I used to take the interstate to work so I didn't have to deal with lights a lot but now that I take a different road with stop lights, I'm amazed at how many people run thru them. I'm not talking it just turned yellow and you sneak thru, I'm talking full on red, the other direction has the green light already. I bet I see 10-15 cars run red lights everyday on my way to and from work.
Or the people who get the light and then block the intersection and the light turns. The other day a semi, A SEMI turned left to get onto the ramp for the interstate and there clearly wasn't room for him, so when the light turned green for the cars to move forward the semi blocked the entire intersection.
Is this common where you are? Do you run red lights regularly? When I'm the first car at a light I always wait a few seconds once the light turns green now because I'm afraid I'm going to get T-boned.
Post by stingsharkruns on Oct 11, 2012 10:41:23 GMT -5
My commute is pretty short, about 12 miles, with about 3 red lights, so I don't see to much red light running. In some areas we have a lot of red light cameras .. We've gotten a red light ticket before =/ it's expensive.
I see it all the time in Northern VA. It's ridiculous.
There is a road nearby that is getting paved, so crossing traffic has to deal with the "bump" of the new pavement. People go 2mph over it, which means fewer people are getting through the green. The number of people that run that light now is insane. INSANE.
We have one stop light here. I don't go through it most days, it's simply not on my way to or from work/errands. I've only seen people run red lights here a handful of times.
Yes. Two years ago I was in an accident where the fourth car through the light hit me. Yesterday, I counted 12 cars going through the same set of red lights. It was a three lane red light.
All.the.time. And not just sneaking through right when it turns, but stopping and then driving through a standing red b/c they don't feel like waiting. I see so many near misses that it has made me super cautious about checking even when I have the right of way. Drivers around here are crazy.
Everybody here runs red lights (in large part because most of "everybody" = cabbies who drive like idiots). I almost get hit by one (as a pedestrian) pretty much every day.
All.the.time. And not just sneaking through right when it turns, but stopping and then driving through a standing red b/c they don't feel like waiting. I see so many near misses that it has made me super cautious about checking even when I have the right of way. Drivers around here are crazy.
I just saw this the other day. He stopped at the red, then just went through. It wasn't even close. I was shocked because it would never enter my mind to do this.
I was just saying to DD the other day that I've noticed a lot of people running reds lately.
Post by runblondie26 on Oct 11, 2012 11:58:43 GMT -5
I can't imagine intentionally running a red light. On rare occasion if the road is wet, I may push my luck going through the yellow light so as not to hydroplane or skid into the intersection.
Post by ellipses84 on Oct 11, 2012 21:43:01 GMT -5
I see this every day on a half hour commute. Anytime I run a yellow and think it is going to turn red on me, too close for my comfort, 2-3 cars follow me. The light has to be completely red before the last cars go through. Where I live has a reputation for crazy drivers.
I see this every day on a half hour commute. Anytime I run a yellow and think it is going to turn red on me, too close for my comfort, 2-3 cars follow me. The light has to be completely red before the last cars go through. Where I live has a reputation for crazy drivers.
There is no such thing as "running a yellow." Yellow = go go go!
I go through a dozen lights on my way to work. I see people running the red at almost everyone, mostly as left hand turns.
They are installing left turn lights as most of these intersections, because the accidents and fatalities are obscenely high. It's just wishful thinking though because people still run those.
I don't see people running a lot of red lights here, but maybe I am not paying attention?
The worst offenders are people who roll into the intersection waiting for an opening to turn left, and then turn when the light turns red. My H does this and I call him out every time.
The worst offenders are people who roll into the intersection waiting for an opening to turn left, and then turn when the light turns red. My H does this and I call him out every time.
I see people run red lights all the time. The situation you describe (waiting in the intersection to turn left) is completely legal here, and often times the only way to make a left turn. If I am waiting to turn left, I get PISSED if the person in front of me *doesn't* pull out into the intersection.
In relation to the semi post above - with the exception of waiting in the intersection to turn left, it is illegal to pull out into an intersection here unless you can make it all the way through. ie - if a car is going straight through the intersection, they can't enter it until there is space on the other side for their car. The intent is to prevent cars blocking traffic when the light turns.
In my area it's highly common and I hate it! 4-5 cars will go through an obviously red light, no yellow to be seen on a regular basis. At least once a day I witness this.
A new one I've seen (as I just got a new job in a new town), is speeders. I'm talking like 10mph-20mph over on the regular. I get tailgated while I'm going 3mph-5mph over everywhere I go. IMO part of the problem is that a lot of the roads I drive on are 25mph-30mph and that is slow for a nonresidential area IMO.
The worst offenders are people who roll into the intersection waiting for an opening to turn left, and then turn when the light turns red. My H does this and I call him out every time.
The situation you describe (waiting in the intersection to turn left) is completely legal here, and often times the only way to make a left turn. If I am waiting to turn left, I get PISSED if the person in front of me *doesn't* pull out into the intersection.
Ditto.
Do people really think it's illegal to pull into the intersection while you're waiting to turn left? I was taught to do this when I got my drivers license.
I don't think this is very common here, but IDK. I do admit I do it sometimes leaving my neighborhood in the morning - the light to turn out of my 'hood is super short and nearly everyone is turning left (the interstate is directly to the left) so it gets really backed up. If you don't make the light, it will be several minutes before it turns again and of course no one in Iowa knows how to hustle when the light turns green. If I'm almost in the intersection when the light turns red, I'm going anyway. I would never purposely run a red light if I was further back from the intersection, though.
(honestly I've probably done this twice ever, but once happened to be this morning. Oops)
The situation you describe (waiting in the intersection to turn left) is completely legal here, and often times the only way to make a left turn. If I am waiting to turn left, I get PISSED if the person in front of me *doesn't* pull out into the intersection.
Ditto.
Do people really think it's illegal to pull into the intersection while you're waiting to turn left? I was taught to do this when I got my drivers license.
I don't know if it's illegal, but I find it dangerous when someone is turning left on red and I have a green light on the cross street.
Do people really think it's illegal to pull into the intersection while you're waiting to turn left? I was taught to do this when I got my drivers license.
I don't know if it's illegal, but I find it dangerous when someone is turning left on red and I have a green light on the cross street.
It should only take someone a couple seconds to turn through the intersection once the light turns. Only way it is dangerous is if the person with the 'new green' isn't paying any attention...
The situation you describe (waiting in the intersection to turn left) is completely legal here, and often times the only way to make a left turn. If I am waiting to turn left, I get PISSED if the person in front of me *doesn't* pull out into the intersection.
Ditto.
Do people really think it's illegal to pull into the intersection while you're waiting to turn left? I was taught to do this when I got my drivers license.
It's not illegal and I expect the first car in line to turn left, even if its red. I don't expect cars two through five to follow him.
Post by lurkergirl123 on Oct 11, 2012 22:47:20 GMT -5
I work from home and only go out about 2x a week so I really don't know if it's terribly common, but it seems like I see a lot of red light runners here.
We had red light cameras in my old city. The red light runners would run all the lights except the ones with cameras, so I don't know how effective they really were.
Last week I came to a stop at a red light near my house. Believe me I would have loved to get the tail end of the yellow, but it was clearly too late. The car behind me actually went AROUND me and continued through the light. My jaw was wide open- the nerve!
We are lucky there aren't more "accidents". And of course people all complain about those pesky cyclists ignoring traffic laws. Not to start that up that debate, just sayin'
I see this every day on a half hour commute. Anytime I run a yellow and think it is going to turn red on me, too close for my comfort, 2-3 cars follow me. The light has to be completely red before the last cars go through. Where I live has a reputation for crazy drivers.
There is no such thing as "running a yellow." Yellow = go go go!
True. I just meant when it's yellow so you speed up and you know it's going to go red before you get completely through.
And if cars are stacked up at a red light, some hotshot will always get into the right shoulder and gun it on green to merge over in front of the cars who were lined up at the red.
I laugh when they go to gun it and realize there are cars parked in the shoulder blocking their way.
I've only seen this done with motorcycles (usually crotch rockets). I can't imagine a car trying to gun in front of other cars, but then again my car has the 'get up and go' of a snail.
They passed anti-gridlock law last year that makes it illegal to block an intersection at a green light. Some aholes still do, but it's really helped traffic in the city. Also, when a city light turns red, expect the next three cars who saw it when it was green and yellow to drive straight through the red light.
We've had "don't block the box" laws for years and years and years. It seemingly does very little.