God literally is your co-pilot, eh? “Is it safe to go, God? God? I’m counting on you here!”
You did the right thing, OP. I got a rolling through a stop sign ticket a couple of years ago, and it cost me $300. Dude in the car behind you has absolutely no business trying to make you break the law when it comes out of YOUR pocket, and, as others have said, this may be a dangerous intersection.
I think most of our residential stop signs should be “Yield” signs because no one ever stops for them, and it doesn’t seem to cause a problem, but that’s a whole lot of money out of the city bank account if they can’t write $300 tickets on minor technicalities. For the record, I’m a stickler for laws while driving, but this one is bogus.
The intersection closest to my house is interesting in that it has a light-up “no right on red” sign that only kicks on when someone has pushed the pedestrian walk button. Unlike most of the ones I’m used to, this one locks out traffic in all directions for about 45 seconds.
There’s another light near me that’s rather annoying from a traffic flow perspective. It goes from one lane to four. Far left is dedicated left-turn and is marked as such with a series of arrows. Far right is dedicated right and, again, is marked with arrows. The middle-left is either left-turn or straight, and the middle-right is straight. Also, the middle-left hand lane is marked with two sets of arrows, one for left turns and one for going straight. These arrows are not always on at the same time, so that it is possible to be stuck behind someone who wants to turn left but can’t because of the red arrow while you, who wants to go straight ahead, has a green arrow. The problem is that on the other side of the intersection is a fairly short merge back to one lane. So the only way to easily move through the intersection is to know this ahead of time and move over to the middle-right lane and then merge left again once clear of the intersection. The first time I saw this I wound up blowing the light as I could clearly see that there was no oncoming traffic and treated the red-left green-straight combination as a green ball. I doubt my out-of-state plates would have kept me from getting a ticket.
I often don’t make a right on red even when it isn’t signed. I have a little car that’s low to the ground and it doesn’t take much for my sight line to be bad, and that’s before the asshole in the big SUV to the left of me pulls forward and blocks my view completely.
I hate it when you’re intending to turn right on a two lane road at a no-turn-on-red light and someone behind you decides to create their own turn lane and make an illegal right turn on red. So you’re waiting for your chance to turn red in the only lane that actually exists, and some idiot creates their own out of a parking spot or the side of the road. In my experience they do it more often because they assume you’re going straight than anything else.
And the worst is when they manage to cram their car where it doensn’t belong but fail to make the illegal right turn before the light turns green. Then you have two people trying to make a right turn onto one lane and certain knowledge that the one who isn`t really in a lane is an idiot.
This is simple. No right turn on red. Doesn’t matter what time it is, or the conditions of the road.
As others have mentioned, it’s unlikely that some random asshole is going to pay your ticket, pay your deductible if there’s an accident, or pay for your hospitalization or funeral if it’s worse. So follow the law, and fuck him.
Oh my gosh, someone once did this to me by driving onto the shoulder and passing me on the right in order to make the right turn. Then as he passed me he gave me the finger.
Boy, you’ve got that right. I used to work SUPER early morning shift at a job (way back in the 80s). And there was a left turn light that seemed to last forEVER and was in the middle of an industrial district. No one EVER coming through at that time of morning. One morning I got impatient and looked around and ran the darned thing.
ReeeeeEEEEEEeeeeeee. Yup, cop hiding somewhere, lights off. NEVER EVER argue with a cop. But, I was young and cute back then, and I argued sweetly “but this light lasts forEVER! My job is only just there (points to job barely beyond light and a turn)”.
No ticket (thank goodness) but a serious lecture…“a drunk could be screaming through this light at 90mph, you could be killed, we just stopped someone at this intersection doing just THAT the other night”.
To the OP, are you in Washington state? I’ve noticed I get honked at when I’m in the right lane, but going straight and I don’t somehow magically beam myself out of the way of right turning cars. In fact, I’ve noticed people honk at other drivers for all sorts of weird little things that seem to depend on the honking driver’s own crabbiness. Strange.
One of my two traffic tickets was for failure to obey a No Turn on Red sign at something like 2:30am. When I got pulled over, something like ten blocks and another turn away and the cop asked me if I knew what I was being stopped for, I was completely honest in answering “no.”
Do you have a cite for that, or is it your personal opinion? To me, sitting in a turning lane when it is perfectly safe and legal to turn is the same as sitting at a stop sign because you don’t feel like crossing the road quite yet. I don’t get it.
I wouldn’t grasp it either. What’s the point of a red light with an arrow? I’ve honestly never seen one. The red light is always solid, even in turning lanes.
No, she was suggesting that if people were in such a hurry that they were willing to break the law, they should go for it, but she wasn’t turning when she wasn’t prepared to do for their satisfaction. Turning on red isn’t a requirement, it’s an option, and the option goes to the person at the front of the line at the intersection.
I’m the type of driver who would turn on red if there no other cars around but I would never ever honk or yell at someone who follows the law. I firmly believe you did the right thing, Erdosain.
This weekend I’ll visit every church, mosque and temple I can find and light candles, incense and the sunday paper in the fervent hope that the jerk driver behind you gets caught breaking the law someday somewhere.
flails I have a car that’s low to the ground too and I am overly cautious because of it. I’ve been honked at before because I do not proceed to make my turn, but if I can’t see what’s coming, I ain’t going. One accident in my youth taught me not to do that. I don’t care if it’s a semi behind me that can see for miles that is indicating it is safe for me, I no see, I no go.
Actually yes, God is that willing to talk to His children and protect them. I have experienced this many times. If you are God’s child and acknowledge it you are above state authority. God is so willing to be interactive in a person’s live so that no laws of man apply, if we let Him. the only requirement is we act in Love as best as we can.
I do agree that the person behind you should not pressure you in the way you described.
its possible thats true where you live but its certainly not universal, the arrow simply indicates a turn lane in every state I can think of.
and I agree with several above posters, its not about the ticket ( thats just money) they put those no turn on red signs up for a reason and its usually poor visibility or something strange going on at that intersection.
Every single place i’ve ever been, a red traffic light that is an arrow rather than a circle indicates no turn on red. Here’s an image that i just grabbed from the California Driver Handbook.
