If he’s going to crash into me, I’d rather have it at a slow speed than a fast one.
me, too, with a somewhat eeeeeeeeeeelongated pause once the light turned green.
The person doing the tailgating is the one creating an “accident situation.”
Right on. Besides, what would you (purplehorseshoe) have done? Speed up? (We’re talking about a 2-lane, 2-way road here, going across a bridge, even.)
Oddly enough, when the road widened, this dude pulled out to pass as I expected, but he passed so slowly and kept going for the next mile near speed limit that he certainly wasn’t in a hurry. He was just a really bad driver with no awareness of conditions.
I’ve come to hate right on red. I’m old enough to remember when it was introduced and orginally people followed the spirit of the law which was “if there’s no one around, make the turn”. It was not “if you can beat the guy coming who has the right of way, make your move”. It has degenerated into the latter. I’ve had instances where I have an arrow to make a left turn, only to have assholes opposite me make the right-on-red in front of me, ignoring the red arrow they have. It’s times like that when I wish a high speed garbage truck would take out one of those scumbags.
Just let me have my freakin’ right-of-way.
On my way home tonight I stopped at a No Turn on Red stop (indicated by a red arrow traffic light), in part because of this thread.
It pissed of the guybehind me, though, who leaned on his horn. One second later the light turned green, and I turned. He zoomed around me.
This may be regional, but when I took drivers’ ed in NH, I was taught that a red arrow doesn’t mean anything that a red light doesn’t, ie unless there’s a sign, right turn is still legal.
Sorry, I missed this question from October - yeah, it was a couple of minutes. The reason I waited so long is that it is a $500 ticket here for interfering with a pedestrian in a crosswalk, and this was in an active school zone - tickets doubled, with a cop sitting right there, and the kid standing right at the crosswalk, looking across the road. For $1000, I would have sat there for most of the day. I wish pedestrians (and parents need to teach their kids this) would be aware of when they’re standing right next to a crosswalk. Car drivers are OBLIGATED to stop for pedestrians if they can safely; I believe that pedestrians also have an obligation to not hang around crosswalks if they aren’t intending to cross.
While stopped at a red light on my bicycle, I was run down by a car turning right and rolling through a red light.
Next time, just toss it in reverse, hit the gas, and then sue the bastard for causing you whiplash by not stopping in time.
Looks like it’s ok in MA as well:
No indication that anything other than a sign prohibits the turn.
http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXIV/Chapter89/Section8
In states where it is legal to turn right after stopping on a red arrow (which include every state I’ve ever owned a car in), the reason for making it an arrow instead of a ball is to warn traffic that it is a turn-only lane, and they may not go straight. Otherwise, people may pull up to the light, then realize their mistake and attempt to merge in the middle of the intersection when the light turns green. If you have an arrow, you may only go in the direction of the arrow (unless there is a green arrow AND a green ball).
In a similar situation, a friend of mine got off his motorcycle, walked back to the other car and asked them politely if there was a problem. He did this all very slowly, so that the light went though a complete cycle and they had to wait for the next green.
septimus, OTOH, has become a coward in old age. I still remember a car coming to a full stop in front of me on a freeway overpass, backing up when I backed up, and reaching for something in his glovebox.