Red light = stop?

[djmcmath]

I always used to think that it was normal to stop at a red light. In fact, in my admittedly limited experience, I've observed that red lights almost always come right after yellow ones, so it makes sense to slow down a little for a yellow, in case you need to stop on the red. So in the same way that I find it predictable that the sun rises in the East, I expect traffic to slow down and stop at red lights.

But maybe that's not true here in CT. Twice now, in less than a month, I've been rear-ended by stopping when the light went red. It shouldn't have been a surprise either time -- the light went yellow, so I slowed down, knowing I wouldn't make it through before it turned. Then the light went red, so I stopped, exactly as anticipated, and got rear-ended. The other guy both times said the same thing: "I thought you were going to go!"

Um ... go? Through a red light? No, why would I do that? Does the sun still rise in the east? Am I missing something?

In both cases, the other poor bloke took a lot more damage than I did, and it's just my beater Honda, so I couldn't possibly care, but there's a principle here somewhere. Maybe I should start running reds to keep from getting run down from behind?

(sigh) End rant. Thanks for listening.

[austin552]

No, things are different now.
If the light turns yellow ignore it.
If the light turns red only stop if your the third vehicle to run it.
If your first or second it is OK to speed up and fly through the intersection at full speed.


I have seen three run a red here.

[widgeon13]

I live in CT when not in NY. My observation is that yellow to many people means hit the gas so you can make it through before it turns red. If it's already red, they say oh $hit and go anyway.

My normal reaction to stopping is to look in the rearview to see who might rearend me; when starting to go when the light has changed green, I look both left and right.

I'm not making light of this but basically driving defensively has become my standard practice. It's also worse in the pcar because every ********* in the world wants to get close and take a look so they tailgate. ABS brakes don't help the situation because most uneducated drivers believe that this will help them stop in a shorter distance when really it only assists in maintaining control and steering capability of the vehicle. Their still going to hit you because they don't steer away from the collision, they just freeze at the wheel and BANG, up you a$$.

[singpilot]

Italian rules have been adopted in California.

Green light, Honk the horn and floor it.

Yellow light, Speed up, you don't want to be last.

Red Light, Pray the three guys in front of you don't stop. Smile for the camera.

[austin552]

Ever stoped at a red and had the guy behind you all PO'd? What's up with that???

[djmcmath]

Widget -- I would hesitate to drive a nice car around here. My VW has crappy bumpers, so I'd probably mash up the fiberglass fenders, too. It seems like the body shops are really making a killing.

Austin yammered:
Ever stoped (sic) at a red and had the guy behind you all PO'd?

I've had that happen, too -- stopping after watching 3 cars run a red, and the guy behind you honks angrily. If we're going to change the convention, somebody needs to promulgate a new instruction. I mean, I'm ok with change, just as long as we're all on the same page. The rules that we pretend to enforce say "stop on red," but society seems to have rejected that.

I guess the other issue that I'm hinting at is the mismatch between what the populace wants and what the police force so often gives us. I mean, you get pulled over doing 66 in a 55 (which, BTW, is about 10mph below the Speed of Traffic here -- scary), and you're angry, but not at the cop, because "he was just doing his job." Well, wait a minute, who's his boss? Oh right, that's us -- the taxpayers! Why do we pay our police force to hassle guys about tail-lights being different colors (yes, had it happen to me)? Why do we pay our police force to hassle us about out-of-state insurance paperwork (yes, had it happen)? Why do we pay our police to enforce artificially low speed limits on straight-flat 6-lane roads, rather than enforcing on the 2-lane windy road where the kids are known to race and die (yes, had a police officer explain that the revenue is better at the first spot)?

What are we doing? Where are we going, and why are we in this hand-basket?

[84porsche]

Originally posted by singpilot
Italian rules have been adopted in California.

Green light, Honk the horn and floor it.

Yellow light, Speed up, you don't want to be last.

Red Light, Pray the three guys in front of you don't stop. Smile for the camera.

So very true. Of course if I see a yellow these days and I know someone is on my ***, I start braking a little earlier to notify him of my intention to stop. I have only been rear ended once and it was at less than 5 miles an hour and no damage. Luckily, no accident yet in my P-car or my current daily driver (knocking on wood). Sorry to hear. If your car isn't taking the toll, your body definitely is. I wish everyone was a P-car driver, we can drive on our group runs 20 cars in a line in perfect harmony, close to each other and never have any problems.

[Flatbutt1]

I'm constantly adjusting for this on my bike. When coming to a yellow/red light I check my mirrors well before the intersection. If I'm in the right hand lane and I'm being followed I'll fade right when stopping just in case. If in the left lane I'll fade left. If in the middle lane I start slowing down way before the light to encourage passing before I try to stop.

[red-beard]

In Philly, when the lights turns yellow, the cars on the perpendicular sides start to go...seriously!

[yellowline]

Red still means stop in my part of CT (Windham County).

[Joeaksa]

Red means red here as well but then we have stop light camera's in selected parts of the town. Get a few tickets like that and people seem to take notice of the color of the lights again.

Still, when the light goes green I still check side to side. Do not want to get T-boned by some idiot who runs the red.

Joe A

[widgeon13]

Originally posted by SoCal911SC
If the guy *behind you* intended to go through the intersection and make the yellow, and rear ends you, and that happens to you often, I'd venture to guess that you are stopping way too hard and too late (too close to the intersection to stop - go through!) at yellows.

You must have been on the OJ jury or your smoking something.

[djmcmath]

SoCal, I wouldn't say that it historically happens to me often -- just twice, in my whole driving career, but they've both been in the last two weeks. You may be right -- perhaps I should start running the close reds to avoid getting run over ... in defense of my current policy, however: if I rear-end somebody, that means I was following too close -- specifically, I couldn't stop faster than he could. The guy behind me is assuming that the traffic light is my only concern -- he may not see, for example, the child playing jax on the curb that just dove out in front of me. Safe following distance continues to apply even at yellow lights, imho.

But I could be wrong, I'm still young and stupid.

Dan

[Moses]

Whatever you do, be deliberate about it.

At a high-speed intersection I am following a girl in a Honda. The light turns yellow. Plenty of time for both of us to get through the intersection without speeding up. What does she do? She speeds up then hammers her brakes at the last second because she "changed her mind". I had no time to stop, so I changes lanes quickly and made it through the intersection before the light turned red. I missed her rear bumper by a few inches at best.

[Flatbutt1]

Originally posted by Moses
Whatever you do, be deliberate about it.

At a high-speed intersection I am following a girl in a Honda. The light turns yellow. Plenty of time for both of us to get through the intersection without speeding up. What does she do? She speeds up then hammers her brakes at the last second because she "changed her mind". I had no time to stop, so I changes lanes quickly and made it through the intersection before the light turned red. I missed her rear bumper by a few inches at best.

Fortunately you have the skill to do that, but I'd bet if a LEO witnessed your action you would have received a performance award.

edit:excerpted from NJ Traffic Law
Yellow Light - When shown alone, traffic should stop before entering the intersection or crosswalk, unless the vehicle is so close to intersection that it cannot be stopped safely.

The last line is of course subjective,

[bryanthompson]

If you have to accelerate to get up to or through the yellow, you should have stopped. It drives me nuts the way people run reds/yellows here.

[CJFusco]

Originally posted by red-beard
In Philly, when the lights turns yellow, the cars on the perpendicular sides start to go...seriously!

I see this happen all the time. People try to "anticipate" the light change, so they roll forward when the other sides' lights turn red. Often they roll forward and the light doesn't turn green right away, so they have to brake and now they are sitting there 10 feet past the line looking like jackazzes.

On two-lane roads, my favorite thing tto do in this situation is let them roll forward in their mis-anticipation, have to stop (usually just before the light actually turns green), and then drive right by them when the light finally turns green, the point being that I WAITED until the the light turned and they rolled forward, had to stop again, and were therefore not ready when the light actually turned.

I dunno, I get a kick out of it.

[teenerted1]

dont get me started on red lights.



of course i am known to roll thru a stop sign when no one is around.



but why bust thru a red light during rush hour going home???

[Drago]

Originally posted by teenerted1
but why bust thru a red light during rush hour going home???

So you don't have to wait at the light???

Seriously...it's all about me! Me, ME, ME!!!

[djmcmath]

Originally posted by Drago
Seriously...it's all about me! Me, ME, ME!!!

Seriously. Since I've moved to CT, I've seen the most amazing things on my morning commute. People will risk their lives to save a couple of seconds getting to the Main Gate.

A funny though just occurred to me: these are the same people that I was driving with out in WA -- I'm still commuting to a Navy base -- but the drivers here are completely different than those in Washington. Weird.