I’m a Californian living in New England for four months. Californians are typically pretty good about stopping when the light turns yellow. Here, on the other hand, there seems to be a rule that as long as a car in front of you is going through the intersection, you can go too, regardless of how long ago the light turned red. The light turns red and typically 2-3 cars pass through the intersection after that. I’m surprised I haven’t been rear-ended yet, although our minivan has CA plates so I suppose they are expecting strange driving behavior like stopping for a yellow light (when safe, of course!).
unfortunately they’re a bunch of self-absorbed assholes about everything else.
Starman might have been even more entertaining with roly-poly Beau playing the alien. 
Melbourne, Australia has cameras on most? intersections. With a very hefty fine for running the red. Money is a great motivator and most people obey. Back when I was living there I hardly ever saw anyone run a red.
Japan doesn’t have cameras in most places and running the red is commonplace (I live on a five-lane one-way street, with a pedestrian light crossing at my door, and I NEVER just trust the green and start walking. That would be idiotic).
Anyway, screw this, I’m going hang gliding.
What part of California are you from, since Californians from my neck of the woods sure aren’t good about stopping on yellow.
People do that all the time in my city at an intersection that one of the worst 10
intersection in my state. There was no traffic lights until 1995 , there about 4 accidents a weeks according to a towing company . My car was T Boned by a teenager driver who was 100% at fault then 3 more accidents happen at the same intersection and the state finally installed traffic lights . Now idiotic people run the red lights and the police are never around , a policewoman said it’s too dangerous to go after people . :smack: Kids have to cross this intersection to get to school and there is not always a cross guard to help them .
I notice this at one intersection in particular along my afternoon commute. Even with the delay, it’s regularly— like, I could swear almost every time— necessary to wait a few seconds after the light turns green before proceeding, to let the 2-4 idiots blow through the red light at high speed in both directions. I really dread the day when someone less familiar with the Special Morons’ Rule for that intersection foolishly stomps the gas as soon as they see green.
Camera’s dont do much to stop red light* runners,* just those who dont make a full stop on a right turn. The main purpose of the camera is to generate $$, they dont reduce accidents at all.
Maybe in Houston, but not over all. :dubious:Overall, accidents went up.
Everybody is always in such a fucking hurry. Christ people, leave 5 minutes earlier if you need to. My daughter was T-boned by a driver who ran a red light. She was 5 months pregnant with twins at the time, and went into labor the next day. The poor boys were born at just over a pound each. They are fine and healthy now.
Generally, they can’t read it, either, so there’s that…
I also heartily endorse this pitting. In my town it’s a matter of simple survival to always slow down and look both ways before entering the intersection, no matter how long your green has lasted. And you never ever trust the other guy’s turn signals until you see his car start curving in the direction he’s signaling. And don’t count on them even having their headlights on at night. I once just barely avoided a collision at night while I was turning left because the idiot in question didn’t have his lights on but blinked his right turn signal once as he was in the middle of his turn. Yeah, he had the right-of-way, since I was turning left, but the only way I even knew he was there was that one blink of his right-turn signal. I only missed him by about 3 feet. I hope he stained his undies. I managed to maintain bowel and bladder control as well as I did brake control, but all three were a close-run thing. If he’d been going straight, and not blinked his turn signal, my first indication of his presence would have been the crunching sound and the sudden deceleration.
I am fully aware of that. But when one of those assholes just blows through the thing, I still get a sense of grim satisfaction when I see the flash.
Hell, I have a minor orgasm when that happens.
I don’t quite understand. You mean cameras don’t catch people running a red light?
no, he means they don’t prevent people from running red lights.
People need to put down the god damn phone. Too many times I’ve passed people I thought where wasted but on driving past see their face looking at the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree.
Another driver hit by a red light runner here.
Imagine a Toyota Echo t-boned by a huge truck (an 18-wheeler) on the driver’s side. Cop wasn’t real sure how I was still alive… I really shouldn’t be, so I’m counting everything after as extra time.
Oh, classic line from the older truck driver: “Dadburn, ah swear that light went from green right to red!” He even tried that with the cop (who marched him out to the middle of the intersection and made him watch the completely normal cycle with plenty of yellow light time).
This is exactly what I think happened. I see it too often for it not to be true. All it takes is 5% of drivers to be idiots and it messes things up for everybody. And idiot drivers will always be idiot drivers, and we’ll never run short of them.
I’m in San Luis Obispo County. I guess we’re too busy being happy to run red lights.
I thought of this thread earlier today when stopped at a red light near downtown.
The car just ahead of me at the light was occupied by a woman who seized the moment to do a comprehensive re-make of her hairdo (from being up into some kind of ponytail, though that may have been a transitional step). Great, I thought. The light will change and we’ll be sitting here forever before she notices and is ready to proceed onwards.
Instead, to my astonishment, she started rolling right through the red light, still working feverishly on her hair, making a left turn without signaling (and apparently without a glance in either direction). The God of Fools was with her and there was no rending crash.
They’re out there.