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Darren New wrote:
> scott wrote:
>> red, then of course people are going to be tempted to carry on jumping
>> the red for a few seconds after it's switched from green.
>
> My favorite is when I stop safely for the amber light and the guy behind
> me pulls out, goes around me, and blows thru the red light.
>
Yes, I've had that happen.
I once made a safe stop at a red light.
I started to fiddle with the radio and started to hear tires squealing.
Next thing I know a guy blows past me sideways spinning into the
intersection.
Apparently he anticipated that I would run the light and he would
follow. Then when he looked up again he almost hit me.
I lucked out that day.
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Tom Austin wrote:
> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:38:25 -0500, Tom Austin wrote:
>>
>>> If someone is bring a jerk, it's best to just let them past and get way
>>> ahead of you so that their actions don't cause you to get into an
>>> accident.
>>
>> OTOH, if they get ahead of you and then get into an accident, that'll
>> delay your trip....
>>
>> Jim
>
> Yes, but at least you were not involved in the accident - given they
> were far enough ahead.
>
> If you get in their way you may be the indirect cause of an accident.
>
In this state at least, it doesn't matter who caused the accident. If
you're the last person in line, you're responsible. I'd rather be in
front ;)
--
~Mike
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Darren New wrote:
> My favorite is when I stop safely for the amber light and the guy behind
> me pulls out, goes around me, and blows thru the red light.
< a bit of a tangent, but not much .. >
I'm surprised Gail hasn't jumped in about the lunatic drivers in South
Africa.
--
~Mike
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Mike Raiford wrote:
> Darren New wrote:
>
>> My favorite is when I stop safely for the amber light and the guy
>> behind me pulls out, goes around me, and blows thru the red light.
>
> < a bit of a tangent, but not much .. >
>
> I'm surprised Gail hasn't jumped in about the lunatic drivers in South
> Africa.
>
maybe she's one of them ;-)
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> Same here. Our traffic laws are set at the state level, but everywhere
> I've ever been, the technical is "Yellow means stop if it's safe to stop
> and you'll not be in the intersection. If it's red and you're in the
> interesection, you're risking a ticket."
In the UK at least, the law says that you must not go over the white line
that is painted across the road next to the signal, if it is on red. That
is what the cameras look for, they take two photos that include the signal
and the line in the frame, if they both show a red signal and the first is
your car behind the line and second is your car ahead of the line, then
that's proof enough to be fined.
I always wondered if the light was red (and there were no other cars
around), whether it would be technically legal to drive on the other side of
the road (into the oncoming traffic) and drive through the intersection.
Technically you haven't crossed the white line that the signal is telling
you to stop at (it only goes half way across the road).
> In other words, if you're going slow enough, stop when it turns yellow
> even if you could have made it through on the yellow. It doesn't mean
> "this is your last chance to make it, so slam on the gas."
Quite often though, people are driving above the speed limit, so the amber
phase is maybe not long enough for them to have enough warning to stop, or
to get over the line before it goes red. Their only option to avoid running
a red is to speed up.
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> I also love people who go through an intersection and hit the person that
> ran the red light - in plain view. Like you couldn't see someone was
> going to hit you or you were going to hit someone.
Depends on the intersection, sometimes you would have no chance of seeing
someone coming from the side at 50mph until it was too late to take any
avoiding action.
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>> In the UK at least I see a lot of junctions where the instant one
>> direction changes from amber to red, the other changes from red to
>> red+amber.
>
> The delay is probably similar to red+amber.
> Are you allowed to go on a red+amber?
Not technically, but the phase is so short (usually 1 second or less) by the
time you've actually started moving past the light it is on green anyway.
> Yes and no - it depends on where you live. Some areas are really bad -
> 10-15 seconds of red light running.
Huh? What do the cars do that are on green? Here I see max. 1 second red
light running, and even that is very rare.
> I like that some places actually put in red light cameras - then it is
> automatic with the ticket, not only when there is a cop around.
Yeh a lot of them here too, although IMO they make the cameras too obvious.
> It's those cars who are trying to get 30 cars ahead that cause the
> problem. They think they have the right to drive on the shoulder because
> they are turning ahead - even to the point where if there is a car parked
> on the shoulder, they pull back into traffic - they just used the shoulder
> as a passing lane!
Actually people do that here in Germany quite often when the traffic is
slow, in fact there are even a few places with signs where it tells you to
use the shoulder if you are turning off and traffic is slow. If traffic is
really slow or stopped then people will often drive for kms on the shoulder
to get off at the next exit. I sometimes wonder if any accidents are caused
by this behaviour, like if someone is turning off and doesn't see someone
else coming up on the shoulder, but everyone seems to have a similar
understanding of what's going on.
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> I once made a safe stop at a red light.
> I started to fiddle with the radio and started to hear tires squealing.
> Next thing I know a guy blows past me sideways spinning into the
> intersection.
Oh wow, yeh at least he didn't just plough into the back of you.
I had a similar experience on my bike once, it was at some construction work
and the light went red, so I stopped and was first in line. A split second
later I see a cyclist (who must have been right behind me) come flying past
me in the air pretty much separated from his bike. Once he'd picked himself
up off the road and collected up his (now unrideable) bike, he said to me
how stupid I was to stop at the light and I should have just gone through it
like all the other cyclists!
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scott wrote:
>> I also love people who go through an intersection and hit the person
>> that ran the red light - in plain view. Like you couldn't see someone
>> was going to hit you or you were going to hit someone.
>
> Depends on the intersection, sometimes you would have no chance of
> seeing someone coming from the side at 50mph until it was too late to
> take any avoiding action.
>
Yes, but then you have the perfectly clear view of a person sitting in
your way - and you aim for them.
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scott wrote:
>>> In the UK at least I see a lot of junctions where the instant one
>>> direction changes from amber to red, the other changes from red to
>>> red+amber.
>>
>> The delay is probably similar to red+amber.
>> Are you allowed to go on a red+amber?
>
> Not technically, but the phase is so short (usually 1 second or less) by
> the time you've actually started moving past the light it is on green
> anyway.
>
>> Yes and no - it depends on where you live. Some areas are really bad
>> - 10-15 seconds of red light running.
>
> Huh? What do the cars do that are on green? Here I see max. 1 second
> red light running, and even that is very rare.
>
The cars waiting on green just have to keep waiting.
>> I like that some places actually put in red light cameras - then it is
>> automatic with the ticket, not only when there is a cop around.
>
> Yeh a lot of them here too, although IMO they make the cameras too obvious.
>
What's the goal - to stop red light running or to give the most fines
possible?
You hide them to give tickets, you show them if you just want people to
stop.
Then the budget people come in - tighten the amber times so that we can
give more red light tickets so that we can fund our pension plan.
> Actually people do that here in Germany quite often when the traffic is
> slow, in fact there are even a few places with signs where it tells you
> to use the shoulder if you are turning off and traffic is slow. If
> traffic is really slow or stopped then people will often drive for kms
> on the shoulder to get off at the next exit. I sometimes wonder if any
> accidents are caused by this behaviour, like if someone is turning off
> and doesn't see someone else coming up on the shoulder, but everyone
> seems to have a similar understanding of what's going on.
>
I've seen this on regular roads with stop lights.
Actually, I could care less if people use the shoulder - especially in
the case you pointed out. When driving on the shoulder and going at
high speed along traffic that is almost stopped - that's asking for trouble.
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