA: You wouldn’t turn just because the guy wants you to. Never let other drivers muscle you into doing or not doing something.
I’m sure that he wouldn’t have honked if I was going straight. He just couldn’t comprehend sitting at a red light and not turning right when no one was coming.
In the future, I just won’t put on my blinker at No Turn intersections.
I know I shouldn’t roll through deserted stop signs, but it’s hard not to. Does anyone come to a complete stop every time? Even in the middle of nowhere? That seems a little over-officious to me.
If it was two in the morning, I probably would have turned, but it was 10am.
Yeah, you could’ve turned your blinker back off and been all, “Oh, I changed my mind! I’m going straight!”
You were right; he was wrong. People get cranky when they’re hungry, and also, some people are idiots, and also, some people are assholes. Sounds like you hit the trifecta!
While I may choose to violate minor traffic laws from time to time, someone acting like a jerk behind me will pretty much guarantee I won’t. Safety comes first, and I don’t feel safe if there’s a crazy driver nearby.
I would not have turned on red in your circumstance, although I probably would have if I could clearly see that I wouldn’t violate anyone’s right of way. But here in California, at least, intersections are no-turn-on-red only if it is usually unsafe to turn.
I’ve been honked at because I was stopped at a red light in the straight/right lane and I wasn’t turning. Most cars at that intersection turn right, but I actually wanted to go straight. I think some drivers get trapped in their own little minds and forget that other people might have different intentions.
I’ve also been honked and flashed on a four-lane freeway because I was only passing the trucks in the right lane at 70 mph. The trucks were going about 60 mph, so I wasn’t just barely passing them. But some idiot wanted to go faster. I was already 5 mph over the speed limit, there was no way I was going to break the limit more simply to please the jerk.
From the other side, I do sometimes honk at other drivers who are doing something wrong, but not necessarily dangerous. Like not going when the light has been green for a couple seconds. And I aggressively honk at drivers who cut in front of me too close or run a red light across my right of way. Or pedestrians who ignore the solid do-not-walk sign and step out in front of me.
And when you get pulled over, is the guy going to come over and say, “Excuse me, officer, but this is totally my fault,” and then turn to you and say, “Here’s my address; I insist on paying for your ticket?”
This has happened to me a couple of times, with the other driver frantically honking, and I can’t help the feeling that there is some emergency even though I know it is just an obnoxious driver. I wonder if you were pulled over for making the turn would the officer accept an explanation that you thought there was an emergency?
One thing that I’d be tempted to do is act as if the other driver was drawing attention to a problem with your car: get out, and quickly take a look at the back of the car to find out what’s wrong there.
I’ve seen a lot of stupid driving and a lot of scofflaws…and that was just yesterday. But seriously, I’ve been at an intersection where there were TWO lanes that could turn right; the rightmost lane allowed right turns on red, the middle lane allowed right turns but “no right turn on red from center lane.” Some woman in the rightmost lane, who could legally turn right, was sitting stopped despite no cars coming at all; when someone behind her honked one short beep to bring her attention to the fact, she rolled down her window, pointed to the center lane, and began screaming, “Go around if you’re in a hurry!”
So she was declining to turn right on red after stop despite a clear lane, and simultaneously demanding everyone else break the law by turning from the center lane.
The two drivers yelled at each other until the light finally turned green and they both drove off, so I know she wasn’t broken down or anything.
Even in the middle of the night you have no idea if a cop is lurking somewhere you don’t see him. NO idea. It might actually be very, very safe. It would also give the police every right to pull you over to see if, in fact, you rolled through the light because you were in some way impaired. Or because the town was a little low on funds currently.
Perhaps he didn’t want to miss breakfast…or was late for work?
And if it were i would’ve rolled up slowly, scan down both sides for cops, and then go once i was sure the coast was clear. My personal morals and the law aren’t things to be compared.
I got pulled over a month or so ago for not noticing the ‘no turn on red’ sign- and while I got out of it with a warning, he had to have been camped out for exactly that reason, as he was nowhere in sight before hand.
I hadn’t seen the sign, but it is a busy intersection most of the time- the only reason I turned is because there were no cars at all moving nearby.
Forget the jerk- you did well to follow the posted sign.
I have actually gotten a ticket for turning at a ‘no turn on red sign’, many many years ago, in almost exactly the same situation, except that the honker was a friend I was driving with.
He did pay part of the fine, but it was only like $25 back then in Texas…