Sure, you are well within your rights to annoy the line of people that are behind you waiting to turn. And we are within our rights to absolutely loathe people who think that being at the front of the line entitles them to be assholes instead of going with the flow.
Yeah, I turn into an impatient fellow when I’m made to wait for things like that. Time is my most precious comodity and I don’t take it lightly when other people waste it for me. That and I’m one of those guys who think one of the world’s big problems is how too few people think about others before they think of themselves. I guess that’s why I liked Japan so much.
I don’t like people to waste my time, but the reality is that the minute lost was probably going to be spent on the couch anyway, so I save my aggravation when I am truly needing to be somewherre. I just learned to accept the fact that 90% of the time I don’t really need to be to the next place I am going in any great hurry.
As someone who bitches and moans about other drivers, I hear you on the anger. It’s a good thing my windows are rolled up when I drive, because I’m cussing out anyone who doesn’t get out of my way. But getting out of your car and tapping on the window? Dude. That crosses the line.
Yep, I agree, it was over the line. I had been having a particularly bad day and she just put me over the edge. In fact that’s the only time I can remember (aside from traffic accidents) getting out of my vehicle while still on the road. These days I pretty much limit my expression of anger to quietly seething or talking out loud to myself. 
You are right, but when I was taking my test at 16 years old, I was advised by my parents NOT to turn right on red because my sister had done so and lost points for doing it. So, the opportunity came when I was taking my test and I wanted to turn right, but being the good son, I took my parents advice. I also lost points, but it was for not turning on red. I suspect that the cops would be just as arbitrary.
:rolleyes: Oh, whatever. I’m sure that those 12 seconds total you’ll save over your trip by turning on red is extremely valuable. They don’t want to turn on red. They don’t have to turn on red and they are not being assholes by not turning on red. Jesus Christ. :rolleyes:
Like everyone else has said, where turning right on red is legal it is by no means mandatory.
I’m a very cautious driver because I can’t afford an accident and there are many uninsured, leadfooted drivers in my area. I wait for a comfortable break in the traffic before heading right, and if the dipstick in the car to my left is far enough out that I can’t see, I stay put until the green.
Seriously man, leave the house five minutes earlier, put some better music on in your car, and realize that you’re probably losing less than a minute by sitting behind someone who doesn’t want to make that turn.
the right-turning driver refusing to go on red, where legal, is annoying. but not as annoying as the left-turning driver who stops to turn (with blinker thrown on at the last possible second, no doubt) in the through lane, and refuses to even acknowledge the usually empty turning lane immediately adjacent to them. this is often a problem when dealing with a left-turn-from-both-directions lane, and almost always involves a driver who’s first vehicle might well have been a brand new model-t. during rush hour.
In the situation with the pretzel lady, the only asshole involved was you. In fact, anytime you try to make someone turn right on red the only asshole in the picture is you.
Like you are thinking about others everytime you get upset because someone decides not to turn on red? If someone sits through a green light you have reason to get upset but NOT if they sit through a red light.
I have a 30 min drive to work everyday. Know what I do? I leave home an hour before I have to be at work, earlier if the roads are bad.
This is the reason I wish I had a cannon mounted on the front of my vehicle.
A minute? You realize you’re talking to people who will blow their horns if the car in front of them takes longer than 2 seconds to start moving when the light turns green.
But I agree - almost always when I see somebody shaking their fist over a perceived slowness of other drivers, there is a red light at the next intersection. People are always in such a hurry to get to that next red light.
We’ll have to agree to disagree then. To me the asshole is the person so caught up in their own moment that they decide to make the line of impatient people trying to get home so they have a few more minutes for their families, friends or themselves wait as long as they feel like waiting.
It may only be 20-30 seconds…tonight. Add that shit up over a lifetime of waiting behind people at red lights when you could be moving and you have quite a bit of wasted time. I don’t know about you but there is never enough time to do everything I want to do and wasting it like that is high on my list of crap I don’t want to put up with.
Why oh why Velvet Jones? You are truely the bane of my frustration. Your actually safer hanging out in the middle rather than holding back and having someone like UncleRojelio or myself blast you with our cannons.
Sorry, Bongmaster, but I’m with dbuzman on this one. I can’t count the number of times some jerk behind me has leaned on the horn for me to turn right on red when I can’t see well enough to tell if there is traffic I’d be pulling out in front of. You have no idea what reasons the woman might have had for not turning on red. You were being a flat-out jerk.
30 seconds per day
5 workdays per week
50 workweeks per year
50 year career
Assuming this is averages to a once a day occurence, you are inconvenienced by a total of 104.167 hours (4.34 days) over the course of your work career. Compare this to time spent scratching yourself ‘down there’ absent-mindedly, and hopefully you’ll see how small potatoes that time is. The uptick in blood pressure isn’t worth it.
I’m sorry but you are incorrect. There was NO cross traffic since it was a T intersection, she was turning right onto the bottom part of the T. She could easily have gone but was too busy eating to pay attention. I also neglected to mention that her radio was so loud she likely didn’t hear my horn. I still shouldn’t have gotten out but she played her part in this.
Never would I beep at someone who can’t turn because of traffic or some other issue. I get impatient when people simply sit through a light because they can or because they don’t know any better.
Yep. You get impatient. Your problem, not theirs. My point was that you can’t positively know (though you may strongly suspect) that there wasn’t another reason for the person not to turn on the red. You may not even agree with the person’s reason if you did know – for example, if she didn’t turn because she was eating. It’s an option to turn on red, not mandatory, as others have pointed out.
Now, I need this phrase repeated to me when I’m behind the wheel more often than I’d like. Maybe you do too. “Lighten up, Francis.” 
While we’re at it – someone please explain to me why, when it is legal and plausible to make a right-on-red, that folks going straight pull up in the middle or far right of their lane? That quite effectively makes it impossible for people to complete the legal and plausible turn as intended and burns my wick!
And how 'bout those blinkers folks? Am I supposed to just know that you’re turning when you’re severely under the speed limit?
As I’ve said in other traffic-related threads, all those other people need to learn to not be SADW*.
**
Self-Absorbed-Dick-Wads*
Or because they don’t want to, and they don’t have to. Jesus. Don’t you think with so many people disagreeing with you and thinking you’re acting like an asshole, that maaaaaaaaaybe you should reevaluate your position?
Oh, of course not. Everyone else is wrong.